The Clinic
Click "Play" on the photo below for a photo-tour of the clinic! Read more below.
Click "Play" on the photo below for a photo-tour of the clinic! Read more below.
The clinic staff is diverse and composed of Ethiopian staff including nurses, a laboratory technician, a pharmacist, bookkeeper, translators, as well as several U.S. trained nurse practitioners and ourselves. We all work together as one international, cross-cultural team. The clinic has several outpatient exam rooms, a labor and delivery room, and a 4-bed inpatient room. There is a basic lab, pharmacy, and a center for malnutrition care where patients can receive education, treatment, and food supplementation when needed. One day of the week is focused on providing prenatal and preventive care in clinic as well. There is a very high birth rate in the area, however the majority of deliveries are at home with mainly higher-risk patients delivering at clinic. The most common medical problems seen in the clinic are malaria, respiratory illnesses, gastrointestinal parasites, diarrhea and dehydration, and chronic malnutrition.
In addition to treating patients at the clinic, we will be focused on teaching as well. We believe that one of the best ways to serve this population long-term is by focusing on teaching and public health measures. The clinic is the only source of medical care in the area and the acuity level is high. Many of the Ethiopian nurses working at the clinic are new out of nursing school and with relatively little clinical experience. Many of the nurses feel their current skills are generally not sufficient to meet the demands of the patients they are expected to serve. One of our main goals is to increase the proficiency ad confidence of the Ethiopian national health providers at the clinic to provide excellent care with the resources available.
Finally we plan to focus on improving public health in the area. As part of this role we are excited to incorporate basic but life-saving neonatal resuscitation and safer obstetric delivery practices to both the clinic nurses and to lay midwives in the community who do many deliveries. An international program from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) called “Helping Babies Breathe” is a basic form of neonatal resuscitation that can easily be taught to traditional birth attendants, even in areas with low or no literacy (www.helpingbabiesbreathe.org). We plan to organize and begin facilitating this training with the women in the area, and then eventually hand over the leadership to the local women or nurses. We have many other ideas for public health improvement measures, however we will await further familiarity with the needs of the community to further focus our efforts.
There is so much more to say about this amazing place and people. Please contact us if you have specific questions or if you have ideas for us or would like to help!
In addition to treating patients at the clinic, we will be focused on teaching as well. We believe that one of the best ways to serve this population long-term is by focusing on teaching and public health measures. The clinic is the only source of medical care in the area and the acuity level is high. Many of the Ethiopian nurses working at the clinic are new out of nursing school and with relatively little clinical experience. Many of the nurses feel their current skills are generally not sufficient to meet the demands of the patients they are expected to serve. One of our main goals is to increase the proficiency ad confidence of the Ethiopian national health providers at the clinic to provide excellent care with the resources available.
Finally we plan to focus on improving public health in the area. As part of this role we are excited to incorporate basic but life-saving neonatal resuscitation and safer obstetric delivery practices to both the clinic nurses and to lay midwives in the community who do many deliveries. An international program from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) called “Helping Babies Breathe” is a basic form of neonatal resuscitation that can easily be taught to traditional birth attendants, even in areas with low or no literacy (www.helpingbabiesbreathe.org). We plan to organize and begin facilitating this training with the women in the area, and then eventually hand over the leadership to the local women or nurses. We have many other ideas for public health improvement measures, however we will await further familiarity with the needs of the community to further focus our efforts.
There is so much more to say about this amazing place and people. Please contact us if you have specific questions or if you have ideas for us or would like to help!