week Four

For our last week in the hospital, I was in the outpatient department. This is the busiest and most hectic department in the hospital. They see all nonemergency cases and decide if the patient needs treatment, or admittance to the emergency room or in patient department. This week I took a couple days to go to the asthma clinic and the neurodevelopment clinic (again), which were both so interesting! In the OPD the doctor I was shadowing admitted a few children for dehydration from diarrhea and vomiting. We also had several children who had skin rashes or some sort of ringworm. The patient I remember the most was this little girl around six or seven. She was returning for a follow up after presenting with a cough. She was chatting and mumbling the whole time which was fun because usually the kids are too scared or uncomfortable to say much. The doctor used her stethoscope to examine her heart and breathing. When she finished, she mumbled, mostly to herself, “chest is fine.” to which the little girl repeated, “Chest is fine?” like a parrot. The doctor smiled and nodded, “yes, chest is fine.” The little girl nodded like she approved and immediately started babbling about something else. She was adorable. On the last day I kind of began things where I started. I was still in the OPD for the first few hours, but I was with the doctor I had shadowed my very first week. And for my last few hours me and the medical student went up to Dr. Nyarko’s office and interviewed her about the cerebral palsy clinic project. So, I kind of feel like I finished a full circle. Then we had lunch one last time in the kitchen and went home. It was a bittersweet feeling. That weekend we mostly just ran last minute errands before everyone left Saturday night. On Friday night we went to one of the nurse’s house and his girlfriend made us banku and tilapia. It was delicious and so nice of them to feed us like that!