We are now safely in Butare and plan on being here for the next couple of days. This has been a week of work so far. (well mostly work). Monday was another academic day. I was responsible for a lecture on mitral valve disease, while Faye stuck with the preoperative evaluation of the pediatric patient. I thought that both of the talks went very well. I also felt that the residents were engaged and wanted to learn about both of the topics. How much they actually got from the lectures will be determined next monday when we give them the test for the month. This will actually be my first time creating a test and I think that it will be pretty fun.
On monday night, Faye and I had a meeting with the staff anesthesiologists at CHUK along with Pauline, who trained with them, but is currently at King Faisal Hospital. I thought that the meeting went really well, not only because the Mutzig was flowing, but because of the conversation. Both Faye and I brought up issues that we had seen with the residents during the month. There are many issues in the Rwandan medical system and most of them I do not understand. After the meeting though, I felt that we had both given our perspective on the residency and hopefully this can improve things in the months to come. Both Faye and I stressed to the staff that they have to hold the residents accountable. We insisted that they are the bosses and that they should tell the residents what to do. Trust me, in residency and fellowship, I have definitely been told what to do and I realize that this is how you learn without hurting patients.
Tuesday was another day in the operating room. Surprisingly, there have been a good number of kids, which is perfect for Faye and myself. Other than work, Tuesday was a pretty laid back day.
Today is our travel day to Butare. The first part of the day was spent in the operating room. There were 4 kids scheduled for surgery today so there was a lot to do in the morning. Christian and I were involved in a laparotomy pull through for Hirschsprung’s disease. Christian did a great job of preparing for the case and he had the appropriate plan. Even more of a help was that ALL of my monitors worked. Booyah! The case went well and I think that Christian will make a fine physician once he is done.
On the way out of the hospital, I was able to stop by Operation Smile, which is also going on in our hospital. It is a group from South Africa, but they have physicians from all over the world. They are here for a week and I believe they plan on doing ~150 surgeries. Operation Smile looks like a great program. They have two rooms with three operating tables in each room. For each of the 6 tables, they have an anesthesiologist, surgeon, and scrub nurse. It is quite impressive and efficient. I included a picture to show how busy these two rooms are. After being here for a while and meeting people, I have realized that there are many programs going on in Rwanda, which are trying to help in their own way. I am very proud to be part of that process and I hope that I have made a difference this month.
On our way to Butare, we stopped at local pottery place called poterie de gatagara. It was about 1 km off the highway and well worth the trip. We were able to see both the production of the pottery and the finished products. I picked up a couple of gifts for people at home. The first picture is of a man who grabbed me and wanted to show me how he made the vase that I just bought. I thought that it was incredibly nice. The second picture is of the small showroom that they have at this place. Although they sell some of their work there, the majority of their products go to other stores in Kigali. It was very cool to see one of the local pottery shops.
And of course, within ten minutes of being in Butare, I had to go get ice cream at my favorite place in all of Rwanda. They are just so nice and their ice cream is amazing!
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