| Be sure to signup for our Nazarene Hospital Foundation eNewsletter (comes out about quarterly):
|
Newsletters:
TERRIBLE TANGLED WEB
from the Spring 2010 Newsletter.
 When we have a lot of patients who need oxygen, we sometimes don't have enough oxygen tanks or concentrators to go around. So our nurses just place these “T” connectors and give oxygen to two, three, or in this case, four patients. I think I remember one time when five were sharing one source. It works, although it’s hard to control how much oxygen each patient receives. We usually use pulse oximeters to check whether each patient is getting enough.
“Nil stock.” a.k.a. no gat, nada, nothing, finished, the end. And not an uncommon notification from the pharmacy at Kudjip Hospital.
A majority of the medications that we use to treat our patients come from a national formulary. Someone somewhere in PNG has decided what should be available to treat the conditions commonly seen here. Items on the formulary are then (theoretically) supplied by the government to aid posts, health centers, and hospitals across the country. When the system works, there is a nice variety of medications to choose from.
Unfortunately the distribution is not always timely, and we are frequently out of this or that. In fact, there is a white board on the wall to update us on what is out of stock. It may be easier to notify us of what we DO have! For example, a couple of weeks ago we were completely out of ceftriaxone and gentamycin, and had a very limited stock of chloramphenicol. These are all antibiotics that are used to treat serious infections such as neonatal sepsis and meningitis. It was quite the challenge to look through our supply and find something that was appropriate to treat patients with these illnesses. Often we use a third or fourth, or maybe even a fifth, choice. This week,
the hot items are IV fluids! We have a reasonable supply of normal saline, but almost nothing with glucose at the moment. The docs have been adding D50 (sugar water) to the bags of saline, but we have used so much D50 it is now “nil stock” as well. Ah, the challenges of practicing medicine in a limited resource environment.
On a more positive note, we have a wonderful supply of donated medications and supplies given by people across the U.S. and around the world. These arrive several times per year in containers sent by Nazarene Hospital Foundation (www.nazarenehospitalfoundation.org). The donated items keep us going, especially in lean times! Thanks to those of you who have given.
Read more in the Latest Newsletter >>
|
