CLINICALS!!!!

This week started out at Zimba Hospital with half the students. It was my second week there with students, and it was fun to go back and already know some of the staff this time:). I've enjoyed being back in a hospital and getting to help teach skills!! Here are Lauren and Estie watching a GYN surgery!

Wednesday we spent a few hours watching a Pediatric ART (anti-retro viral therapy - HIV) clinic. We helped by checking weight, height, head circumference and temperatures. The students also observed the nurses, volunteers and other staff examining and counseling patients and their families or caretakers. It was fun playing with some of the kids while they were waiting for their check ups, but also heartbreaking to see some of the really sick kids. Putting names and faces to the innocence of AIDS brings tears to my eyes.

Later that afternoon, we drove about four hours north of here to Chikankata - the Salvation Army Hospital. It is in the middle of a VERY rural region of southern Zambia.



We were really impressed by all their facilities and the expertise and professionalism of the staff! Their ICU and NICU were the first I've seen in Zambia - they had oxygen, but no ventilators. It was fascinating to see some of the procedures - some very similar to ours in the US, and others very different. I loved asking LOTS of questions of the nurses!!:) Here's Heather starting an IV with the nurses assistance!
There is a big emphasis on education and many really impressive posters all over the hospital (we've seen similar ones around other medical facilities). This one deals with the false perception that sex with a virgin will cure AIDS. Haley and Rachel couldn't help posing with it though:)!

Ox carts like the one below are called "ambulances" - we learned they are privately owned and used to bring sick patients to the hospital for a fee. This one had a mattress in the back to make the ride a little more comfortable!