First Impressions

Walking out of the airport into the heavy, humid air, I was immediately reminded of stepping off the plane in Tanzania and I was overcome with excitement and fond memories. As we drove from the airport to the hotel I was shocked by the chaos on the road: trucks, cars, autorickshaws, mortorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians sharing the street with no regard for traffic laws and the phylosophy that honking will solve any traffic problem. This truly was an amazing sight and I must admit that there is a certain adrenaline rush that occurs every time I step inside an autorickshaw...I love it!

I have been very impressed with both Vellore and Christian Medical College (where I am doing my rotation). Vellore is a smaller community with wonderful people and an amazing charm. Despite the "smaller" size of Vellore it is still a very hectic city with crowded streets, buys shops, and frequent sightings of cows, donkeys, or goats walking down the sidewalk and/or blocking traffic. It is truly fabulous!

From what I can tell, CMC seems to be the true heart of Vellore. The medical college and hospital were started in the early 1900's and have grown to become an extremely well respected institution bringing students, residents, and faculty from all over the world and treating patients from India as well as the middle east and Asia. I was very struck by the sheer size of the hospital and how nice the facilities are. Don't get me wrong, things are very different here, but they are more similar to the US than I was expecting...at least in the surgical intensive care unit where Dinesh and I are observing this week.

On our first day Dinesh and I became quite lost while looking for the SICU but we were eventually successful. Upon arivng we were asked to put canvas booties over our shoes and gowns over our clothes - a very good look for both of us...I love the canvas clown shoes! As we entered the unit I was impressed to find a spacious, air conditioned facility with approximately 12 beds, 3 of which are isolation rooms and the rest are open with curtains, all around a central nurses station. Several patients were on ventilators that look very similar to those in the US. From what Claire and Vida describe of their experience on pediatric wards, these luxurious conditions are not uniform throughout the hospital. Nontheless, I was very impressed with what I saw and the day got even better when I discovered that the SICU at CMC is actually run by Anesthesiology - yay! This really is perfect for both Dinesh and I : ortho trauma and anesthesia perspective.

The experience so far has been amazing! The doctors we have been working with have been wonderful and although it is difficult to follow everything that is discussed on rounds, our attending has taken time to explain to us what is going on with the patient be before discussion begins and what has been decided after thier discussion. (Even though the majority of the talking is in english, they tend to speak very softly.) He is really a great teacher and I feel fortunate to be able to observe him. Although the patients currently on serviceare not particularly unique to India pathology wise, it has been extremely interesting to see the approach that is taken to each patient. As a side note: every day there is a break in rounds around 11am for tea and biscuits - amazing! :)