First day of clinic!

We had a lovely and very smoothly run first day of clinic. We served the community of Guansale, which totaled to 32 women. We will ramp up the pace quite significantly in future days but purposefully started out with a smaller community as we are getting used to things. We expect 300-400 women in the course of the week.

The very first lady we saw had invasive cervical cancer diagnosed elsewhere. We are able to provide follow up for women with mild to moderate dysplasia at Ashonplafa but have never dealt with this severe of a case before. Thus, we are defining our mission statement and scope of practice in light of this challenge. This beginning to clinical week really gave perspective to our work at preventing cervical cancer. 

At clinic, an MS2 and MS4 are paired together to gather a history and physical exam. This gives the MS2s a lot of hands-on experience and the MS4s ample teaching opportunities. The doctors consult with us about our assessment and plan and oversee our pap smears and pelvic exams. It is amazing how much the MS4s have learned and it is such a pleasure to have someone willing and excited to field questions throughout the day. We consulted women about birth control, STIs, UTIs, HPV, and bacterial vaginosis.

It is so fulfilling to see the clinic come together so nicely. We are all working well together in teams. Rachel and Zac, our med student leaders, did a wonderful job laying out our responsibilities beforehand so that everything ran smoothly. We have a well-stocked pharmacy with medications for the most common complaints as well as year-long supplies of birth control pills, depoprovera shots, and IUDs.

It has been peacefully raining off and on here. Everyone has been in a good mood as we are here doing what we have planned to do for months. More to come.

Jordy and Dan taking a patient history.

Check-in and lab.