Mission trip in PA school

[Student0024]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has done a mission trip in PA school. My school's offering one at the end of didactic year to Panama and I am interested but not sure.

On one hand, I've heard it's a cool experience - experiencing life in a 3rd world country and being able to do minor procedures and help the underserved etc... but on the other hand, I barely do any volunteering in the underserved areas where I live,  so I feel like I should do that first rather than pay $1500 to spend 1 week volunteering. 

So, is it worth it? Does it help with clinical year (or better yet - jobs afterward)? Please share if you have any experience!! 

[UGoLong]

19 minutes ago, Student0024 said:

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has done a mission trip in PA school. My school's offering one at the end of didactic year to Panama and I am interested but not sure.

On one hand, I've heard it's a cool experience - experiencing life in a 3rd world country and being able to do minor procedures and help the underserved etc... but on the other hand, I barely do any volunteering in the underserved areas where I live,  so I feel like I should do that first rather than pay $1500 to spend 1 week volunteering. 

So, is it worth it? Does it help with clinical year (or better yet - jobs afterward)? Please share if you have any experience!! 

I did a mission trip to Belize in PA school and the program I teach for now has one every year to Central America as well. I enjoyed it immensely, both the time with the general population and the team I traveled with.

In life, you'll be faced with the opportunity for new experiences and you can either decide to do them to see what it feels like or rule them out on the basis of cost and/or comfort. At this stage of my life, I try to pick a new experience over other considerations whenever possible.

So, no, I don't think you have to do your time in the inner city before going on a mission trip. And it will probably add little to your job prospects, other than to cement relationships with whatever medical professionals are going with you. On the other hand, it may very well teach you something else and that isn't all bad.

[okons212]

On 12/24/2019 at 9:21 AM, Student0024 said:

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has done a mission trip in PA school. My school's offering one at the end of didactic year to Panama and I am interested but not sure.

On one hand, I've heard it's a cool experience - experiencing life in a 3rd world country and being able to do minor procedures and help the underserved etc... but on the other hand, I barely do any volunteering in the underserved areas where I live,  so I feel like I should do that first rather than pay $1500 to spend 1 week volunteering. 

So, is it worth it? Does it help with clinical year (or better yet - jobs afterward)? Please share if you have any experience!! 

First, great post there however, to correct a misconception I think for someone interested in service to vulnerable populations should know.... There is NOTHING like a 3rd world country. Instead, developing country would suffice. 

I think it was necessary to call this out not because your intentions are not good but, it needed to be said. I hear so many folks use this term which, I personally find to be degrading and it takes away from all your good intentions if you can't at least know how to describe the population you want to serve. 

Edited December 31, 2019 by okons212

[EMEDPA]

This is something I share with my global health students:

https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/7-things-you-will-learn-on-Dollar-Street

https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street/matrix

If you consider communities or nations on a continuum based on income it more adequately reflects what is going on in each setting. This also allows for movement as incomes change. 

[okons212]

So @EMEDPA, are you saying that using the reference, 3rd world country is appropriate. I could not tell from reading you post? 

Edited December 31, 2019 by okons212

[EMEDPA]

5 hours ago, okons212 said:

So @EMEDPA, are you saying that using the reference, 3rd world country is appropriate. I could not tell from reading you post? 

No, Sorry if my response was unclear. Developing nation is certainly better. The best system in my opinion is based on income levels:

https://www.gapminder.org/topics/four-income-levels/

The fun thing with this system is that you can graph how countries change over time and compare countries in the past to other countries today. 

I am a huge fan of Dr Rosling's ideas and incorporate them into my global health course every term. 

More of his Ted Talks: https://www.ted.com/playlists/474/the_best_hans_rosling_talks_yo

His book is called Factfulness. I believe this should be required reading for every student of global health. 

https://www.amazon.com/Factfulness-Reasons-World-Things-Better/dp/1250107814

 

[UGoLong]

Just a thought on adding to someone's perspective:

Lots of factoids get thrown at us and we are all, at one time or another, on the wrong side of a changing lexicon. "Third world" was how it was taught when I was in college and changing that to "developing country" is fine, as long as we don't assume that any user of the older phrase is somehow "not woke" or whatever words you'd like to use.

I have a friend from China and used to use the word "oriental" until he nicely told me that they prefer to be called "Asians." "Oriental" means "east" as was a name given them by European colonial powers and they would prefer to name themselves, thank you very much. 

I learned from the exchange, changed my ingrained habit, and we are still great friends.  I think that is a great model to use to educate others on changing perspectives.

[Student0024]

Thank you everyone for your responses - I think I will pass on this mission trip as it is a little too expensive for me at this time... but definitely something I would like to do as a PA-C!