March 21-22

Tuesday March 21

The ENT team was in the OR at Cure doing 3 OR cases; One of these was a patient who had a tracheostomy (surgical hole in the neck) that was able to have this removed and closed.  Our anesthesia resident also helped care for 4 orthopedic and burn patients and supported the whole OR. 

The audiology team was at the School for the Deaf where they saw about 25 patients, fitted hearing aids, and instructed them in the use of a new audiometer.

The Safe Peds team taught the first day of the 3 day course reviewing the basics of pediatric anesthesia.  There were 22 participants in the course from hospitals all around Ethiopia.  We had lectures, discussion groups and skills practice stations.  We had some wonderful conversations between participants and faculty about many topics related to pediatric anesthesia.  The course continues for two more days.

Most of us had dinner in the hotel and prepared for Wednesday.

Wednesday March 22

The ENT team was in the OR at Cure with 3 cases and there were also burn and orthopedic patients.

The audiology team went to a school where they had previously screened all of the patients for hearing loss.  They brought hearing aids for those students previously identified as needing them.

Our pediatric anesthesia course continued with topics like ENT, eye, and cleft palate surgery; seizures, cardiac disease, and other emergencies.

Half of the group went to a local Cultural center for dinner with traditional meals and dancing.  The rest of us had dinner at the Indian restaurant with some old ENT, Orthopedic and surgery friends!