Participants Enrolled
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31
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Surf Missions
|
3
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Marriage Proposals
|
2
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Infectious Diseases Contracted
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0
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The study is going great! Let me begin by saying, I love the State Hospital. It gets a bad rep but the physicians are well-trained, and they make do with the resources available. I’ve worked in several hospitals in varying degrees of developing/ed countries, and what impresses me is the cohesion of all the hospital departments. The services are efficient and affordable. The operation is nearly flawless, and the staff works together well with a tone that is calm, competent, and comedic. Before morning rounds, the nurses and doctors joke and tease in a combination of English, Pohnpeian, and Filipino. There’s an absence in haste and stress and irritability that I remember from many US hospitals. Sadly, my menwai compatriots give the impression that the State Hospital isn’t safe or trustworthy. That any injury or illness should bring you to the private Filipino hospital or med-evac’d out to Honolulu. I disagree. I know the staff and I know the physicians and I trust their care and judgment.
I also love my job. It's a pretty sweet routine. Mornings, I head to the medical ward to check for new patients to enroll. New participants are interviewed with my growing Pohnpeian vocabulary. The patients are receptive to the study, and I think they appreciate that someone is taking the time to understand more about their illness. If participants are returning for their scheduled follow-up blood draw, I head down to the markets to buy local fruits and assemble their compensation fruit bowl. I pop into the emergency department to ask if anyone has fever, including the physicians. Haha, I asked one nurse this morning if he had fever, and he replied that he had a fever of the heart. I peruse the medical records department to search for missing patient info. I check into the laboratory for test results and to see if I missed any patients who were ordered rapid lepto tests. In the afternoons I schedule follow-ups and manage data in my gorgeous database.
Then there’s the fun detective part of my job. If I find rapid tests run on patients who are no longer at the hospital, then I have to track them down. From the lab records book, I have a name. With the name, I can ask the ladies in the coding department to look up the hospital number. With the hospital number, I can look into the medical records to confirm eligibility, and then I have to locate a phone number to contact the person. Not everyone has a phone, so sometimes it’s locating a relative who has a phone number. This expertise is best left to the ladies at the check-in desk. They must know everyone on island and every relative and all the most recent family gossip. I bring them a list of unknowns and some home-baked muffins, and they provide the family phone numbers. Perfect. This study would never be as successful if not for the amazing supportive hospital staff, which is precisely why I bring baked goods to each department regularly.
The study works. But what makes me even more delighted is how this project combines my fascination with infectious diseases and my love for indigenous cultures. Medicine meets Anthropology. No one loves their job as much as I do.
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| Lois and Elise, Outpatient Dept Triage Nurses. In the first photo Lois was slouching and Elise teased her into hysterical laughter |
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| Monique and Elnora, Medical Ward |
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| Dr Khristain and Dr Franklin, Medical Ward |
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| One of my fantastic lab techs Johnny |
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