Down to Business

It's been a little over a month and things are finally starting to sink in/settle down. There are still plenty of distractions (fiestas), but I'm getting into a little "routine," especially at work. My goal for the first 2 months while I'm studying/completing applications is to get about 20 hours of work in at the hospital, and scale up to a full-time schedule eventually.

I'm working directly with Maria Asenjo, the Cap'de Econoadministritiva in the Emergency Department, roughly the same position as an Administrative Director. She's very smart (MBA from ESADE), very well connected (husband is the CEO of another hospital outside BCN), and extremely nice. Unfortunately, she is also very busy, especially with all of the changes that are going on in the department.

Since my unofficial title at the hospital is "Interno de Econoadministritiva," I've been asked to help conduct a few analyses for a few of the physicians in the department. One, which has been quite interesting, is the economic cost of psychiatric overdose patients. I'm working specifically on one case, organizing direct and indirect costs, and analyzing the outcomes of procedures. It's interesting because the patient has tried to committ suicide 3 times, with her latest try destroying her liver. Because she was young, she was put on the top of the liver transplant list and had an operation within 2 days, while others on the list wait months. Because of the reimbursment structure, the hospital lost a lot of money on this specific patient, who will likely (statistically speaking) try suicide again. Moreover, this patient used resources which could have been spent on others. Public healthcare draws lines, and while I'm not drawing it, the research I'm doing will help to quantify the resources spent to keep these types of patients alive.

Another study I'm involved in is on the cost of Acute Heart Failure descompensation in Spain. I'll be crunching numbers again, but it looks like I have the opportunity to be published in 3 articles while here on my Fulbright (the 2 mentioned above and one of my own). I guess that's pretty exciting, even though I never saw myself as an actual researcher.

What's funny is I'm realizing that help isn't free, even in Spain. I'm apart of a barter system and where I give a little, I get a little. For helping Maria, she has offered me use of her cabin in the mountains for a ski trip this winter. My roommates were stoked to here this, especially as we began planning a few trips together. Dr. Miro has baited me with all of his connections and the opportunity to visit other hospitals, including one in the Canary Islands, San Sebastian, Cordoba, and Alicante. I can't say no to that...

This weekend has been fairly chill. I've been cooking a lot more and got back on my running regiment. I'm signing up for a lot of upcoming races across Spain as it will be a great opportunity to supplement my travel. Talk soon