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General Medical Elective Course Description

Malnutrition Services and Maternal Child Health in Peten, Guatemala

U.S. IHA offers a 4 week elective in Peten Guatemala for students, residents and professionals in the allied health fields. This program offers an overview of the major issues in International Health:

The focus of the elective is based on a morbidity survey of 100 communities from all parts of the Peten done in March, 2000. Students attending the program for the first time rotate through 4 clinical sites each of which addresses one of the major health issues impacting the Peten.

One week will be spent at each of the following clinical sites:

Good Samaritan Clinic
This is a non-governmental primary care clinic serving the families in San Benito. Students will have the opportunity to examine the patients who present at this clinic for care – diarrhea, parasitic infections, pneumonia, malnutrition, and malaria are some of the most common diagnoses. Students will have the opportunity to participate in the training of health promoters and local nurses while at this site.

During the their time at the Good Samaritan Clinic the student will also have the opportunity to rotate through the emergency department and General Medical inpatient wards at The General Hospital in San Benito. This hospital is the regional hospital for Peten. It is a governmental hospital which receives patients from 3 other sites within Peten – Melchor, Poptun, and Sayache. The hospital has 5 government physicians full time and permits limited admission of private patients. It serves as the referral center from the integrated hospitals and may send patients to the tertiary hospitals in the capital.

More site photos and information

Centro Nutricional
Centro Nutricional is primarily a Malnutrition Hospital administered by the Daughter’s of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in Dolores, Peten. This Malnutrition hospital, the only one of it’s kind in the Peten, has been receiving children from the small villages for 14 years. The children whose ages vary from 6 months to 10 years have an average stay of 4-6 months. One wing of the malnutrition hospital serves as a maternal child health clinic, a pharmacy, laboratory and optical. These facilities which are open to the public during the weekdays serve over 50 patients a day. Students will participate in arranging for the dietary needs of the malnourished inpatient children under the direction of Dra. Maria. Rotation through the clinic, pharmacy and laboratory are also available.

During their time at Centro Nutricional the student will have the opportunity to travel with Dra. Maria to and from the General Hospital in Poptun to work with the emergency room physician. The hospital in Poptun is located 25 minutes from Dolores. This hospital has 4 physicians and provides the following services: trauma management; labor and deliver with access to cesarean sections and anesthesia; pediatric ward; plain radiographs and ultrasound; basic laboratory.

More site photos and information

Diocesan Dispensario
The Diocesan Dispensario is the oldest non-government facility in the Peten. The Dispensario has served the people of the Peten for 25 years by providing outpatient clinical care, a pharmacy, a laboratory, as well as, an orphanage, and a day care. Students will participate in clinics staffed by local Guatemalan physicians and visiting subspecialists from Guatemala City in the areas of Cardiology, Neurology and Ophthalmology.

The Dispensario provides the most extensive laboratory services for the Peten region(600.000). It is a main referral center for common infectious and tropical diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever, TB, and a variety of parasitic and amoebic infections. All non-governmental pharmaceutical supplies are dispensed from the Dispensario Pharmacy. Students are encouraged to actively participate in the clinics, laboratory and pharmacy. Radiological services new to the Peten are being developed in the areas of CT and mammography.
More site photos and information

Village Health
Time spent in the villages will be under the supervision of a U.S. Board Certified physician well known to the local communities and the Peten.
Students will gain first hand clinical experience in the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, TB, and multiple parasitic infections. Students will observe the effects have on maternal morbidity and perinatal malnutrition. The role of clean water sources and its impact on health will be addressed on visits to the remote villages. Students will gain an appreciation of the need for infrastructural support and its impact on public health. More photos and information

Subspecialty Electives

In addition to the Gerneral Medical Elective, IHA also offers two Subspecialty programs:

Ophthalmology Subspecialty
The Ophthalmology subspecialty elective will take place in 2 main sites with travel to rural sites to perform screenings.

The Main site will be at the Lions for Prevention of Blindness clinic in Guatemala City. This clinic is a busy clinic in the center of Guatemala City. It is situated adjacent to the largest private ophthalmology clinic in Central America. The student will have the opportunity to follow indigent and private patients both in a clinical and operating room setting. This is a very busy rotation in which over 100 patients are examined daily.

The second site is located in the Diocesan Dispensario which is a referral clinic for patients seen in the rural villages of the Peten region.
Finally rural eye screenings will be performed on a weekly basis. These screenings will be performed in conjunction with the Lions Clubs in the rural locations. Patients will be examined on site, given glasses, receive treatment on site and be referred for eye surgery at one of the main sites listed above.

At the end of this rotation the student will be able to perform an eye exam in Spanish, recognize and know the treatment for the most common eye diseases in the area and triage eye patients for further care. Opportunities will be available for observing and assisting in laser and intraocular surgery.

Malaria Prevention Program
Students can participate in travel to the small villages to work with local health promoters in the Malaria Prevention Program. Travel to the individual sites will be arranged through the San Benito site and Dra. Garcia.

Students will be actively involved in working with the health promoters. Students will have the opportunity to work with the 2 regional health promoters, who are associated with the project, to design teaching modules for health promoters in the outlying villages.

It has been our experience that students at a later stage of their training desire to spend additional time at one of the sites. We welcome your return.

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