WOW! Busy busy busy!!
I spent today at Right To Care's Themba Lethu Clinic, which is based at the Helen & Joseph Hospital. Its such a busy place!! They see between 500-750 patients a day! I don't know anywhere in the UK that would cope with that many people in one day its crazy!! But I've learnt sooooo much!!
They primarily deal with those with HIV, co-ordinating their treatment regimes and checking their health. Everyone seems to have appointments but just for that day, & no particular time! They start at around 7:30, but patients can arrive as early as 5am to get a place in the queue!! They have 29,000 people on their records :O !!! They also deal with those who have TB, and provide diagnoses and initial treatment prior to referrals. Theres a counselling service for those with HIV, and services to ensure medicine is administered. They have different clinics for other illnesses such as bone problems. Theres a pharmacy where people wait for hours for their drugs to take home. Theres also a research department which is amazing! They run trials of new treatments for HIV, or for things related to the illness or medications, e.g. sore feet.
Everything is so old fashioned yet so modern all in the same building!! Theres a new computer system using bar codes to register patients, but then they write on papers which are very outdated! Their medication is behind that of the UK mostly due to costs, which isn't right! These people need the medication!!
Nurses are also very different to the UK. They can prescribe a lot of drugs including antibiotics, and can also diagnose. They're allowed to perform a circumcision! Its all very different but very interesting. They have had to step up their duties to cover the areas over here that are failed to be covered by other professions, or in fact do more because there is less of them!
Looking forward to tomorrow! (:
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