Helen reports back from Nakuru, Kenya on her medical placement

I asked Helen to send me a report of her medical placement in Nakuru in Central Kenya. She writes:

The Medical Placement

The medical placement out here in Kenya has been enjoyable whilst very educational and eye-opening!
Every day we go into the local public hospital and first go to ward six, which is for children aged less than two years old. Here we spend an hour or so washing, weighing, dressing and feeding the abandoned babies. The work we do here is so appreciated as the nurses on this ward are so busy that often the babies go 24hours without being changed or fed.

Unfortunately this work can be tough though as these abandoned babies are mostly neglected of their medical needs, and consequently we have already had two babies die in the last six weeks. However this has not been a deterrent for working in this ward- instead this has motivated us to get up early every morning just so we can care for them!
Then after ward six we have been rotating to different parts of the hospital. The first week we spent in the nursery where there are about 30 babies crammed into a tiny (and really hot) room. These babies all need to be washed, weighed and fed which can be very time-consuming! One of these babies is the son of a woman on the psychiatric ward so this placement also gave us the opportunity to visit there; an experience that is like nothing ever experienced before!

The second week we spent in the maternity watching live births! We then spent a week in theatre where we saw a range of operations such as a gall bladder removal, hip replacements, caesarian sections, bone reconstructions, appendix removals etc… The surgeons were all very accommodating and even let us assist with minor things such as cleaning the area to be operated on.
Other weeks we have spent in orthopaedics, paediatrics (for children over two years old) and the voluntary counseling centre for people with HIV and AIDS. For the remainder of our placement we will be continuing our rotations to other wards such as ICU, gynaecology, the laboratory, the pharmacy, female/male wards and so on…

The medical placement so far has been a truly pleasurable experience that has taught us all about a life in the caring profession. There has been a good mix of practical work and observation time, whilst still allowing us the option to do other placements such as teaching and orphanage work. I speak for the three of us here doing the medical placement when I say that it is a rewarding and challenging experience here in the hospital and definitely not one to be missed!!

By Helen Thomson
Changing Worlds September 2009-January 2010

Thanks Helen. I hope this will inspire more medics to jump on board!