The Global Health Minor at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences is helping students gain a broader understanding of global health systems.

A key component of the Global Health Minor’s curriculum is an international trip, where medical students practice their physical exam and diagnostic skills under licensed healthcare professionals in underserved communities. The program hosts three trips a year open to all OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine students.

Dr. Amanda Cain, clinical associate professor of medical education at OSU-CHS, said the goal of these trips is to expose students to healthcare systems outside of the United States.

“Every country has its challenges in healthcare, whatever they are. Students can go in and see those challenges, while getting hands-on experience in things they wouldn’t normally see here,” she said.

In July, Cain joined John Mumey, global health manager at OSU-CHS, Dr. Chelsea Arnhart, an OSU-COM alumna and adjunct faculty member at OSU-CHS, and five incoming second-year medical students on one of these trips to Costa Rica.

For the trip, they partnered with Mission Activation, a nonprofit focused on community outreach with a dedicated medical clinic in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

Faculty and students worked alongside the clinic’s staff to provide care to as many patients as possible throughout the week, primarily in a daycare. According to Cain, they treated more children on this trip than they typically do, but it equipped the students with another skill set.

“Examining a kid is different than an adult. You have to earn their trust and have fun with them,” she said.

Cain and Arnhart sat with the students and supervised as they saw patients. The goal was to help students become more comfortable giving physical exams and identify health conditions, such as heart murmurs.

“The hard thing about medical school is you learn all these things, like how to use a stethoscope, but typically the people you’re evaluating don’t have anything wrong with them. But you have to learn what normal sounds like before you can identify abnormal, so it was fun to see the students become confident in histories and exams,” said Cain.

Linnea Krautter, a second-year OSU-COM student who was a part of the trip, echoed the sentiment.

“Repetition helps you feel comfortable, and we did so many exams by the end of the week that I couldn’t believe I was so nervous at the beginning of the week,” she said.

Krautter and the other students also gained experience treating illnesses and conditions they wouldn’t normally encounter as providers, such as dengue fever.

“There are a lot of things we talk about in class that I never thought I would see,” said Samantha Thompson, an OSU-COM at the Cherokee Nation student who was also on the trip. “I saw stridor for the first time, which we talk about so much, but being able to see it in real life was very different.”

In addition to physical exams, the group would distribute essential medications and multivitamins. They also coordinated with Mission Activation’s provider to set up more long-term care for patients who required follow-up appointments, such as a child whose broken arm healed incorrectly.

Cain said in countries like Costa Rica, where it can take years to see a specialist, partnerships such as the one with Mission Activation are important to create a pipeline of care.

“Partnerships with these places that are instilled in the community ensure there’s a path forward for the things we couldn’t help with,” she said.

On every global health trip, the group finds time for fun too,  like visiting the neighboring beach during their free time. Mission Activation hosted a cultural night where students danced and learned more about Costa Rican traditions and foods before closing out the week with a hike to a local waterfall.

Krautter said practicing her clinical skills in a global setting during the trip will help her as a future physician.

“The opportunity will help me feel confident as I start my training. Especially when it comes to respiratory and cardio exams. My level of competency is so much higher after listening to so many patients in just a week,” she said.

Thompson agreed and will draw on this experience as she treats patients from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

“It’s given me an appreciation for people from different countries and the challenges they face. Understanding how their lifestyles and medicine are different will help me better relate to people and understand where they’re coming from,” she said.

The perspective gained by Krautter, Thompson and the rest of the students is what Cain said is at the heart of the Global Health Minor.

“You always think you’re going to go on these trips and affect change in people, but what happens is you are always the person that is changed. It seems like you’re going to go serve a community and that is the gift, but really, the gift is the perspective they give you,” said Cain.