Goodbye Psychiatry Department

These past weeks in Nepal have been a great motivational boost and learning experience. Thank you to the Psychiatry department for your warmth, I am happy to have met such special people. Keep up the good work! See you again soon or who knows in another life. — feeling blessed at Manipal Teaching Hospital.

General Surgery

4 September 2014

Started the morning in the operation theatre. I'm not too sure why but I thought it would be interesting. Looking back it probably wasn't a smart idea to start the day like this. Already during the first patient (a young boy who had to have pins removed from his leg) I started to feel a little whoosy. I think I also had to get used to the heat and all parts of the costume (scrubs, mask and hat). Other patients I observed had tympanopathy (I'm sure not too sure what they were doing) and a cholecystectomy. After this I was so happy to walk back to psychiatry :-)

 

Camera gone

3 September 2014

Sooooooo my camera has been stolen from the hospital yesterday, so there won't be any new nice photo's posted on here unfortunately. After having lost phone in bus and after laptop suddenly crashed, there is some negative technological flow going on here. 

I've forgotten what happened today, so I will get back to this post later! 

Stressful yoga

2 September 2014

Day at Psychiatry OPD. I learnt about various psychometric tests used in diagnostics, listened to a protocol study presentation about stressful life events and coping mechanisms in relation to the severity of alcohol dependence, spoke to a patient in the afternoon and gave my opinion on the diagnosis; this was interesting because when I spoke to him his mood seemed to change (more cheerful). 

Me: "how are you feeling"

Him: "very bad, depressed since 5 years" 

Rushed to yoga straight after hospital. I learnt that it's not a good idea to go in non-stretchable clothes. There were a total of 5 people (Sammy, Elsie, Bella, Steph and me) so it was quite intimate. Me and Steph had quite a laugh about all the weird poses we had to do. Some positions were hard since you had to keep your hands stretched over your head for about 5-10 minutes (seemed like a very long time and couldn't feel hand anymore at the end!). We finished with some relaxation laying down. I kept thinking "we're not doing anything, what are we supposed to be doing?". Well, at least I tried some yoga so "been there, done that". I found out that I prefer more active (not saying that yoga isn't active) activities. Who would've thought yoga could be so stressful? 

Outreach

1 September 2014

Day of Community Medicine attending an outreach health post. This centre is funded and is free of charge. We reached the village by a converted jeep ambulance within around 1 hour drive from Pokhara climbing altitude up rural lanes, passed landslides and crossing waterfalls. When we arrived the people were already waiting outside and they were really happy to see us. 

Patients mostly came in with a viral fever, where various family members were affected. Other complaints included acid peptic disease, loose stools, bump on the head (?) and pregnancy checkups. People often did not come with a specific problem; they often complained of a whole list of problems such as pain in the foot, abdomen, head and eyes.

The four main items used were a sphygmomanometer (to measure blood pressure), a stethoscope, a real mercury thermometer and a torch. I helped to take these vital signs and I must say my confidence in taking a blood pressure has certainly increased today! I also got to practice my minimal Nepali and could get to the point to find out what the problem was, but afterwards fell into a silent gap. I asked one pregnant lady whether she was having a baabu (boy) or a naani (girl) but was told that sex determination is illegal in Nepal. Anyway I tried and the doctor said she was impressed so all is good.

It was quite busy and by the end of the afternoon we must have seen the entire village! I was happy to see that the doctor could actually mean something for the people here and they were greatly thankful.