Medicine & Physiotherapy - BOLIVIA Daily Life

Life of a Medical Volunteer in Bolivia

The volunteers that arrive on placement in Cochabamba, depending on experience, will be placed in one of two programs.

We work in the main general hospital in Cocabamba which is open to the general public, and is therefore one of the most busy hospitals in the city. Because receiving treatment is relatively expensive, the patients are only required to pay 1% of their total medical and hospitalization bill. The rest is covered through donations made by the general public, national and international companies.

In the hospital, volunteers normally work in the Pediatrics Burns Unit (Pabellón de Quemados) and are required to have some sort of knowledge of medicine (the hospital accepts current medical students or professional medics). If a volunteer arrives for physiotherapy, they will be placed in the physiotherapy ward of the Burns Unit, if they are medical students they will be placed with Dr. Romero in surgery (observing and if lucky, participating in surgery by holding instruments, cleansing wounds, even stitching), but this all depends on how much confidence the doctor has in the individual volunteer.

Volunteers with experience in nursing will be placed with the head nurse, working as an integral part of the nursing team.

The second type of placement involves working in public health clinics which are found in some of the poverty stricken areas of Cochabamba. These clinics work mainly with women and children due to the SUMI and work as educational centers for medical and nursing students.

This is the perfect placement for pre-medical students as the clinics deal with primary care i.e. basic check-ups and minor emergencies. Volunteers learn how to give vaccinations, take vital signs, clean wounds, and other more basic medical tasks. Volunteers also take part in the admissions area, learning how to open new patient files, register them, etc.

Wherever a volunteer is placed, they will be supervised at all times. For physiotherapy, volunteers are usually given one patient to begin with and observe others until the physiotherapist feels confident with their work enough to give them more patients.

A standard day on a medical placement would usually involve working the morning shift, which is the busiest time of the day. This starts at 8:30am - and usually finishes at 12:30pm. Volunteers are welcome to stay on after this point or go back home for lunch and return at 14:00 continue work.

In the evenings, volunteers often relax at home and spend time with the family, or otherwise there is a lively social scene in the city, with plenty of events, so there is always something to do.

Volunteers are placed in host families in the city of Cochabamba. Depending on the placement, bus journeys to work can take anywhere between 5 and 45 minutes to get to work (depending on the day and traffic), but we try to place volunteers as close to possible to their placement. Whatever the case, the Projects Abroad staff give full make sure all volunteers know exactly what is expected of them and how to get around the city during the induction on arrival.