Today is the final day of clinical rotation and the whole team is at Arrow Web Hospital. I think everyone is quietly hoping we have at least one delivery today. The general feeling amongst the group is one of relief mixed with a sense of achievement. I am relieved, not only that I have survived this journey but that I have also loved every minute of it. In this blog entry I will try to share with you some of the amazing things I have done and the lessons I have had along the way.
We go to bed exhausted every night and experience and learn something new every day. The saying goes, “do something that scares you every day.” I can honestly say that I have done that every day of this trip. From nearly disappearing into pot holes in the Van on a daily basis to learning to take blood on a Masai man who carried an ominous stick with him at all times (I also learnt this gentleman drank blood and killed lions on a regular basis). The fear factor certainly spurs you to get things right the first time. As a city girl who grew up on the leafy North Shore of Sydney I have been out of my comfort zone for the majority of the trip- and loved it.
My baptism of fire began on the first day when I was taken on a tour of the hospital. No electricity, one tank of water, little to no concept of the Universal precautions and one broken blood pressure machine to share amongst the entire hospital. I learnt to adapt to my surroundings and help in any way I could given the resources available to me. Initially, we all had our heads in text books and Ipads scouring any information we could find on Malaria, Typhoid and Brucella. However, by the end of the trip we had come to realise that the humble thermometer is far more valuable of a tool than our Oxford Handbook of medicine.
I have also learnt that medicine is definitely a matter of pattern recognition. The experience we have had here has been invaluable and enough to make any medical student green with envy. We would see the patient, examine them, take their blood, do the laboratory tests, then educate the patient and calculate the drugs to be given in the pharmacy. We were allied health in one person! We would also see the patient for follow up in a few days. Being so intricately involved in every aspect of treatment has been very educational and something that just does not exist in our medical schools. Our health system is quite fragmented in the sense that everyone has such a specialised role. Here it is important that everyone knows how to do everything.
The most memorable day of the trip has definitely been the free clinic we assisted with at Arrow Web Hospital. Collectively, we saw about 400 patients. I was lucky enough to be in-charge of vaccinating the beautiful babies. The mothers came in the room in groups of three and diligently undressed their little bundles to be weighed. It was such an incredible opportunity, not only as medical student but also for me as a person to be able to give something so valuable to so many children. It took me a few attempts before I stopped grimacing as much as the children as I vaccinated their tiny little thighs.
My peers were each rotating through taking histories and examining the hundreds of other patients that waited patiently outside for over four hours. I joined them after the vaccinations. Needless to say, by the time we got to the backpackers that evening we felt like we had run a marathon. The stories we shared that evening of the patients we had seen and the haphazard way in which we coped will stay with me forever.
As I type this I am buzzing with excitement for the final leg of our trip to Mombassa early tomorrow morning. The incredible Maria of Urafiki clinic has invited us all to her home for a farewell dinner this evening. It is an incredible way to end an unforgettable trip. The people here are so generous with their knowledge and time and so grateful for even the most meagre bit of help that we have given. I cannot wait to get back to medical school so I can learn as much as I can and be able to help more in the future. Africa is certainly addictive and I will be back.
Tori
