Back to Work

         Today was our academic day for the week.  The curriculum is set up such that the residents have clinical duties Tuesday-Friday and Monday is reserved for lectures/education.  Both Faye and myself gave lectures today.  The day started off with Morning Report with both the anesthesia techs and residents.  It was good to review cases from the night before and anticipate difficult cases for the upcoming operating schedule.  One particular case involved bacterial meningitis in a pregnant female.  After morning report, I began the day with the second half of my pulmonary physiology lecture.  I thought overall that it went well.  The residents were engaged in the lectures and I feel that they understood the basic points that I was trying to get across.  Faye’s lecture this morning was on the Pediatric airway.  It focused on differences between Pediatrics and Adults and laid a foundation for future pediatric discussions.  

We had initially planned on going back to Camilla for lunch, however, about halfway into the walk it began to rain.  We were both prepared, Booyah!  We did cut the walk short and go to Karibou.  No not caribou coffee, but a local buffet.  I am always a little hesitant with Buffets, but overall it was pretty good.  Faye finished the second half of her talk and then we heard a resident presentation on Pyloric Stenosis.  The presentation was very typical for pyloric stenosis and we went over the initial presentation and anesthetic management.  We realized how something that we see as very routine at Egleston can be challenging in resource poor country.  It was great to be able to share our plan with them and hopefully help them feel more comfortable managing these types of cases. 

After a long day of lecturing, we are now in Hotel Serena relaxing and enjoying the free Wifi.  Sorry for the blurred picture, but you can only tell someone so many times how to focus my camera.  

        One more thing.  As we were leaving the ICU office, we came across a handwashing station entering the ICU.  So cool.  Not quite as fancy as the ones in my hospital, but it definitely does the job.  It says Alcohol on the bottle.

For those who haven’t been to Rwanda, I included a picture of the money.  For conversion to american dollar:  600 RwF = 1 american dollar.  After a little bit more than a week of being here i think I have finally gotten used to paying with the RwF and understanding just how much I am spending.

        Michael Godbold