Case Notes:
Laura Flutter
(Medicine, Ghana )

 

As a Birmingham undergraduate we are encouraged to spend our final six weeks of the fifth year exploring a particular area of interest. Although technically this is not supposed to be ‘another elective’, I am keen to work abroad in the future and managed to convince the Dean that working in Africa for six weeks would be of benefit to both my career and, hopefully, the large migrant population of Birmingham who were soon to come under my care!

Although I'd say I am usually a pretty independent person, organising a six week placement in Africa on my own seemed a little daunting! Luckily I stumbled across the Work The World website…essentially it was everything I had been looking for, a properly arranged clinical placement in an African hospital with the option of spending time in a more rural clinic. It also provided the added bonus of a country co-ordinator who would see me through the scariest part of any trip to the developing world…the airport! I did think long and hard about how much the trip was going to cost me, but as I started trying to work out how much doing it myself would cost, it seemed pretty reasonable. Apart from anything else, I think it is difficult to find a trustworthy contact on your own and I didn’t want to waste my last six weeks as an undergrad!

Having been to West Africa before, I had a pretty good idea of what to take and what to expect when I arrived, but it was great to have Dave on the end of the phone for all my last minute questions! Having lived out there for a year there’s not much he doesn’t know about Ghana…especially its night life!

I arrived at the end of May…to a thunderstorm…apparently they’ve never seen so much rain in six weeks! The best thing about tropical climates though is that it chucks it down for an hour and that’s it… you're then free to enjoy the rest of the day in the sunshine! Ghana is a beautiful country, much greener than I had expected.

Simon, the ever smiling Simon, was there to pick me up as promised at the airport…as a handy hint its worth wearing your red t-shirt on the plane to avoid Simon trying to talk to every white person getting off the plane!

I am hoping to do paediatrics once I finish my foundation training, so it was arranged for me to spend four weeks on the Paeds ward at Central Regional Hospital in Cape Coast and two weeks in a clinic in Elmina.

For anyone that has done any paeds in the UK, it is worth going to Ghana with an open mind. Apart from the obvious differences in illnesses (everyone has malaria until proven otherwise!) and facilities, there is also a strikingly different attitude to doctors and health care professionals.

My day typically consisted of consultant ward round at 8:30 am, followed by clinic, which usually finished by 2:30pm. By the end of my first week on the ward I had been let loose to review my own patients on the ward and in clinic…great experience for anyone not far off graduating. For my final two weeks at Elmina I ran my own paeds clinic, mostly seeing children with malaria and respiratory infections. There was always a senior member of staff around to ask if I got stuck.

I stayed at the Work The World house with five or six other British students. Although it's great to get involved in Ghanaian culture and society, sometimes it was nice to be able to get back from a day at the hospital and talk to someone who understood my western expectations of what medicine should be!

There was always plenty to keep us occupied in the afternoons once clinic had finished. Both Cape Coast and Elmina centre were a short taxi away…along with the beaches.

Before leaving I spent a week travelling around the country with one of the other students….something I would highly recommend, I just wish I had had more time!

All in all I had a fantastic six weeks and would recommend it to anyone studying medicine, particularly if you're looking for a hands on clinical placement.