The Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic; Photographer Dr. Laura Finn, Bringing Something Back, 2007

THE BRINGING SOMETHING BACK ELECTIVE

Seeing diverse ways of doing things internationally provides perspectives that can truly be not only career-altering but also life-altering.  This premise spurred the thought that offering such an experience to residents would be so unique that it would distinguish us from literally every other internal medicine residency in the United States.  The Bringing Something Back rotation is offered to each second-year resident in the LSU Internal Medicine Residency in Baton Rouge.  It is an opportunity to spend one month at a site outside the United States studying an element of medicine beyond the scientific realm.  Included would be such topics as healthcare policy, sociology, economics, medical ethics, or educational theory. 

In essence, the goal would be for the resident to have time to reflect on those elements that might help them think of their career as more than just a science.  It would provide an experience that would dramatically broaden the residents’ perspectives, and give them insights that would help them evolve both professionally and personally in truly unique ways.  The naming of this program as Bringing Something Back was based on the intent of residents bringing their newly-acquired insights and perspectives back to Baton Rouge, in hopes of helping both them and our program think of better ways in which the clinical and educational missions could be conducted, and therefore better serve the Baton Rouge community.

The following is a list of our resident’s Bringing Something Back electives since its inception in 2007:

Amsterdam, Netherlands	Victoria Solderitch	The Role of Medical Anthropology in the Field of Medicine and Human Rights
Copenhagen, Sweden	Rebecca Roques-Davis	Influences of Environmental Attitudes and Policy on a National Health Care System
Johannesburg, South Africa	Oleana Lamendola	Political Activism and its Effects on the HIV Epidemic in South Africa
Kampala, Uganda	Lori Pihl	Medical Syncretism in a Developing Nation
Kos, Greece	Ann Long	A Study of Hippocrates and His Influence on Modern Medicine
Luzern, Switzerland	Lauren Zatarain	Lessons from an International Experience with Universal Health Coverage and Their Implications on the Proposed Reform in the United States
Mumbai, India	Casey Chapman	Poverty, Population, Spiritualism and the Art of Healing
Paris, France	Robert Aertker	Cultural Influences on End-Of-Life Care
Prague, The Czech Republic	Laura Finn	The Art of Medicine through Theories of Black and White Photography
Reggio Emilia, Italy	Matt Foy	Application of an Early Childhood Educational Theory to Resident Training
Shanghai, China	Brian Levatino	Factors Influencing Patient Selection of Alternative Versus Traditional Medical Care
Vienna, Austria	Daniel Stout	The Impact of Naziism on Medical Ethics