The experience of an international internship in primary health care in Boston, USA

Abstract

This article aims to convey the experience of an internship program held in June 2010, at Union Square Family Health (USFH) (Somerville, Boston), a primary care unit affiliated to Harvard Medical School and Tufts University of Family Medicine. Through the description of activities and circumstances of the aforementioned internship, the author intends to establish a critical reflection about her experience. This internship was an opportunity to contact with the daily practice of a family doctor in the U.S., during which the author participated in consultations, health education and cardiovascular risk reduction sessions, observed and improved skills on minor surgery, gynecologic and articular infiltration techniques, always under supervision. It was also possible to contact briefly with the Residency Program of Family Medicine at Tufts University, participating in videoconferences and seminars, as well as on observation of patients and the discussion of clinical cases. As conclusion, the author discusses the advantages of enrolling an international internship, such as the contact with new ideas and different ways of working and communicating, new skills (and their use as a tool for continuous improvement), the establishment of professional contacts and, last but not least, the valorization of the qualities of our own health system.