3 interns, 2 weeks and 1 weekend call have brought me to this conclusion. (Not that I care for it, by the way..) It’s been quite an experience so far, quite. Well having been certified a medical graduate, given the power to read and do all that other sh*t, I landed in Thika, at the
After an episode of haggling, bargaining and luck, I ended up starting my department rotations in Paediatrics. (We have to rotate in all 4 dept’s for 3 months each as medical interns. Internal Medicine, Obstetrics/ Gyn and Surgery as well.) Wasn’t too bad, I argued. I’ll be doing Obs/Gyn next, easily the most hectic of the four, and then go on to Medicine and finish with Surgery. Hmm… this should work, I figured. We got a quick tour of the hospital to put into perspective what we would have to contend with for the next 52 weeks or so.
We were 12 interns in all from the Univ. of Nairobi, so 3 interns in each dept. And in our minds, we knew would be getting at least 4 more interns from Moi University’s med school, who hadn’t finished their exams yet. Which would bring the figure to 4 in each dept. We were later to find out, painfully by the way, that this was not going to happen. Something about only 25 of them passing their exams or something… Basically, this means, night and w
eekend calls are closer to each other, more work per person, and did I talk about the weekend calls?
I must have, coz I just finished one of the craziest weekends I have had in a very long time. Yours truly was on call, and from the experiences shared by my colleague who had covered the previous weekend, it was supposed to be a walk in the park. Started well. I was even able to leave the hospital for the whole morning before I was called to review a neonate in the nursery. Rushed back, 2 reviews and a couple of lines arduously fixed on newborns fragile wrists, I was done. This was better than I thought. As it turned out, this was the calm before the storm. Or more like a miniature tsunami.
I got to see another 2 cases in the ward that evening and that was it. Went to bed wondering if this could get any better! Ha!
10.00 am. I had just had breakfast, and I was on my computer working out some awe-inspiring design (I’m my greatest fan…) Me fone rang.
“Daktari, kuna patients ku-review kwa ward.”
Off I dashed. This could be over in a few minutes. A couple of touches on the design, a couple of episodes of 24 and a couple of hours to nap. Perfect, I thought.
I get to the ward.
“Wagonjwa?”
“Ndio sisi…”, the new admissions raised their hands. They were 3.
Arghh.. I’d have less time for my nap!
So the good doctor got down to work. Did I say walk in the park? It was now a trot across town. But I could be done soon and back home.
2 hours later, there were more than 7 more patients that had checked into the ward.
Oh dear, I thought. Lunch will have to be taken late. There’s good reason why so many doctors have horrid handwriting. It’s coz that’s all they do, and it can get monotonous a lot of the time.
Well, to cut a long story short, I wasn’t able to make it for lunch at whatever time. Not 2, not 3, not 4… The patients came one after the other. Made me wonder if Sunday is “siku ya kuenda hospital” for the local residents of Thika. 9 hours later, (yes 9 hrs) it was 7 pm and the 3rd shift of nurses had just checked in. This was getting too much; I decided I might as well have something to eat at this rate. Dashed back home. (Thankfully this is a 5 min. walk away.) No one had made up their minds to cook, so no food, and I just had a glass of juice, and went back to the battle field. And there they were, 5 more patients on top of the 2 that I had left!!
WTF! I couldn’t believe this! Did I say trot across town? No, this was like a marathon across the Kalahari!
I did eat my supper that night. Much later, around 12 pm. By half past midnight, I’d passed out..
Talk about being thrown into the deep end..
