Two more working days!!
I am in a tizz trying my utmost to get things done. I used to tell my son we can only do our best and that if everthing didn't get done the world would not stop spinning. I know this but I still carry that Anglo-Saxon guilt on my shoulder.
My students have just completed classes and start clinical practice next week, so I think I have that in hand. The colleague who will be doing my job 2 days a week until December was looked rather bemused after our handover. She has some leave to recover from that though. Her biggest job is to relocate my things to our new department in October/November. She groaned when she heard that as that same chore fell to her in 2008 when I attended the ICM conference in 2008 in Glasgow.
I am not very organised and I keep everything. However the new offices will not have the ability to archive files in the manner we have in the past. So this time I'm trying to go paperless. Each day I scan the essentials of half to one file to load onto our database. You wouldn't really know it to look at the office!!
A taste of things to come.
Two colleagues have now had 2 weeks in Tanzania and things seem to be going relatively smoothly at the moment. They have had an orientation to four of the hospitals we will be working with. I believe they have gained a new appreciation of our Australia working conditions. One of smaller hospitals with only 15 labouring beds has 80-120 births per day with very few modern facilities or resources to assist either the women or the staff. Compare this to the hospital we work in, the main tertiary referral centre in Western Australia, which only averges around 20 births a day.
The neonatal intensive care unit in at one of the hospitals only had had one nurse to 24 unwell infants. No oxygen, or ventilatory support, and only one cardiac monitor. Things that we take for granted.
It seems there is opportunity for fun though. They went to a village about 200km from the city to paint a primary school and deliver a donated ambulance. Sleeping on the floor, eating cassava and dry rice crackers, no electricity and running water were new experiences for them. While there they were called to help a woman in preterm labour which fortunately went well for everyone concerned. The mother and baby were sent home several hours later and were expected to return to the clinic for the first 3 days. A walk of 30km each time for the woman. Imagine western women contemplating this daunting task.
I have so much to live up to.
Practise run
I have over 20kg of stuff waiting to be packed. None of which is personal effects. I hope I wont need an awful lot of clothes. The obstetric training pants are not a good social look, although could be quite a point of discussion.
The weather here is quite glorious at the moment 25oC and only 46% humidity. It is hard to visualise what I will feel like in a week's time. Saturday is reported to be 26oC but the humidity is more likely to be at least 20 points higher.
A taste of things to come.
Two colleagues have now had 2 weeks in Tanzania and things seem to be going relatively smoothly at the moment. They have had an orientation to four of the hospitals we will be working with. I believe they have gained a new appreciation of our Australia working conditions. One of smaller hospitals with only 15 labouring beds has 80-120 births per day with very few modern facilities or resources to assist either the women or the staff. Compare this to the hospital we work in, the main tertiary referral centre in Western Australia, which only averges around 20 births a day.
The neonatal intensive care unit in at one of the hospitals only had had one nurse to 24 unwell infants. No oxygen, or ventilatory support, and only one cardiac monitor. Things that we take for granted.
It seems there is opportunity for fun though. They went to a village about 200km from the city to paint a primary school and deliver a donated ambulance. Sleeping on the floor, eating cassava and dry rice crackers, no electricity and running water were new experiences for them. While there they were called to help a woman in preterm labour which fortunately went well for everyone concerned. The mother and baby were sent home several hours later and were expected to return to the clinic for the first 3 days. A walk of 30km each time for the woman. Imagine western women contemplating this daunting task.
I have so much to live up to.
Practise run
Accumulated resources
I have over 20kg of stuff waiting to be packed. None of which is personal effects. I hope I wont need an awful lot of clothes. The obstetric training pants are not a good social look, although could be quite a point of discussion.
The weather here is quite glorious at the moment 25oC and only 46% humidity. It is hard to visualise what I will feel like in a week's time. Saturday is reported to be 26oC but the humidity is more likely to be at least 20 points higher.
seeing you are Celtic, not Anglo Saxon, stop stressing!!!! All will happen as it should xx
ReplyDeleteOoh it's all getting very near and real! Great that you can have a bit of a preview from the colleagues already there. I'm so looking forward to following your blog when you get there!
ReplyDeleteIm hoping I manage to get everything done at home and work. the latter is the stressor
Deleteapart from uniforms, all you need is underwear and shorts...buy cheap and cheerful kikoys and tops etc when you get there - you don't need winter stuff for here - I have everything xx
ReplyDeleteoh and a pair of jeans to land here in obviously!!
ReplyDelete