On Wednesday May 22, we visited the Heart Institute associated with the FMUSP Hospital in Clínicas (InCor). During this trip, we had the opportunity to have a discussion with executive Dr. Fábio Nakandakare Kawamura as well as the head of nursing, the head of the ICU, and the head of IT, Dr. Micheall Antonio Gutierrez.
From each discussion, there was an overwhelming sense of looking out for one another via healthcare. Dr. Fábio talked a lot about the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). SUS is the public healthcare system in Brazil. In Brazil, healthcare is considered a right and therefore the government provides it. Under this program, Brazilians never have to pay out of pocket for any hospital visit. Even more amazing is that this program can even be extended to foreigners who are in Brazil. Simply by looking at the structure of this program, one can see that Brazil is a country that values the wellbeing of its citizens.
The staff at InCor are no different. Another major aspect of the discussion with the executives was Dr. Gutierrez’s development of a new device for measuring blood pressure and heart rate. Currently, patients who need to measure these qualities must wear a bulky and uncomfortable armband for hours or days. In order to improve this, Dr. Gutierrez has started to develop a completely wireless and compact device. The entire time the doctor talked about his new technology, it was centered around better insights with respect to health data and patient comfort rather than personal merit. Truly at the core of Dr. Gutierrez’s effort is improving the well being of the patient.
I personally relate to this development because I have had to wear bulky medical devices for long periods of time due to my congenital heart defect. I have a first hand understanding of how difficult it is to wear the older style of monitor. Dr. Gutierrez’s device would alleviate all the uncomfortable aspects of these modern devices.
Overall, the visit to InCor opened my eyes to this caring aspect of Brazilian culture. As it seems, Brazilians try their best to help others. They are aware of the struggles that people face and they try to help when they can. Coming from a country such as the US where business is at the core of everything we do, it is amazing to see such a sentiment ingrained in a society.
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