2nd day of the Internship (June 28)

Dentist's office



A dentist with a patient





patients waiting in line to see gynecologist



Inside the gynecologist's office



* Had another tour of the health center

*Today was just shadowing cardiologists in the office. Unlike the states, where doctors keep all of patients’ information and medical records on computer, everything was kept and recorded on paper and pen. When a patient walks into the office, a doctor writes down the patient’s name, date of birth, address, symptoms, and diagnosis for the record. If the patient is returing patient, he or she bring in their past prescriptions and any past medical records like ECG or X-rays and show them to the doctors. The doctors look at the documents that the patient brought in and use them to base the dignosis or change the dosage or strength of the drugs and give him the new prescription. The cardiologist see about 14 patients per day in average with 3 interns in the office. If the patient has an insurance, then the doctor's visit and the prescriptions are covered and only need to pay about 2000 CFA which is like $4 in US currency.  However, for those who doesn't have insurance and can't afford expensive drugs, doctors can prescribe them generics and can get it from the pharmacy in the health center, which is cheaper compare to the regular retail pharmacy.