Monday, January 31, 2011

Do I get a commission???

It's been so busy at the clinic that there usually are 15-20 people waiting outside.  Yesterday a guy rolls up around noon on his bicycle and starts selling food to those waiting.  At 4:15 there were 10 babies yet to be seen with 5 pending lab patients still left.  Everyone would need a malaria test as they all had coughs - for some reason cough is a very common symptom of malaria.  Each patient takes a minimum of 5 minutes to evaluate and then the lab is another 40 minutes to draw, stain the slide, let it dry, and then view under microscope. Then 10 more minutes to hand out meds and explain them.  No way we'd be done until after 8:00pm.  Triage down the line:  "What's the problem?"  "cough, cold, fever for 3 days", "come back tomorrow".  I did see two that were pretty sick and sent the rest away knowing that they all have malaria.  Each day I tell people to come in the morning but they still come late afternoon.  They all want lab tests regardless of the 99% chance it will be malaria (I think I've only had 1 negative result so far).

I'm thinking I should get a commission from the guy selling food or maybe set up my own food stand on the side.

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