During my first four days at Mulago Hospital, I never saw an attending physicision. On the fifth day, an attending started rounds with us, "Just show me the sickest patients", he said. Half way into rounds his phone rang "Just give me a minute" he requested. An hour later we continued rounds without supervision. The SHO's (residents) response: "At least he came around".
SHO's are responsible to run all services. Attending aren't required to be present for emergency procedures which leaves the SHO responsible to make all management decisions on their own.
Finally, the SHO's got together and wrote an anonymous letter to the Ugandan newspaper crying out that their lack of training and supervision is leading to unnecessary deaths. They pay tuition and they are not even given food or water during their 30 hour shifts. But they know, if they speak up about these issues, they will be reprimanded with additional years of training. No wonder they are frustrated and burn't out. No wonder they move slowly when a patient comes in seizing from eclampsia. No wonder patients sit in the hospital for weeks or even months before they receive an operation. The above picture is of the emergency obstetrical ward. A single intern was responsible to see, evaluate, and come up with a management plan for each of these extremely sick patients. This past week, I have been supervising the interns on this ward, on the emergency admission ward, and on the labor suite.
Attending's are required to be present for elective procedures, which is why they don't happen. As I was putting together the patient list for our upcoming surgical teaching camp, I noticed that the majority of patients have been in the hospital waiting for their operation since early April.
Thank you STAR International and to all of you that have given donations and support to help these women. May our camp be a success in both the number of women we are able to treat and the amount of training we are able to accomplish.
SHO's are responsible to run all services. Attending aren't required to be present for emergency procedures which leaves the SHO responsible to make all management decisions on their own.
Finally, the SHO's got together and wrote an anonymous letter to the Ugandan newspaper crying out that their lack of training and supervision is leading to unnecessary deaths. They pay tuition and they are not even given food or water during their 30 hour shifts. But they know, if they speak up about these issues, they will be reprimanded with additional years of training. No wonder they are frustrated and burn't out. No wonder they move slowly when a patient comes in seizing from eclampsia. No wonder patients sit in the hospital for weeks or even months before they receive an operation. The above picture is of the emergency obstetrical ward. A single intern was responsible to see, evaluate, and come up with a management plan for each of these extremely sick patients. This past week, I have been supervising the interns on this ward, on the emergency admission ward, and on the labor suite.
Attending's are required to be present for elective procedures, which is why they don't happen. As I was putting together the patient list for our upcoming surgical teaching camp, I noticed that the majority of patients have been in the hospital waiting for their operation since early April.
Thank you STAR International and to all of you that have given donations and support to help these women. May our camp be a success in both the number of women we are able to treat and the amount of training we are able to accomplish.