This week and next, I have a change of pace from “work as usual.” I have the privilege to be teaching in a Family Medicine program in Rwanda, and though I’ve traveled and worked in Africa before, I’m reminded once again of the things that are strangely familiar in the midst of remarkable differences…
• Mobile phones are ubiquitous, though diagnostics such as ECGs or Blood Gas analysis are hard or impossible to come by. It is just plain odd, to me, to be in an African hospital ward, many beds to a room, yet with nearly every patient having a mobile phone tucked carefully in by the pillow or stored nearby with belongings.
• Despite the tendency to think of “all those odd tropical diseases” that they get “over there” (at least that’s what folks at home seem to think), the most common diagnoses this week are the same as bread-and-butter diagnoses at home – pneumonia, pelvic prolapse, hypertension, heard disease and the like.
• On the non-medical front, while folks at home were concerned about what we’d have that was safe to eat, in actuality here we’ve had outstanding meals each night at local restaurants – definitely good enough to write home about – and I have!
• I’ve gotten back into the routine of my usual morning run (which is much nicer here at about 65 F than the 30F temperatures back home!), and while I’m used to being accompanied at times in the morning, it’s not usually by workers pushing their ware-laden bikes UP the local hill!
• Most of all, I’m struck (as each time I come to Africa) how with much less than we have in the “developed” USA, it is possible to practice good medicine and provide great care despite much less technology and much simpler surroundings. Sure, there are times that having more labs, and more testing options would be nice, but when you have much less, you make it work – and the results may well be just as good!
Far from home, things can seem very different, but underneath, there is often much that is the same – and most of all what is the same, is the importance of providing the best care possible, one life at a time.