The staff and the patients are very nice but there certainly are some cultural difference. Ruth, the RN, helps with the translation during the exam. Now I'm a sort of "just the facts" type of guy and generally prefer to skip all the extraneous stuff but life is different here in Kenya. Here's an example of a typical interview:
Me: What's brings you to the clinc?
Pt: After 2-3 minutes of communication to Ruth, "a cough".
Me: Is that all?
Pt: 2 more minutes, "yes".
Me: Do you take any medicines?
Pt: 2 more minutes, "yes"
Me: What are they?
Pt: 2 minutes, "Amox"
Me: When was your last dose?
Pt: 2 minutes, "three months ago"
and so on.
Conclusion of exam and treatment and sending the patient home:
Pt: "I have a headache and pain in my joints"
Me: (eyes rolling) Really, what part of "is that all" wasn't clear? Lets test you for malaria and start over.
Kimeru language has words for yes and no but they are rarely used. Everything is a story here.
These are some thoughts and photos during my travels and providing health care around the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment