You may be wondering, Adrianna, what is this practicum for and what will you be doing during your time there? Well, as I stated before, the practicum is the culminating component that is required in order to obtain my degree. It is an intensive, month long, fieldwork experience which will allow me to utilize the information and competencies learned throughout my program and apply it to a real-world experience.
With the help of CFHI, I have been able to curate an experience which take into account my interests – which include equitable access to healthcare, noncommunicable diseases, health justice, healthcare systems, emergency medical services, and the urban/rural comparative – as well as the needs of the community, which is the most important. With the help of Dra. Cecilia Uribe, we were able to develop an overall structure where I will learn more about the Bolivian healthcare system.
Bolivia’s universal healthcare system, Sistema Único de Salud (SUS), is a completely free healthcare system for all Bolivian citizens that was initiated in March 2019. While this has provided access to healthcare for millions more people throughout the country, it has also had it’s challenges, including ensuring that the rural and Indigenous populations have access to this free care. Several policies and systemic changes have occurred to improve this access for these patients (including SAFCI and their Mi Salud outreach) but there are still challenges among these interventions as well. Over the next few weeks, I will, therefore, be attending in-person clinical rotations, performing literature reviews, and interviewing healthcare personnel and patients to ultimately provide recommendations to improve access to care for patients in these rural regions, including the Indigenous peoples.
With this blog, I hope to provide some insight into what I’m learning and hopefully you can learn something too!
Bolivia Practicum 2023 