Wednesday and Thursday, Annotto Bay
So on Wednesday morning my colleague went to Pediatric rounds at the Pediatric Ward, and I went to the “A and E” Department (Accident and Emergency Deaprtment). There ED works differently in ours. The physicians actually quickly triage the patients, and if the child does not warrant “ER” criteria, they are sent to clinics. I guess this is an effective way to decongest the ERs, because I only saw one child, who ended up having otitis media. Still, it was interesting to see how the A & E functions and tot alk to the other doctors. If you need labs done, your draaw them yourself. Ivs are completely different and there are no vacutainers or butterfly needles. If you want to give a patient a medication, you write down the order, and the patient then brings that to the ER to get to get the medication. They can do xrays and ulatrsounds, but they have no access to CT scanners. ER doctors read their own radiologic studies. It is a process to get a radiolgist to read something.
In talking with the Jamaican doctors, I learned more about the training system. You got medical school directly after highschool. Medical school is 6 years. Then you do 1.5 years of internship. Then you can start to work in the field you want to do residency in, but you need to get recommendations before you can do your training. REsidency is pretty competitive to get for most things, including pediatrics. Most of them take the USMLE exams just in case they train in the US.
Thursday, Annotto Bay
Today we had clinic which was very busy last week, but only a half day today. Saw a variety of newborn checks and sick children. Alot of children today with slow (or no) weight gain. There are no growth charts in the patinet’s charts due to lack of resources, so it is hard to tell if they fell of thir curve or not. Just have to look back and compare to previous weights. The day was shortened as there was a ceremony to celebrate the Issa Trust Foundation dontain some ventilatos and incubators to the hospital! Supplies greatly needed!!
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