{"id":1713,"date":"2011-11-01T01:01:33","date_gmt":"2011-11-01T01:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/?p=1713"},"modified":"2016-01-03T16:32:20","modified_gmt":"2016-01-03T16:32:20","slug":"learn-nothing-about-global-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/2011\/11\/01\/learn-nothing-about-global-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn Nothing About Global Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"learn-nothing-about-global-health-banner\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cMy boy, Tomas, is urinating pure blood!\u201d Her speech was pressured and rapid fire. \u201cHe\u2019s been hemorrhaging for days. Is my boy going to die? \u201d The anxious mother lifted her son, moving the pool of accumulating blood from the floor to her lap. The young, listless, glassy eyes of Tomas met mine, and I realized we hadn\u2019t much time to act.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cHis bleeding is likely from a urinary tract infection and he needs an antibiotic \u2013 right? \u201cI asked myself. That\u2019s what I\u2019d learned in medical school at the University of Missouri. But this was Africa and the Kalukembe Hospital. I ran in pursuit of my mentor, Dr. Andreas Rohner. On hearing my diagnosis, he shook his head and rolled his eyes ever so slightly. Turning to the marshland, Rohner asked me guiding questions:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rohner: \u201cWhere do the children play?\u201dComninellis: \u201cIn those swamps\u201d
\nRohner: \u201cAnd what creatures live in those shallow waters?\u201d
\nComninellis: \u201cMosquito larvae, a few fish, lots of snails\u201d
\nRohner: \u201cAnd what\u2019s living within those snails?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A light clicked on in my brain. \u201cSchistosomas! \u201d I exclaimed. \u201cTomas suffers from schistosomiasis of his urinary tract!\u201d Rohner glowed. \u201cExactly, young doctor!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I trotted back toward the mother and her bleeding son, beating myself, \u201cI\u2019d studied schistosomiasis in tropical medicine school at Walter Reed<\/a>. But when I first encountered someone with the disease I didn\u2019t even think of the diagnosis! Did I really learn NOTHING about global health?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tomas looked forlorn; his mother, fearful. I quickly collected a urine sample and rushed to the lab. Sure enough, under a microscope I found schistosome eggs, confirming the diagnosis of this disease transmitted when the parasites that live in snails penetrate the skin of people in the water.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back in the clinic, I dosed Tomas with an antiparasitic medication and hastily arranged for a transfusion. Shortly, as the life-saving blood was dripping into the boy\u2019s fragile veins, I reconsidered my global health training experience. \u201cIsn\u2019t the experience of caring for someone with a disease far more valuable than attending a lecture about it? Isn\u2019t supervised learning like I\u2019m enjoying here with Dr. Rohner way better than any classroom exercises?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vision for superior global health learning began to grow within me. I observed Tomas. The color in his face was returning and he began smiling at his mother, whose wrinkles were relaxing and voice filling with ease. This approach to education and care would prove to be life giving for Tomas, and later become the foundation of INMED\u2019s Diploma Programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  \u201cMy boy, Tomas, is urinating pure blood!\u201d Her speech was pressured and rapid fire. \u201cHe\u2019s been hemorrhaging for days. Is my boy going to die? \u201d The anxious mother lifted her son, moving the pool of accumulating blood from the floor to her lap. The young, listless, glassy eyes of Tomas met mine, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inmed-action-steps-for-you"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}