Our first few days here were just as exciting as they were hectic. We had the opportunity of visiting the Prevention Center, Ambulatório Médico de Especialidades (AME), and Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde de Barretos (the medical school).

Monday

We toured the Prevention Center with Carol, who has become one of our really good friends.

During our visit, we met with Dr. Marcio and Dr. Renato; they had showed us a phantom of a breast that another doctor was developing that would be helpful in teaching medical students how to perform fine needle aspirations, a type of biopsy procedure. The problem they were encountering was that the biopsy was not entirely accurate and that the radiograph didn’t identify microcalcifications (small calcium deposits in soft tissue of the breast). We mentioned the breast cancer training model that we had brought back from Rice; we plan on showing this project to Dr. Marcio and Dr. Renato in the near future to get their feedback. Later that day, we visited the Factory of Mobile Unit, where the mobile units are built.

Tuesday

We traveled with the Mobile Unit team to Severínia, a city about 45 minutes from Barretos. Here, we were given the opportunity to see firsthand the works of a mobile clinic. The flow of patient care was very smooth; first, a mammogram was performed, followed by a cervical cancer test. However, one of the needs we believe is a secure electronic health record. We found this to be a need because patients are required to fill out an extensive form one week before they come to the mobile clinic. They are required to do this every single time they come in. It would be most efficient if this information was stored electronically.

In addition, modernizing communication between the mobile clinic and the main hospital would be very beneficial. This would ensure there being a record of all the procedures performed in the mobile clinic; this would be helpful in the case that one of those patients visited the main hospital.

Wednesday

We visited AME, a secondary-level hospital with a clinical unit as well as a surgical unit. Here, we met Dr. Andre, an ophthalmologist, and Dr. Guilherme, an epidemiologist. Both of them gave us incredible feedback on the technologies we brought from Rice. We also had the chance to watch several cataract eye surgeries performed by Dr. Andre.

We also toured Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde de Barretos, the medical school. We met some incredible (and very intelligent) people. We also got a gist of the atmosphere of medical school here – oh man, quite stressful!