Project Updates

With only three weeks ahead of us here in Malawi, the team and I have been busy finalizing our work here.

DataPall:

I recently spent a few days trying to figure out how to get some numbers from the data the hospital and government in DataPall and we’ve nearly completed creating the actual quarterly reports the Palliative Care unit needs. Now all they’ll have to do is push a button after setting the dates of the report they need instead of spending days scavenging for poorly kept paper patient records.

DataPall Training and Manual:

By next week DataPall will be ready for us to take our hands off of and the actual manual will be sent off to printers in Lilongwe to be made into nice binders. There will be a few in English and one in Chichewa. We will also be holding training sessions for the Palliative Care team so that they understand how to effectively and efficiently use the newly improved database.

Community Health Workers and Backpacks:

We are putting together about sixty some badges for the community health workers here. When we went around the villages and talked to the workers, every single group asked for some type of identification. Apparently many of them get stopped when crossing district borders because police suspect them of stealing drugs and medical supplies.

Sphygmo:

The device did not have a good time flying to Malawi. A few weeks ago I was able to make some repairs and resolder popped wires, rendering it functional. We plan to showcase the device to the maternity ward before we leave.

CPAP:

We are awaiting instructions from MK on how we should deal with the CPAP device here. Dr. Jacobs, a pediatrician from the Netherlands, asked us to teach him how to use the device so that he may also train the nurses here.

Morphine Dosing:

We are still brainstorming a better way to make use of DoseRight clips. These clips snap on into syringes and lock the stopper at certain heights ensuring correct dosage. As of now, I personally don’t know if DoseRight will be of any use unless the hospital has a standard syringe they can give out with the clips; DoseRight does not fit universally to different types of syringes. Again though, the hospital uses what it gets and there is no such thing as brand loyalty. We may need to send this over to the next round of interns and global health design teams at Rice.

Malawi-ing:

Last week we met up with Sam and Ariel and camped out in Senga Bay on Lake Malawi. It was an awesome trip. The tent on the right was mine.