EMERGENCY NEEDS ASSESSMENT IN WESTERN KENYA
Hello again from Western Kenya. As I conclude my trip, I wanted to update everyone on the status of the project. It's been a wild 6 weeks, full of travel. We were able to visit 27 facilities in total - learning a great deal from all of the wonderful medical providers who gave their time to help in this project.
Not surprisingly, we've discovered there is definite room for improvement for emergency care in Western Kenya. Finding out how we can focus our efforts best will be the greatest challenge. We have found that even basic supplies like X-ray and ECG machines are lacking, the providers (especially specialists) are frequently overworked and spread-thin, referring patient's to a higher level of care poses many challenges and can be dangerous, and many providers are requesting more trainings to be able to take care of their patients better.
I was able to pass the torch to another fellow resident who will continue collecting data. When complete, we will analyze our data and work with local medical officials to raise the standards of emergency care in the region. Fortunately, we've already started a pilot training program to train some providers on emergency anesthesia.
Hello again from Western Kenya. As I conclude my trip, I wanted to update everyone on the status of the project. It's been a wild 6 weeks, full of travel. We were able to visit 27 facilities in total - learning a great deal from all of the wonderful medical providers who gave their time to help in this project.
Not surprisingly, we've discovered there is definite room for improvement for emergency care in Western Kenya. Finding out how we can focus our efforts best will be the greatest challenge. We have found that even basic supplies like X-ray and ECG machines are lacking, the providers (especially specialists) are frequently overworked and spread-thin, referring patient's to a higher level of care poses many challenges and can be dangerous, and many providers are requesting more trainings to be able to take care of their patients better.
I was able to pass the torch to another fellow resident who will continue collecting data. When complete, we will analyze our data and work with local medical officials to raise the standards of emergency care in the region. Fortunately, we've already started a pilot training program to train some providers on emergency anesthesia.
Dave Young, MD
