By kneander
Well its over, after a month of interviews, shifts, and EMS courses and conferences i have finally completed my Independent Study Project. The final product was a 44 page research paper in Spanish detailing the structures, strengths weaknesses and challenges of the Emergency Response System in Santa Cruz de la Sierra in addition to an overview and introduction to the system the paper also included documented the three various systems: public, private and governmental as well as descriptions of normal shifts with organizations in each of these sectors.
Though i am incredibly happy and proud to have completed this project, there are still things that I wish had been covered that unfortunately were not. In the majority of my interviews and shifts with various organizations I heard about a plan for mutual aid system as well as a movement to create a 911 like unified dispatch system for the city. Though these two important development projects were mentioned frequently it was impossible for me to get any concrete information on the topics. Other than being able to get substantial information about these two projects my only other significant research challenge was getting meaning full time with patients and their families to ask about their impressions and experiences of the system as a whole. This was challenging for me for two reasons, firstly the nature of the emergency health system in Bolivia limits provider patient contact much more than the American system and secondly because of the very limited number of people who utilize the emergency response system instead of transporting themselves to a clinic or hospital. I overcame these two research challenges my modifying my research question and focusing instead on the structure of the current emergency response system. By only exploring the structural strengths and weaknesses of the emergency response system I was able to write a comprehensive research paper about one component of the system instead of a being forced to omit important opinions, experiences and developments that I would not have been able to gather in the limited time I had.
Over all this project was an incredible experience, living and working independently in Santa Cruz was a highlight of my semester and i look forward to bringing the knowledge and experiences I gained through this research project back to my community. I hope that my paper and presence in Santa Cruz over the past month will help the organizations I worked with and look forward to continuing to assist them in any way I can upon my return to the states.