When an American walks into a clinic or a hospital they expect to smell cleaning solution. To not see cobwebs, to see equipment that is up to date and rust free. If we do not see this we find someone to complain to. Then upon admission to a hospital, we expect to be seen by a nurse every few hours and to have our vital signs checked frequently, we would degrade the nurse if medications were not delivered on time. We expect everything to be single use and for proper precautions to be in place such as gloves and hand washing. If we do not receive the care we expect we are more than happy to sue. Now let’s cross the sea to Uganda.
In Uganda a patient will walk into a clinic that is completely made of cement. There is no scent of cleaning solution. The clinic is cleaned every Wednesday morning, this involves items being washed in buckets filled with soap and water. This water is the same water that is kept in large black rainwater collection buckets. (therefore, the water is filled with bacteria and parasites). Cobwebs can be seen around the ceiling and under the metal framed, stationary hospital beds. Rust is seen all over these beds. The birthing bed is a metal sheet with a hole in; it is archaic. The ultrasound machine appears to be from the 1950’s. The physician assistant guards the only blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. There are no blood pressure cuffs to fit an infant or toddler. There are no gloves stacked in the patients’ rooms, nor hand sanitizer outside there doors; neither are seen anywhere in the clinic. The nurses provide care gloveless and without washing their hands in between patients. Medications in ampules are used a multitude of times because they cannot afford to waste un-used medications. (Unless that medication is unstable once mixed with liquid, then it will be disposed). They use the same needle to draw up a medication and then to draw up saline and no alcohol swab can be found to cleanse the vials before extraction. They do not have saline flushes to maintain patent IV’s. They have one bottle of saline that is used for every patient to push IV medications. All this is because they do not have the funds to get the supplies they need; this is not due to a lack in education.
I sat with the nurses today and was astounded with the amount of knowledge they had regarding the functioning of the human body. I was even embarrassed at points since they seemed to have an even better grasp on health then I did. They do lack the understanding of basic precautions and the need to use items as single use so as to prevent the spread of disease and infection. They would chart on a patient continually as we do but they do not have enough paper. Their patient’s charts are created using scrap pieces of paper placed into dilapidated plastic paper keepers. Family members can sleep in the patients’ room via a thin rug placed on the cement floor. If the patient needs to eat, it is up to the family to bring in food for them since the clinic cannot afford to feed them. It is frustrating to see this poor quality of care and lack in supplies when we have so much and we would pitch a fit if we were treated in anything even close to these conditions.
These patients and their conditions could be better treated with proper supplies and funding. These nurses and doctors in Uganda are extremely well educated and could work miracles if they had what they needed. I am angry thinking about the abundance in supplies that we have that Ugandan’s can only dream of. The amount of diseases we could easily treat but Ugandan’s will die from. The quiet acceptance from the Ugandan’s who do not complain about anything but rather smile and say thank you for whatever little thing you do, even if it’s just taking out your stethoscope to listen to the patients heart.
We are blessed!
Gypsy RN
