Nicholas Comninellis

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Day In The Life: Assuredly Intriguing – Angola Day 4

Most medical professionals – and broader society as a whole – honor exquisite specialization. Should I ever require a complex surgery, I will surely an seek out an such expert. But in locations like Angola, we simply do not have the resources nor personnel to justify narrow specialization. Instead, skill to manage a broad range of health conditions is not only required by the logistics, but is also intriguing to me. With this background, here are just a few of the patients I cared for today:

 

• 3-day old with pneumonia and respiratory distress

• 30-year-old with an intestine perforation and acute abdomen

• 70-year-old with heart failure and a cardiac arrest

• 10-year-old unconscious from cerebral malaria

• 45-year-old lady with abdominal pain and newly diagnosed malignancy

• 35-year-old with TB and bilateral pneumothorax

• 28-year-old motorcycle wreck and skull fracture

 

So far today, I have not seen any obstetrics, orthopedics or ENT. But several transports just arrived in our emergency department, and the closest qualified obstetrician or orthopedist is 750 miles away. Day in the life of an Angola doctor: assuredly intriguing!

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