Sawasdee krab

            This marks a little over one week that we have been in the country of Thailand for our APPE rotation.  It has been a very interesting week and very rewarding both academically and personally.  We had the pleasure to visit The Queen Sirikit's National Institute of Health in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday and learn about two diseases that are not readily seen within the US, dengue fever and malaria.  There we had the pleasure to learn from Dr. Pra-on Supradish who taught us about dengue fever and Dr. Srivicha Krudsood who taught us about malaria.

            To be honest dengue fever is not a disease that I knew too much about.  I knew it was endemic to tropical regions and transmitted via mosquitos but that is all I knew of the disease.  This was very informational about the signs and symptoms of the disease, prevalence and how to treat it.  I was surprised by the prevalence of dengue fever in the Bangkok area.  I had this image that the disease mostly affected rural areas but there were multiple cases around the hospital.  The hospital had a map of the area with the number of cases that they had seen in each area.  In learning about the disease the doctors took us through the ward where there were three children who were in the recovery phase after having dengue fever.  They explained what had happened to the patient and showed us how their handwritten medical records.   We had the pleasure of meeting with them and seeing how the disease progresses and how they were able to treat each patient so they could attend school through a day late because of the disease.

Entrance to the dengue ward

            This experience has been very eye-opening for me.  I know there isn’t one perfect way to do things but I have been amazed at the differences and similarities.  Some technology I feel the Thai are incredibly ahead on us and some things they may lag behind the US.   That isn’t to say one group is better or worse, just that they are different from each other.  I can also now personally speak to the pharmacies in Thailand as well.  I have had the misfortune of coming down with some local bug, for lack of a better word, and I went to a local pharmacy to speak to the pharmacist about getting medication to help resolve my ailment.  As a side note Thailand is a little different from the US.  In the US we have a closed system whereas you need a prescription in order to dispense the medication.  This system is great if there are enough doctors to write those orders.  Because the US has so many doctors access to health isn’t an issue and provides greater safety.  The problem lies in some countries they did not have enough doctors so access became more important than safety.  Thailand for the longest time has not had enough doctors so access was more important than safety in some instances.  So as someone from away, I was able to go to the pharmacy explain my issues and she dispensed medication to me in order for me to treat what I have.   She was incredibly sweet and was able to help me.  I am immensely grateful for her help.

I thought I would leave you with a photo from Bangkok at night from Asiatique.

      

Thank you for reading!