Things are going well here. This week we have continued to teach the 16 participants (nurses) on our 2 week course. They are doing really well and are very pleased with what and how we are teaching them. They all seem extremely grateful for the course and all are very keen to learn. We have mainly focused on Adult and Neonatal resus and obstetric emergencies.
Yesterday I went and worked in the hospital again with the participants on the course. Whilst there I managed to assist the them to teach other nurses and doctors the things we have taught them on the course. The idea behind this course is a ‘trainer the trainer’ notion, in the effort to up-skill the staff so they can then up-skill other staff. It was an amazing day and between myself and another aussie midwife I think we managed to train about 150 nurses and doctors in Adult/Neonatal resus and obstetric emergency (see the pictures attached). It was an extremely interesting day and hard to comprehend that basic resus is not a skill they have, yet they have far more need for it than we do, with very high maternal and neonatal death rates than the western world.
Whilst I was on the neonatal ward teaching I helped care for a very tiny baby - 1.5kg. They said it was 34 weeks gestation but I think it must have been a lot younger! It was hardly breathing, very pale and looked very sick. It was left wrapped in a sheet on a cot bed. It’s mother was very sick too, so unable to help care for her baby. I managed to talk the nurses though a baby check and discuss the signs and symptoms which this baby was demonstrating which shown respiratory distress (struggling to breath). We did some basic observations including a temperature - which was very low. This baby clearly needed specialist care in a neonatal unit but I looked around the nursery and there was no real equipment to help treat this baby. I managed to assist them to set up oxygen therapy, discussed the use of antibiotic’s (which they did have) and talked to them a lot about keeping the baby warm, I gave the baby a yellow hat an boots (which one of you have knitted for them) to help improve the baby’s temp. I also talked to them about ensuring that it was fed. I got the impression that as the mother was sick the baby was not being fed but was not sure about this? It was very hard due to the language barrier and as formula is very expensive, like many things it is not available in the hospital. I tried to discuss donor milk but with such a high HIV rate that had it’s own issues. In the end they gave the baby some fluid and glucose via a syringe - that will have to do I thought! I will go back soon and check that baby is still doing OK and keep you posted.
My attempt at learning the native language Swahili is not going very well LOL. All the staff in the hospital keep taking the mick out of me as I am terrible! Think I may regret not doing a crash course before I left next week when I get down to the villages as I think there English may be as good as my Swahili!
I will post again soon. Take care and keep life in prospective. xxx
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