In September 2013, a group of 7 UCLA nursing students (2 APN, 4 MECN, 1 BSN) joined the Floating Doctors (www.floatingdoctors.com) medical mission in Panama. The team collaborated with an international group of nursing students, medical students, advanced practice nurses, physicians, surgeons, ultrasound technicians, translators, and supporters. The team traveled by boat to organize clinics among the indigenous Ngobe communities across the Bocas del Toro province, including Bocas Torito, Kusapin, and Tierra Oscura. The team provided preventative health and primary care services among a varying population of pediatric, adult, and geriatric patients, and also conducted house-visits for patients who were unable to trek to the clinic site. The Floating Doctors clinic provided prescriptive eyeglasses, prenatal vitamins for expecting mothers, multivitamins for children, and an assortment of medicinal prescriptions for varying degrees of conditions ranging from scabies, leishmaniasis, gastrointestinal illness, diarrhea, and headaches secondary to dehydration. Overall, the students were able to practice and hone in on their nursing skills, explore diagnoses with physicians, and learn about the Ngobe people and understand how their way of life greatly intertwines with their health outcomes.
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