Maternity clinic, Elvis, and a perfect ending
It’s my last week in Sri Lanka and the local travel4med team has arranged visits to the maternity clinic. Maternity was on most students’ bucket list, but as cesarean births and labour can’t be scheduled, some spoiled students got really upset and did not follow through with their assignments. However, us regular students still had a great time learning and observing in a smaller, more intentional group.
Assigned to the gynaecology ward, we followed the gynaecology god (we lovingly called him “Elvis” because of his swinging gait, full black hair and sunglasses he was wearing during rounds) and he started to notice us on the second day. We made it our goal to stay in his visual field during morning rounds – quick on our feet as he moved from one patient to the next, flipping through charts and performing routine exams. It eventually paid off: after rounds he invited us to follow him to the surgical ward. Here too, students had full access to patients’ medical records and imaging, and questions were welcome and expected:
The first client diagnosed with PID underwent a laparotomy for abdominal examination. Most women on the ward that morning were being treated for PID. Pelvic Inflammatory Disease is a severe complication of sexually transmitted infections (commonly chlamydia or gonorrhea) and affects women. Luckily, Elvis did not find any pelvic abscesses or severe scarring and tubal blockage in this patient.
Another client -a 32‑year‑old woman- underwent surgery to remove a 7 x 5 cm mass from her uterus. Well, these were the measures from her chart… As you can see, it is much bigger!
I kept the picture uncut so you can get a better idea of the real size with the thumb on the bottem right of the picture.
I finished my last shift of medical training in Sri Lanka with an elective caesarean birth and joined the midwives for the newborn examination. Both mother and newborn are well – a beautiful end to my surgery observations.