I’ve always been fascinated by biology, and my recent diabetes diagnoses has just renewed my interest in medicine. I honestly had no plan to pursue anything medical while in Africa this year, because I didn’t think it was possible. However, my program with the leper colony ended about a month earlier than I expected, and I was bored out of my mind. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before- I do NOT do well with inactivity. At all. So I started to look for something to occupy my time with- and discovered St. Morgan’s Maternal and Child Health Care Center.
St. Morgan’s is the best private clinic in Kajo-Keji County, and people travel for hours to receive treatment there. The government hospital refers people there on a daily basis. They have the only ultrasound machine and technician and the only x-ray machine, which will soon be operational when they get a big enough generator to run it. I didn’t think it would be possible to work there but it turns out they are happy to have me! I started with the internship about three weeks ago, and have learned more than I thought possible.
I have a huge amount of respect for my mentor. He is the only certified medical personnel there, so he works from around 7 in the morning to around 11 at night every day, and he is on call all night. He literally sleeps at the clinic. He is also one of the only African men I have ever met who treats me like an equal. Most treat me as if I am inferior simply because I’m a girl. He likes to teach and I like to learn- I would have been content to listen and watch as he interacted with patients, but he decided that wasn’t enough of a challenge.
On my second day at the clinic he turned to me and said OK you can check his blood pressure. I was dumbfounded and it took me a few seconds to realize that he actually meant ME. After the first time I was more prepared for this… when he told me to give injections and perform ultrasounds I was somewhat ready. Since then I’ve learned how to check blood pressure, give injections, both IM and IV, use the ultrasound machine, take medical histories, and perform basic examinations like palpations and checking for cyanosis, and much more.
Every day we go into the exam room with patients, he sits in the wood chair, and both the patients and I sit in plastic chairs. He takes the history while I watch, then consults me as to what I think it is. Once I’ve correctly identified the disease he asked me what treatment… I’ve memorized the dosages for many common drugs. Yesterday, we walked into the exam room and he sat in my plastic chair and looked at me expectantly. Well thanks for the warning… I sat in the wood chair and took the lead in talking to the patient, doing investigations (i.e. blood smear for malaria), diagnosing, and prescribing treatment. Talk about trial by fire! If I made a mistake, he corrected me, but thanks to his merciless grilling in previous weeks I have the basics pretty well memorized.
I have them memorized because for the most part we only get a few types of cases: malaria, typhoid, respiratory tract infections, ulcers, etc. All are very easy to identify and treat. I absolutely love working there. The people are friendly, the days are busy, and the work is absolutely fascinating. I usually stay for about eight hours a day, sometimes more sometimes less, and the time flies by. I don’t know if I’ll end up being a pediatrician, a surgeon, a diagnostician, etc… But one thing is clear: I need to start working on my elaborately illegible doctor’s signature.
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