Pictured here with me are 37 nurse practitioners from the rural clinics associated with Kalukembe Hospital – CEML‘s sister facility. Many of these health posts are not connected by road, function without electricity, and are chronically short supplied. Yet these are were most Angolans first present with obstructed labor, convulsions, cerebral malaria, and all varieties of trauma and fractures. Twice yearly, these brave health leaders come in to Kalukembe for three days of continuing education, and this time the agenda was in my hands.
Where There Is No Doctor is a remarkable reference book designed for providers in limited-resource settings, addressing the predominate diseases of poverty while relying upon minimal pharmacy or technology. Where There Is No Doctor was our chosen text, and over a period of fifteen classroom hours I guided our nurses through the subjects of prenatal care, well child care, community health assessment, epidemic control, fever evaluation, labor complications, newborn resuscitation, acute abdomen management, burn care – to name but a few.
How could one person become competent in such a variety of healthcare skills? This is all just a normal expectation when one practices where there is no doctor.