Tuesday: I did an evaluation on a patient who had a severe fracture of his distal
Humerus, ulna, and radius. He was on the wards for 3 months and after one month of being there they found more fractures in his proximal humerus. He was discharged from the hospital and sent to OP PT. Without x-rays we were not comfortable with doing anything more then isometrics and PROM even though it has been 3 months. For the rest of the day I went on ward rounds to the male and female medical wards to treat patients. It was a very interesting experience. The pace and attention of the nursing staff here is much slower and less patient centered compared to the US.
After clinic the other American and I did a workout and then I signed up to take the National boards exam in October. The house had another Famte lesson and we learned the days of the week. Here many of the people are named for the day they are born.
My name is Kwame (many people in the clinic call me this because they like to say it more then Kyle) which means a male born on Saturday.
Wednesday: I spent the whole day working in all areas of the clinic. I worked with my favorite Erbs Pasly patient first and then another baby later, 3 stroke patients, one deconditioned patient, the orthopedic arm fracture patient from Tuesday, and one paraplegic patient. After clinic went home and did a workout. At night an ER doctor came to the house and gave a lecture on malaria. It was very interesting but the amount of detail was almost a little to much for my attention span.
Thursday: Today all government workers have gone on strike. The entire staff at the hospital is employed by the government. For the entire year taxes have increased for government workers and prices on fuel and goods has also increased. The people have been trying to fight this and nothing has happened so today they decided to make a stand. Luckily most of the staff came in for the wards and emergency department. The entire outpatient section of the hospital did not show up. Today I was going to do an inservice presentation for the Physio staff so the entire department showed up. However they were on strike so they wore red/black and did not see many patients. Many of our patients did not show up because they had heard the news on the TV and radio, but overall 14 people still did. I ended up seeing 7 of the patients because I wanted to help and let them continue to make their stand but also give the patients care they deserve. I am glad that the people of Ghana can come together to make their voices heard and try to keep their government in check.
We closed early so that I could give my inservice on stroke rehabilitation (it is about 65% of the caseload), Bell's palsy, and documentation. It was planned for 30-45 minutes but with many questions, demonstrations of the exercises and concepts, and discussion it ended up lasting 1 hour 40 minutes. I was so happy how much I could teach them
And how engaged they were in the information. Overall it went so well and I really think that some more of the ideas will be implemented. They have decided to begin using exercise logs and doing short (1 sentence) daily notes. I am also going to stay in touch and follow up to provide more information and help make changes as needed.
After the presentation the senior therapist PT Mina stood up and thanked me for my work ethic, commitment, and education during my time here. I feel that I got just as much if not more from this experience then I could give them. She ended by presenting me with a traditional Ghanian dress shirt that was handmade for me by the mom of head of the Physio department. I was so honored and in shock that all I could do was hug everyone. I feel like this experience has been amazing but never in a million years expected them to give me anything. I put it on right away and then we took pictures together.
My new shirt and the 2 senior physios
The group and the shirt I wore to do the inservice.
Three physios I became great friends with during my time here!
The Physio department willl be on strike tomorrow and entire staff will not be going in to work so today was my last day with everyone. It was very sad to say goodbye to these new friends. By the end of the time together we were joking around, making fun of each other, learning about each others lives, and acting like we have worked together for years. I plan to stay in touch with them on a personal level but also on a professional level to keep providing information to help with care.
Tonight is my final house BBQ and I plan on eating a lot, dancing in my new shirt, and getting ready for a fun weekend before my village experience!!!
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