Time is a precious commodity in the hospital.
As a future emergency medicine physician, my specialization will be in time. Trauma departments throughout the US understand that time is the enemy.
It can be frustrating to work in a
time-intensive field in a culture that
values time differently. “There is no rush in Africa” is the overriding mantra
here.
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| Solution: Never go fast. |
I never saw “sisters” (nurses) respond to an
emergent request with anything resembling emergency. That is not to say they
were not pleasant and likable Some were welcome company on long night calls.
Expectations, however, are simply much lower for nurses here than the states.
Level of medical knowledge is far, far behind. Mistakes are common, charting abysmal, and it is not unusual for a nurse to directly ignore a physician's
order she disagrees with because of cultural superstitions. And as I mentioned
earlier, IV access and blood draws are the physician's responsibility.
This laid-back culture also permeates to the
ancillary services. Transporters huddle in the break room while patients hobble
through the hallways. I will refrain from comment on Bara's radiology
department. The blood bank stood out as the sole dependable entity.
I can definitively say that I have tremendous newfound appreciation for our ancillary and nursing staff back home.
