Yesterday we had a great time at the Nyali Baptist Church. The service was a little different to back home but in a good way with more dancing and involvement of the congregation. I was asked to stand up and introduce myself. They made me feel really welcome, talking about the UK and offereing me some juice.
So i've organised my whole elective through Elective Afrrica and i've been placed at Coast Province General Hospital in Mombassa, Kenya. This is my second week and i've been working on the General medicine (GM) ward and will be until this Wednesday. The coordinators at ElectiveAfrica are really helpful and you can choose what works best for you based on your medical interests. i've decided to opt for GM, paediatrics, A&E and Obs&Gynae. You get lots of experience of medical conditions that are a lot less common in the UK - HIV, TB, malaria. Today I went on a ward round and examined a few patients. There is a lot of opportunity to take a history, examine and formulate a working diagnosis. I got a felt a fluid thrill in a patient with gross ascites, heard a number of heart murmurs and brushed up a on conditions such as infective endocarditis, pyrexia of unknown origin etc. Some of the clinical signs will stay in your head forever not just becuase they're obvious and new to you but because of the effect on the individual patient. It's sometimes sad to see such late signs but I know that the staff at the hospital are doing their best with limited resources available.
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