The Freaking Awesome Intern

Last Tuesday we were escorted to the Medical branch of Trauma at Mulago by Susan, who sicked us on an intern doctor who was rotating there, Dr. Francis Mulindwa. We were to shadow Dr. Mulindwa for a few days in order to get a feel for the trauma ward. The next few days were incredible. Coming from pediatrics where the interns I was shadowing communicated in hushed Lugandan (local dialect), to trauma where Dr. Mulindwa, who doesn’t speak Luganda because he is from the north, conducted all of his patient interviews in audible, clearly spoken English (sometimes with the assistance of an interpreter) was like night and day.
As we approached the first patient, Dr. Mulindwa assured us that we were welcome and told us to ask as many questions as we liked. (side note: they say “you are welcome” all the time here, as they are a very hospitable and kind-hearted people. At first it took me off guard: “um, thank you?” oh you mean that I am welcome here! I get it. Now I love hearing it. I feel very welcome) The first patient was a middle aged woman with a list of symptoms that, as a first year medical student, I recognized as terminology, but I had no experience combining them strategically in my mind and formulating a probable diagnosis. “So, what’s happening with this patient do you think?” asked Dr. Mulindwa after relaying her sx. My reflex response was “um, oh I’m not sure, we’re only first year students.” But he wasn’t having it. “I know you’re a first year. So what do you think is happening here?” It….was….awesome!!! Before long I was throwing out suggestions and, stupid or not, Dr. Mulindwa would tell me why they were likely or unlikely diagnoses and then he would explain his own reasoning and the treatment he was prescribing. He gave Christine and I “homework assignments” to learn about the things we had little experience with and was exceedingly patient with us despite his very large patient load (all of the Dr.s here have huge patient loads, it’s a problem). I learned so much in the two days that I shadowed Dr. Mulindwa (sadly, he transferred to a different roatation, but I’ll shadow him again in future) that even if the rest of my trip is total crap (which it won’t be, because Uganda rocks the house) this whole 11 weeks would be worth those two days.