Today is not over yet but enough has happened that I want to write about.
There were some changes to the day that happened very early this morning which changed the day around a little. I didn't know anything had changed and I hadn't really been told yesterday what to do. However, I had been told I was going to be learning the Hospital Administrator's job so I could cover for him. He is going to medical school and they haven't hired his replacement yet so I get to learn his job for now. Because I knew this, I decided to tag along with our medical team to the hospital in the morning so I could see what it was all about.
We walked to the hospital, which is only a couple minutes away, and I got the pleasure of being able to greet a bunch of locals on the way. There is apparently a regular crew of kids that live nearby and play right outside our compound. They love to greet the staff as they walk by. It's always great to hear a bunch of kids yelling, "white person! (of course that is me translating the word they actually use since they don't speak english)" at you as you walk by. :) Once we arrived I was given a short tour of the grounds. It consists of several buildings set aside for different things, separated by gender. For example, we have a female ward for surgical patients and a male ward for surgical patients. The buildings are very basic cement buildings with beds inside. Each building can accommodate a different number of beds. I spent most of my morning in the maternity ward.
The maternity ward is the newest building and was very clean. It was interesting to see how they ran it. I don't have any experience in health care and can't really compare it to what a western system looks like but I can draw from the knowledge I do have. Most women here don't really have a primary care physician and I'm still unclear how they decide to visit our clinic when they're pregnant. It's unclear to me how they decide because women in all stages of pregnancy may show up. Today, a woman that was (estimated) 15 years old showed up for her first visit but may have been roughly 5 months along (she thought she was 7 months). She was surprising to me because she was so young, borderline SAM (severe acute malnourished), and positive for malaria. I think she may have also had a slight UTI. If I am remembering correctly, her only complaint was a headache. I couldn't believe it. Since I can't compare it to a western system I don't know how terrible all of this is on the scale of terribleness during pregnancy. I just assume it is rare for a woman to go to her doctor for a checkup and present all these symptoms. In fact, in America I always got the impression that pregnancy was very fragile. Here, life is hard to begin with and you have to be pretty tough to be thriving and pregnant. I did discover they have a pretty high miscarriage rate. Although, this is hard to confirm since it is nearly impossible to track due to most patients miscarrying at home and not coming to the hospital unless they can't stop the bleeding or other complications occur.
I was really impressed with the sort of care we are able to provide them. We test them for diseases, we give helpful supplements and vaccines, and we listen for the heartbeat, among other things. I also learned how to check for the positioning of the baby, that was cool! I should have guessed it was possible to feel the bump and figure out where the baby was but I had never really thought about it before. I will also admit I got a little teary eyed when I heard the heartbeat of a baby for the first time. Something I know is quite different from the western symptom is that they have no epidural or pain relief for women during labor. I understand a lot of women in the west opt out of an epidural but here it isn't even an option. In addition, they traditionally make no noise during labor. Very interesting. A funny aspect of this is a woman will react horribly to a needle prick for a blood test and remain silent throughout labor. I can most definitely say in just two hours in the maternity ward I learned a ton.
After my hospital visit, I was able to learn a lot from the person I'll be covering until they hire someone else. This meant going through a ton of spreadsheets that are used to track what we do in the hospital. These reports then get used to track grants and budgets. Lots of reporting and tracking. Even though it seems mundane and boring, I think it is an amazing opportunity for me to learn how to manage a program. I also think it is interesting to track activities, notice health trends, and see on paper what sort of difference is being made.
Even though I didn't get to be very hands on today I felt as if I learned A TON. I know I still have loads to learn but I felt today was successful.
There were some changes to the day that happened very early this morning which changed the day around a little. I didn't know anything had changed and I hadn't really been told yesterday what to do. However, I had been told I was going to be learning the Hospital Administrator's job so I could cover for him. He is going to medical school and they haven't hired his replacement yet so I get to learn his job for now. Because I knew this, I decided to tag along with our medical team to the hospital in the morning so I could see what it was all about.
We walked to the hospital, which is only a couple minutes away, and I got the pleasure of being able to greet a bunch of locals on the way. There is apparently a regular crew of kids that live nearby and play right outside our compound. They love to greet the staff as they walk by. It's always great to hear a bunch of kids yelling, "white person! (of course that is me translating the word they actually use since they don't speak english)" at you as you walk by. :) Once we arrived I was given a short tour of the grounds. It consists of several buildings set aside for different things, separated by gender. For example, we have a female ward for surgical patients and a male ward for surgical patients. The buildings are very basic cement buildings with beds inside. Each building can accommodate a different number of beds. I spent most of my morning in the maternity ward.
The maternity ward is the newest building and was very clean. It was interesting to see how they ran it. I don't have any experience in health care and can't really compare it to what a western system looks like but I can draw from the knowledge I do have. Most women here don't really have a primary care physician and I'm still unclear how they decide to visit our clinic when they're pregnant. It's unclear to me how they decide because women in all stages of pregnancy may show up. Today, a woman that was (estimated) 15 years old showed up for her first visit but may have been roughly 5 months along (she thought she was 7 months). She was surprising to me because she was so young, borderline SAM (severe acute malnourished), and positive for malaria. I think she may have also had a slight UTI. If I am remembering correctly, her only complaint was a headache. I couldn't believe it. Since I can't compare it to a western system I don't know how terrible all of this is on the scale of terribleness during pregnancy. I just assume it is rare for a woman to go to her doctor for a checkup and present all these symptoms. In fact, in America I always got the impression that pregnancy was very fragile. Here, life is hard to begin with and you have to be pretty tough to be thriving and pregnant. I did discover they have a pretty high miscarriage rate. Although, this is hard to confirm since it is nearly impossible to track due to most patients miscarrying at home and not coming to the hospital unless they can't stop the bleeding or other complications occur.
I was really impressed with the sort of care we are able to provide them. We test them for diseases, we give helpful supplements and vaccines, and we listen for the heartbeat, among other things. I also learned how to check for the positioning of the baby, that was cool! I should have guessed it was possible to feel the bump and figure out where the baby was but I had never really thought about it before. I will also admit I got a little teary eyed when I heard the heartbeat of a baby for the first time. Something I know is quite different from the western symptom is that they have no epidural or pain relief for women during labor. I understand a lot of women in the west opt out of an epidural but here it isn't even an option. In addition, they traditionally make no noise during labor. Very interesting. A funny aspect of this is a woman will react horribly to a needle prick for a blood test and remain silent throughout labor. I can most definitely say in just two hours in the maternity ward I learned a ton.
After my hospital visit, I was able to learn a lot from the person I'll be covering until they hire someone else. This meant going through a ton of spreadsheets that are used to track what we do in the hospital. These reports then get used to track grants and budgets. Lots of reporting and tracking. Even though it seems mundane and boring, I think it is an amazing opportunity for me to learn how to manage a program. I also think it is interesting to track activities, notice health trends, and see on paper what sort of difference is being made.
Even though I didn't get to be very hands on today I felt as if I learned A TON. I know I still have loads to learn but I felt today was successful.
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