Technology

We are in the 21st century and the things are very different that 100 years ago.
Nowadays technology is everywhere, and you can't run away from it. You can't leave your house and expect not to see a piece of technology; in fact, even if you stay at home you'll be surrounded by it. Clothes, phones, eyeglasses, forniture, computers, nail polish and the list still goes on and on and on and on. An as we can't escape from it, we can't live without techonolgy. Even brushing your teeth is a technological procedure. And, of course, the health area isn't immune to this phenomenon, in contrast, it is the biggest inspiration of technology.
Technology in Health has made possible to diagnose in less time, treat in a more efficient way, control the patient and find - or at least try to- cures for diseases of the world.

Picture a 'doctor' in the 1700's. A patient with a chest pain arrives. The only way the medic has to hear what's happening on the inside of the patient is to put his ear directly on the patient's torax and hope -for the person's sake- that his hearing is accurate. A hundred years later, a french guy invents the stethoscope 'cause he was embarrased of the aforementioned method. A simple tool to diagnose and control better, faster and more precisely. Both the patient and the medic wins. But it was a snowball. One thing led to another and now we have a lot of instruments and machinery to make the health professional a more efficient one.

Technology also made possible to find what a microorganisms are like and how to beat them. Vaccines, tablets, capsules, syrups, etc. All of them have appeared and have been improved over all of this years, nearly as the same rates as the microorganisms evolve to new strains.

As to what our career is concerned, technology has improved the way we treat our patients and as we help them to recover to a nearly full movement status when it is possible. Take as an example the Locomat machine that Ripley donated to Teletón in 2007 to help people to feel their limbs and learn how to walk again. This is a good example of how technology is intended in health area.

All of the above are very good reasons to respond why we can't live without technology in our lives. It doesn't matter if your are a student, a medic, a truck driver or even a bum. We have technology in all your aspects of life and from the beginning 'till the end of it. We can never ever try to part from it, you cand try as hard as you can, but eventually it will find and help you.
All we can do is thank the men and women that have helped in many ways to make our lives easier and better.

Challenges of my career

Today I'm going to write about the challenges of my career: Physical Therapy.
Physical therapy is one of the most required careers in the area of Health. Despite this, in Chile we have a lot of problems in the areas of technology, Education and social matters(related with the two previous topics ).

In Chile we don't have the necessary technology for a good and more effective treatment for the patient.In the universities this technology is almost inexistent because electronic equipment is so expensive that a few universities can afford it. Further, the few universities that can pay for it don't have the necessary equipment available for each student. This is a big problem for students because not everyone have access to the equipment and that can make studying or learning-by-doing a lot more difficult for some.

Another problem related with tecnology is that in hospitals, "SAPU" and consults don't exist the same equipment that in clinics. This is a problem and an injustice for the patients and the physical therapist, because obviously in clinics the treatment is more effective, faster and the Physical therapist have all the necessary equipment for this. All this boils down to money ; hospitals have a low budget and the persons that came here don't have a lot of money and in contrast, clinics have hight budget and people that came here does have money.As we can see, all this can resume in an issue of difference between social classes, which, I hope, will end as soon as a good health plan comes out by the government, We'll see if the new president presents an improved plan next year (not just campaign's promises but the real deal).

Another challenge my career faces these days is the fact that a lot - really, A LOT- of people doesn't have a clear mind of what it is about. I mean, they think that our career is just about giving massages and stuff like that; not much realize that we treat serious injuries and that we are the cause of nearly full (if not full) movement recovery on patients whom have been diagnosed with paralysis in some degree. But, on the other side, social campaigns such as Teletón, have made that a lot of them also be a little more educated about what we do and how we help people. And that's a start.

Improving my Faculty

My faculty is actually kind of archaic. I see it like a big school building, since I know other universities, like the San Joaquin's campus of the UC, or the USACH campus, which are really, really big and have a lot of green areas and places to rest between classes.

I also think that the classrooms are quite old, and have a lousy acoustic, 'cause sometimes you can't hear what the teachers are saying right. And the bathrooms are ugly and kind of old too.

I really think that a lot of things need improvement, like the ones aforementioned - the bathrooms, the classrooms and the lack of green areas - but some more need some improvement too: the computers must be upgraded or be totally renewed, and enlarge the number of them, 'cause right now, they're not enough for all of the students. Same thing with books, they're not enough for all of us, they should get new copies.

If they do some improvements in those areas, the whole community will be benefited, as more students will be able to study without worries (as more books will be available and the waiting time will be reduced) and to check classes' powerpoints, investigate and read the things they need for their subjects in the new computers.

The one thing that is actually a little harder to achieve is the green areas, as there's necessary a bigger terrain, and, as far as I know, there's no adjacent ground to be bought by the university to make a park-like patio for the students to relax, but, dreaming is free and free almost everytime is good.