As orthopods, we view clinic as a necessary evil that we tolerate so we can operate. The residents are masters of clinic avoidance at home and here in Haiti as well. I can't blame them as they've learned many of the best avoidance techniques from me. Every morning the patients are lined up and ready to be seen primarily by myself, Scott, or Dave.
Most of the patients have a date of injury 12.01.10 written on their chart. Pathology ranges all the way from untreated fractures and dislocations, nonunions, malunions, and on to chronic infections. We also get occasional consultations for congenital abnormalities and chronic problems. Case in point is the young woman who presented with a marked various knee deformity following a neglected tibial plateau fracture 15 years ago.
Becky has been a tremendous help directing flow of traffic around the clinic area, changing dressings, removing sutures, applying casts, filling prescriptions, and attempting to console patients who have waited to see us for hours. It has been a thankless job for her.
We're usually dead in the water without xray and we've been fortunate to have a beautiful portable digital xray unit in the clinic which makes it nice for reviewing images. The last few days we have been sharing our xray tech and machine with the patients from the Emergency Room (image below) which has clogged up our clinic flow somewhat.
However, at the end of the day, in spite of all of the hassles, I believe that we are making a difference, even in clinic.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment