Seriously though, I am really looking forward to the next three weeks. Today was an orientation type day to learn how things operate in the Pediatric ward and nursery: we have morning meeting at 8 am (with all of the medical staff, we have been doing this since we got here), pre-rounding at 9 (which is where I will get my own patients to see), chai tea at 10:30 (the entire hospital pretty much stops for chai at 10:30), rounding with the consultants at 11 (the same as attending physicians in the US, we have to present our patients we see to them and make sure we are doing the right thing for the patient or get advice basically), lunch at 1, then pre-rounding/rounding in the nursery after lunch to finish up the day. I observed all of morning rounds but did get to pre-round on one baby in the nursery. It kinda takes a while to get familiar with the different abbreviations the medical staff uses here, so I was trying to decipher the chart and then make sure I didn't write something that wouldn't make sense to them with American-style abbreviations. Plus, these are NICU babies which is completely unfamiliar to me I feel like. Even though I've had some in-class training, handling newborns is a little out of my comfort zone and especially in a foreign country. However, that is why I am doing this - to learn. I do prefer to work in clinical settings over the hospital, but I want to learn as much as I can about all things peds since it is my future job (hopefully). This is also why I still have two more peds rotations coming when I get back to the States.
One thing I have learned already in pediatrics is that he and she are kinda used interchangeably when talking about the patients and no one seems to mind (or notice, I can't tell). It is also difficult to tell sometimes just by initial glances if they are a boy or a girl because all children who go to school shave their heads. This is to control lice outbreaks. Also, clothes and colors seem to be almost neutral gender when they are younger. There was an 8 month old boy with a pink outfit on and another 3 year old boy wearing a rather feminine yellow cardigan. I also noticed this when we were at the orphanage our first weekend here because they did not care one way or another if it was meant to be a boys' or a girls' shirt, they just loved the new clothing. I saw a girl at church this weekend who had on a white dress, but underneath there was a brown t-shirt and sweatpants with a power rangers jacket over the top (and not the female power rangers on the jacket I might add). Now this could be because they believe it is really cold outside when it's 60s-70s and people dress in several layers, but I still found it to be an interesting combination. I guess I don't have to worry about offending anyone if I say the wrong pronoun but I will still do my best to double check the chart before I say one way or the other.
We did see some very interesting cases today that are going to take a lot of work trying to decipher what exactly is going on with all these kiddos. We also had two little ones (both under the age of 3) that we had to prepare for hospice care and another one who is a little older but has a disease that will eventually end her life as well. There was another little girl I would have LOVED to have gotten a picture of who has pertussis (aka whooping cough) and make her the poster child in America for Vaccinate Your Children (and Adults-Get your Pertussis booster so you don't pass it on to your child/grandchid/etc.!) She was actually doing better today they said but still coughing so hard for so long she would almost get strangled and then vomit. And yes, I am pro-vaccines :) Moving on....
Here are just a couple pictures I took today but I am sure there will be more to come during my time in peds because these kids are just so darn cute. Also, please pray for safety for Mark who is sitting at the Nairobi airport about to start his long trip back home and please pray for Emily as well as she started surgery today and is going to have some long hours and lots of standing....and she might miss Mark just a little bit too.
Liz, Peds med student, with one of the adorable kids on our ward
This is how pills are packaged for patients here.
Triplet girls born last night - the third set since we've been here!
God Bless everyone!
lovely blog and lovely pic of me...excellent
ReplyDelete