Trauma (from Greek τραῦμα, "wound") is the 6th leading cause of death worldwide, so it's worth knowing a thing or to about it. Starting with the basics, taking one step further, covering abdominal trauma....
ECG is a valuable tool in a clinician’s diagnostic toolset, however for some it’s just not easy to pick up. Most individuals skilled in ECG have achieved proficiency through practice and exposure, as interpreting ECG in the long term....
The eye allows us to observe the world around us, but it can also provide clinician's a window into a person's health. Often neglected and left to those dreaming of working as an Ophthalmologist....
As medical students we are constantly bombarded by information at university. Online resources provide interactive and dynamic content and allow us to access information in a much greater variety of ways....
The simplest way to learn anatomy is to observe and dissect specimens. However, most students are not going to have a cadaver or anything of that nature lying around at home....
He who studies medicine without books sails an uncharted sea, but he who studies medicine without patients does not go to sea at all. Willliam Osler
The sails are set, the end coordinates are locked in and the journey begins. This is the start of my adventure to Haydom Lutheran Hospital in rural Tanzania. It will not be a particularly long one, amounting to two months in total. But I will be truly letting go of a technology-centric world, and heading back to the basics of medicine and of life. It's time to set sail, with my trusted chart in hand (Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine & Oxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine - turns out I need two charts) and explore the sea that awaits in rural Tanzania.
About Haydom Lutheran Hospital Haydom Lutheran Hospital (HLH) is situated in North-East Tanzania, only a stones throw away from Arusha (5 hours by Public Land-cruiser). It was built by the Norwegian Lutheran Mission in 1953, and originally had a little over 40 beds.
In 2013, it now has over 400 beds, several departments (surgical, medical, paediatric), outreach clinics and a school of nursing. To find out more about HLH go to their official website.
Finally because I'm largely a visual learner, I've included a little video to provide you with some more information about HLH.
HaydomHealth.org
To chronicle this journey, and not dull or bore my traditional IVLine readership, I've set up (quickly over the weekend) HaydomHealth.org. HaydomHealth will also be used to raise awareness about some of the challenges facing the hospital,
but also the heart-warming stories of it's workers, volunteers and
patients. I will also share some of my experiences on some of the more leisurely activities to do whilst in Africa. Finally to act as another starting point for those interested
in volunteering at HLH in the future.
So I hope that a few of you, will jump ship for a bit and take part in the HaydomHealth blog. People's support is truly appreciated.
How you can help Finally there are number of ways you can help both me and Haydom Hospital. I'm looking to give back as much as I can to the Haydom community.
Donation Donations are important stream of support for the hospital. As such I've set-up an paypal donation account, so that you can send some spare change their way.
Every person who donates $10 or more to this account will have there name listed at the end of my HaydomHealth Documentary (which will be released upon my return to Australia). A lump-sum donation will be made to HLH on June 1st 2013 from all your individual contributions.
You can also donate directly to HLH via their own donation page. HLH also needs a lot of equipment and will gladly accept a lot of it (anything from computers to ultrasound machines) - see a full list of things they would like here.
Get involved and spread the word One person can only do so much, and I believe with the help of each of you I can get the word out about Haydom Lutheran Hospital, and ensure their survival as a hospital in the coming years.
The Social Media and Critical Care Conference or SMACC2013 as it is otherwise known, was an adrenalin (or epinephrine for Scott Weingart @EMCrit ) rushing, mind changing experience. It was an opportunity to hear from world leaders in critical care, and finally meet some people face to face.
Unfortunately, I can't do the conference complete justice (been busy packing for Africa). Luckily, there has been a multitude of other attendees reliving the dream, and sharing some of the highlights of the conference.
I will share one of my favourite moments, which was the Allergen Connection performance by
Gerard Fennessy.
And just in case you missed it, you can checkout the presentation by myself and Dave Townsend (@futuregp) on the Interncrisis Social Media Campaign (minus our witty jokes and long-winded tales)
Group A β-hemolytic streptococcus (Streptococcus pyogenes, or GAS) is a form of β-hemolytic Streptococcus bacteria. It is a gram positive bacteriaum responsible for a wide range of both invasive and non-invasive infections.
Wikipedia
In this post, I just wish to highlight the power of FOAM to answer and discuss a clinical question. What started off as a post on Diagnostics and Likelihoods ratios for Streptococcal Pharyngitis, transgressed on to a discussion about treatment and management.
Below is a short summary of some of the tweets that I managed to capture. I've also added a bit of further reading for the Australian readers. One final lesson that can be learnt from this discussion, is that management is often guided by the population you are treating and the resources available to you.
This blog seeks to investigate and share information on health issues, clinical and biomedical sciences, technology and my experiences of medical education along the way. It is purely for entertainment and anything here is not to be taken as medical adivce.
