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Penn State Hershey team in Ghana update

Ghana

Team members Reena, Elizabeth, and Angela share their experiences from clinical rotations with Dr. Michael Malone at the end of the day.

Editor’s note:  Penn State Hershey clinical participants (senior medical students, residents, nurse practitioner students and faculty) are currently in rural Ghana to support and provide training for Ghanaian clinicians at the Eastern Regional Hospital. The team is sending periodic updates while there. Today, Jeffrey Reed, a nurse practitioner student, tells about a variety of experiences. 

Day 4 in Ghana continued with great learning experiences. Two of us have been welcomed into the home of Emmanuel and Lily Boateng. We have enjoyed learning the Ghanaian Culture and look forward to this Friday afternoon when they will be treating the entire Penn State team to a traditional meal of Fufu and peanut butter soup.

Day two in the Regional Hospital of Koforidua was full of many exciting experiences. Kate and Corinne are currently rotating in obstetrics and gynecology. Today Kate was the first assist for a C-section delivery, and both will be returning to the hospital this evening for more deliveries. Elizabeth and Reena have been very busy as the Outpatient Pediatric Department sees nearly 400 children per day.

Angela and I have been assigned to the Casualty Ward (emergency department) where we are working with Dr. Francis. We are seeing many disease processes that are rarely found in the United States, and learning the treatment plans has been exciting. We have treated multiple patients with tuberculosis, HIV, pneumonia, malaria, CVA, TIA and many more illnesses. Today Angela performed her first thoracentesis under the direction of Dr. Malone and Dr. Francis.

We are looking forward to many more experiences throughout the next four weeks.

  • Jeffrey Reed

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