Stephanie’s Blog

The Surgery

Provides excellent medical care for the ex-pat community, Ugandans, and charity cases for HIV positive individuals and orphans at the local orphanage.  You will see a lot of tropical medicine, be up to date on diarrhea.  You will do intake physicals on the orphans and evaluate if they may have genetic disorders or potential reversible/treatable neurological disorders.  You will see malnourishment in these children and the effects of abandonment.  Everyone with fever here thinks they have malaria, but make sure to study other causes of fever, since very few end up being positive on rapid malaria test.  Everything is done in English and those that do not speak will usually bring interpreters.  Medical students also perform the “medicals,” which are medical evaluations of persons intending to immigrate (usually to Canada, Australia and occasionally US).  As a medical student the Surgery generously reimburses you for your lunch at the nearby tea room.

Interesting things I’ve seen

1.       Tropical medicine-  nothing like I’ve practiced in US, its like learning a whole new set of skills

2.       Gruesome wounds

3.       Mastectomy on a HUGE breast closed with a flap of abdomen

4.       Cleft palate surgery

5.       Abscessed TB lymph nodes and drainage

6.       Lots of I and D’s

7.       Pericardial TB

8.       Rash of every sort

9.       Marfucci Syndrome