Hello, my name is Nene, and I’m spending the summer in Maputo, Mozambique doing research on peripheral neuropathy in patients with HIV at Maputo Central Hospital. Working in the internal medicine wards at Maputo Central Hospital has been an incredible learning experience. Every day I’m surrounded by so many brilliant medical students, residents, and attendings. We have been spending most of the mornings organizing survey responses from the day before. Staying organized with the data we are collecting has been a top priority given that most of the data collection is occurring offline and on paper. In order to make sure the surveys are being transcribed properly, I’ve been accompanied by another medical student, Nayra, who has helped ensure translations are correct and that patients can speak to someone in Portuguese or their indigenous “mother tongue.” Today, however, I met with a patient who was fluent in English, meaning that I could speak with him to collect data all on my own. I took a relevant history and performed a physical exam on the patient entirely in English, and the patient was super happy to engage with me in another language that he knew. This was a unique opportunity I had to connect with a patient on my own, so it really meant a lot to me.
My learning experience in the Internal Medicine Wards has gone beyond research implementation. I have also had a ton of opportunities to learn about disease pathology and pharmacology simply by paying close attention when the physicians are delivering care to each of the patients. Being able to look at labs and connect them to physical exam findings in real time is such a rewarding learning experience, especially after finishing first year of medical school. It has definitely improved my understanding of many of the topics I learned this past year, and today I’ve been reminded of how grateful I am that the patients at Maputo Central Hospital have allowed me to learn from them.
Later in the day, I was invited to attend a health-fair alongside some of the medical students from Eduardo Modlande University, which is the university that teaches students within Maputo Central Hospital. The fair took place at Gloria Mall and Hotel, which I discovered is one of the most popular event spaces in Maputo…and it was beautiful to say the least! While I was there, I learned about some of the most pressing health issues in Mozambique and got to hear about how many companies are looking to expand pharmaceutical production to Mozambique to ensure patients have access to as many low-cost drug treatments as possible. I also got to meet with representatives from some of the other hospitals in Maputo and learned about the services they provide their patient populations. I even left with some really cool merchandise, including some cute pens that I ended up taking to MCH to use for data collection.
Overall, research is going well and I am learning more than I had ever expected! I’m really looking forward to seeing all the knowledge come together soon.
