The Clinic by Jenny

Hi. Rob showed me how to post on the blog, and he asked me to write a little about the clinic. Sorry, I have no pictures.

I go there in the mornings from 8-12 which I think is sufficient. Most of the activity seems to occur from 9-11am, which also happens to be visiting hours. So during the mornings, there are lots of patients admitted, many coming out of surgery, and dozens of family members for each patient milling about the hospital floors. There are no family waiting rooms so they try to spend as much time in the patients' rooms, and with two patients to a room there can be up to 40 people just hanging around.

I have spent most of my time with a nurse named Layla. She is my age, very pretty, and seems to be in charge of her floor. The patients on the floor are mostly post-op. I am not sure if I have been assigned to Layla because they think I am studying to become a nurse, or if she has the best English skills in the hospital. Maybe it is both. TomorrowI will ask to see surgery to see a different part of the clinic. The clinic is private, set up and paid for by the physicians, and the patients pay fo the services. There are 7 physicians, all of different specialties, and most were trained in France. The advantage to the patients is very little waiting compare to a public hospital. We may visit a public hospital sometime, but I worry that Rachid overextends himself as our host. It's a big week for him, and he doesn't seem to understand that.

Since the physicians were all trained in France, all medical talk among physicians and nurses is in French. All communication to patients is in Arabic, and maybe Berber sometimes. I don't speak any of the languages well enough, so Layla's comments in English and her translating is well appreciated. Honestly, most of the exams and procedures are very similar to how we do things. There is much less charting and no dictating; it is all written by hand. Two things I think are different: 1. Lidocaine is used very rarely compared to how often it is used in the Duluth hospitals. 2. The practices of handwashing and glove wearing are also different. They wash their hands, but not nearly as often as we do when working in hospitals. The nurse never wears gloves when working with needles (blood draws, starting IVs, etc) However, the physical therapist always wears gloves, and all he does is touch a patients arm or hand and moves it in different directions.

The story that shocked Rob happened yesterday. While a physician was doing a paracentesis (draining excess liquid from the stomach) a nurse accidently dropped a clean freshly unpacked needle. After running to get a new needle for the doctor, the two nurses repackaged the needle and taped it shut while the doctor wasn't looking. I don't know how often that happens, but it is something I have never seen before.

Now it is time to go with Rachid and Rita to Marjan, the upscale store in town with groceries and everything else. I am going to help Rita pick out make up for her wedding!

Jenny Sauter