Two weeks has flown by! It seems like it was this Monday that the students were welcoming the medical instructors back to the center, so I have to remind myself that it was actually two weeks ago.
Bruce has been running the schedule this year and wanted to extract as much work as possible out of me, so I've spent most nights preparing lectures for the following days. Trying to calibrate the level of instruction to the students is the most difficult aspect of preparing these talks.
For the most part, the content is bread and butter for a practicing doctor - for instance I've spoken about shock and abdominal pain. However, trying to gauge the students' prior knowledge and give enough content without going over their heads constantly challenges us.
Last year, we were surprised that the students wanted more content than Where There is No Doctor provided. We have added content from the Burmese Border Guide in order to address this concern, and the students seem to appreciate this.
Of course, our translators Tim, Abraham and Siripong have been enormously helpful in terms of bridging barriers both linguistic and cultural. For my part, I've been trying to pick up some Burmese words, which seems to entertain the students. I'm certainly not on track to replace Tim or Abraham, but maybe I'll get a few sentences under my belt for next year.
I've got one more full day here before flying back to the US. Tonight we have our much anticipated going away barbecue, with mounds of sticky rice, a variety of unnamed (at least in English) leafy greens, and delicious pork marinated in lime, fish sauce and spicy chilis. Hot, but delicious.
After class today, I'm going to run to the top of the hill above the center to make some caloric room! Then it will be back to business tomorrow as I'd like to prepare our medication purchases for next year.
Jung led Bjorn and I into Chiang Mai today to meet with a pharmacist that has been FLC's source of medications since Dr.Jones ran the course. This is a well known pharmacy that purchases medications under Thailand's fairly high quality standards.
First we review any price changes that have occurred since the previous year, and look for alternative medications if a price seems unfavorable. However, prices have remained stable and generally seem quite fair, even cheap when compared to prices we would get in the US. We then look at how much of the supply each student used relative to the previous year, and increase or decrease the amount of medication given based on this information. Jung is finalizing the medication budget so hopefully I'll be able to finish up this last task before heading home.
Looking forward to seeing everyone again next year.
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