Day one in the hospital!

Monday morning: Lisa, Prajna and I reported for duty at the hospital, after a 300-meter walk from our hotel and several trepidatious minutes trying to cross a busy street during rush hour. We met up with Mr. Xie and our interpreters, Jenny and May.

Mr. Xie led us on a grand tour of the hospital, which included an outpatient ward for children with cerebal palsy, a comprehensive TCM and Western medical pharmacy, a rooftop garden and tai chi patio, and the nicest hospital waiting room I have ever seen (it's outside, surrounded by greenery - can you imagine that in the US???). I know what you're thinking - Gee, wouldn't it be nice to see pictures of all these things? Well, yes, it would, but I'm having some firewall challenges at the moment - I'll try to get you all some visuals ASAP.

After the tour, Jenny took Prajna and Lisa to the oncology department, and May and I headed off to Dermatology. I really didn't know what to expect. I do a lot of cosmetic dermatology in my own practice in Los Angeles, but a hospital in China is a whole different story. I started to get a little nervous as visions of flesh-eating bacteria filled my imagination. However, much of what I saw today were ailments that seem to plague all cultures: dermatitis, psoriasis, and of course, acne.

The most immediate difference I noticed is that the western notion of patient confidentiality simply does not exist in a Chinese hospital. May and I sat in an intake office with our teacher, Professor Wu, as patients came in and described their conditions and Dr. Wu wrote formulas. During each intake, other patients wandered in and out of the room, interrupting, listening in, making comments, craning their necks to see what the doctor was writing, even trying to see what I was writing. The only time the door was closed was when the doctor needed to do a visual inspection of a young male patient who complained of genital itching. I guess there is some privacy.