Central Chest Institute of Thailand

Today some of us visited the Central Chest Institute of Thailand, a hospital with focus on cardiovascular and pulmonary disease. In our time there we visited an anticoagulation clinic, asthma/COPD clinic, and TB clinic. We discussed how patients are counseled on their anticoagulation treatment and TB treatments, and observed a pharmacist counsel a patient on proper inhaler technique. It was interesting to see how their processes here are fairly similar to those in the US. When looking at a digoxin toxicity case later in the day, a notable difference came in the fact that the lack of having the antidote stocked in the hospital as it was too expensive. While it is also expensive in the US, it's typically on hand should it be needed. This emphasized how cost barriers can vary from country to country, and may not be something that's typically considered when thinking of how other country's health systems work.