Quito has approximately 7 large hospitals…
(not including sizeable clinics) including 3 public and 4 private. Most of my experience was at the Tierra Nueva private hospital, started as a charitable institution to care for indigent populations in the South of Quito.
The hospital hosts 148 hospital beds, 14 observation beds in the ER with 3 triage beds, 5 maternity beds, 1 operating room, and 38 specialties. The hospital sees approximately 600 patients a day and each doctor sees about 22 patients per shift (there are morning and afternoon shifts).
My rotations included:
- family medicine
- pediatric triage
- emergency room
- emergency triage
- endoscopy
- cardiology
- maternity
- neonatology
- community visits
- internal medicine
- surgery
I am very grateful to the doctors, nurses, staff, and patients who welcomed me into their lives, and most of all to Vicky for making the introductions and setting everything up!