Hi 360° readers!
I’m back with another post about the few things I’ve realized in my short time exploring the field of global health, some I somewhat expected and others that took me by surprise.
- There is no immediate gratification in global health; studying global health issues and finding solutions requires relentless pursuit. It takes time — a lot of it, actually, and you have to get used to it.
- From identifying the problem
- to fully understanding the intricacies of it
- to brainstorming and prototyping
- to designing a final solution
- to implementing it
- to then finding another problem
- to redesigning the solution.
It’s an extensive process that involves multiple iterations; yet, nonetheless, worth every minute.
My last month in Brazil has been filled with this cycle of experimenting, finding something that works, running into a problem, and repeating the process. Sometimes, it seems as if the cycle is endless, but it is important to keep in mind that every failure is a step in the right direction to success.
Elisa and I have been working on a breast cancer model for a biopsy training course doctors hope to use to teach at Hospital de Câncer de Barretos; currently the medical students learn by shadowing doctors during the biopsy procedures. We have spent over 35 hours prototyping with gelatin and injecting it with various inclusions to simulate the microcalcifications.
Day after day, we went back to the hospital and tested our improved prototypes in the mammogram machine, biopsy machine, and ultrasound machine, only to find that they needed further improvements. Sometimes our model would break in the biopsy machine. Other times, the material we used did not accurately mimic microcalcifications in a human breast. Each obstacle made us more determined, and now we have finally created a fully functioning breast cancer model.
2. Witnessing your solution in action and the impact it is making, leaves you with a unique and deep sense of satisfaction. It’s a feeling I can’t explain – you have to experience it to fully understand. This is something Elisa and I recently felt after successfully creating the breast cancer models for both mammograms and ultrasounds. It’s an amazing experience I struggle to explain — you have to feel it for yourself.
- When you get the opportunity to spend time in another country doing global health work, prepare yourself emotionally. Despite mental preparation, you will see and experience things you might have never imagined. When I found out I would be spending the summer in Brazil, I originally thought I would be spending all my time coming up with solutions for the problems we would come across but, in my time here, I’ve done so much more than that. I’ve witnessed patients that are unable to take their medications because of their literacy levels. I’ve seen patients that can’t be treated regularly because they live too far from the hospital. I’ve even seen patients that choose not to talk about their condition because they are scared of death. I absolutely was not emotionally prepared to see all of this. These are the types of instances that will stay with you forever.
- Some of the problems you come across when doing “needs finding” will not have just onesolution.Actually, it is very rare to come across a problem with one neat and simple solution. There are varied components to any problem; all problems have to be split into smaller, tackle-able parts. Being able to deconstruct a problem into its sub-challenges is an acquired skill.
What I have learned is only a small part of all there is to know in the field of global health. There are many more things I hope to learn and gain. In any chosen career path, you’ll experience setbacks and see upsetting injustices, but the act of serving others through the healthcare system makes it all worthwhile.
Love, Shravya
