4/2/26- The lay of the land

Today is day 4 of getting settled into the day to day in this rotation. The medical students have been our right-hands in navigating this atmosphere. They translate the conversations between doctors and patients as well as help us understand where we should be and how to either participate or stay out of the way. They are also our window into the Greek culture. We have talked about everything under the sun from school, politics, the weather, and where to eat. An interesting concept that we discussed was misinformation and mistrust with the medical system from the influence of the internet. This phenomenon was exacerbated by COVID19 and has since taken off. We expressed the frustration with health influencers' 'medical advice' even though they do not have the education to back up what they are saying. This is also a problem in Greece. We discussed how patients will start taking advice from health influencers, try supplements or hear misinformation about subjects like cortisol and ask for labs, medications, and tests that are not significant or effective. Then, some patients will not trust your opinion anymore or question or your validity. It is scary and difficult to navigate as a physician when juggling misinformation and patient trust. It was interesting to hear that we share many of the same problems with social media, specifically. Politics were another point that we talked about. I found it fascinating how much the Greeks knew about the history and politics of the United Stated but we knew nearly nothing about theirs. Similar to how they all now English and we do not focus on learning other languages. It feels privileged and borderline entitled to be able to expect other people to adapt to your language. I wish that was something that we did better in the US. Other countries are so willing to learn about the US but we are very self involved and don't necessarily pay close attention to the history and politics of the rest of the world if it does not involve the US. It makes me thankful for the experience here to be able to learn about other cultures.