Monday 18 June 2012

Monday, 18 June 2012

Medi-Clinic (Private Sector)


Summary
The Medi-Clinic was very comparable to a hospital in the states; clean, organized, nurses working, etc.  We did rounds at the Neonatal ICU, Pediatric ICU, and Pediatric Ward before consulting with new patients.  it was a very different environment compared to the other facilities I have been involved with here in South Africa.


Detailed Account
Today started much differently than I had imagined.  Vandghie is the head dietician in the Medi-Clinic but has recently taken maternity leave because she is about to pop.  Therefore I have been helping Anna Marie, who is taking on Vandghie's cases as well as her own.  This morning we went to Vandghie's house to catch up on work from the following week with another dietician.  We first had breakfast and I fell in love with french toast topped with honey and cheese of all things.  Then they got to business, having an administrative meeting and talked about patients.  Thank goodness Vandghie had the sweetest golden retriever because they talked in Afrikaans the entire time although they all knew English and they all could see I was sitting there attempting to listen to what they were saying.

Anna Marie and I made our way to the Medi-Clinic where we did rounds.  She went to the Neonatal ICU, unfortunately I had to wait outside until she was finished.  We then went to the Pediatric ICU with long term and short term patients.  Anna Marie checked patients records and updated her files but didn't tell me about the patients or what she was doing to help their nutritional status.  I asked a few questions and was interested when they informed me about patients but it was rare. Next was the Pediatric Ward where we assessed a new patient who would more than likely be discharged the following day.  Lastly we did a consultation on a 10 month old baby that was not in the hospital.  Anna Marie will follow up with them in a couple weeks and assess the baby's weight gain, if any.

The Medi-Clinic was an interesting opportunity to see compared to the rest of the internship but so far I would rather be in the community visibly observing the changes I can help to make in people's lives.  

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