Friday I did my psych rotation at PMH. The cool news? It was my very last day of rotations! All I have left is one practical exam on Monday, one written exam on Thursday, and 3 days of BCLS and ACLS training the next week. I can’t believe how quickly 5th semester has gone by! Today or tomorrow I’m going to post about my overall experience at PMH. Many people have asked me how I liked it and whether or not I’d recommend staying in Dominica for 5th semester. The short answer is yes, STAY!! But I’ll post an official post soon with details.
The psych rotation was awesome. Even though I didn’t get to see too many patients, it was still quite interesting. I think on some level I expected psych patients to be different here in Dominica. Well, for the most part, I was wrong. I met a few patients with schizophrenia and a few who had manic-depression. For the most part, they were strikingly similar to patients I’ve seen in the States. Listening to their stories and getting to know them really reminded me of how much I love psych. Mental health issues can affect peoples’ lives much differently than a physical health complaint. Living with schizophrenia, or having a friend or relative with schizophrenia is an incredibly challenging undertaking. It would be an understatement to say that it’s very difficult and frustrating at times.
After seeing the patients, we spoke with the psychiatrist for a while. He was absolutely amazing and very intelligent. He spoke to us about issues relevant to mental health in Dominica. I was shocked to hear him say that there are very, very few attacks on staff by psych patients in the hospital. I was used to being attacked verbally and physically almost every day at my old job in a psych hospital in the States. When I asked him what he thought the difference was due to, he said that it’s probably because of respect. The patients in Dominica tend to trust and respect medical professionals very much. In fact, I’m always surprised to hear the patients respond “yes, doctor” to me almost every day. They trust what you say to them and respect your knowledge. I guess it’s very different in the States. There is a general suspicion of doctors. And when it comes to mental health patients, there is a lot of mistrust and even downright hatred. Take, for example, a patient with paranoid schizophrenia. They are the epitome of distrustful. Yet here in Dominica, they still tend to trust the doctors and nurses (at least to some degree). This is absolutely amazing to me. I’d like to write a much longer article on this topic, but I don’t have the time right now.
So, more to come soon!
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It’s true. I’ve lived on this island for 589 days. Now, I only have 16 more to go before I return to the land of excess milk and honey, processed food, pollution, big cars, and bad health. I have very mixed feelings about the whole thing. Anyway, today I have my very last practical exam ever!! It’s going to be the most difficult one to date, but by now, I kind of feel like a pro at them. Thursday is my last written exam of the semester. I can almost taste the sushi!
My name is Kendra and I am a third-year medical student attending 
