Our morning began with an ambulance arriving to the ER with a girl who had fainted. She was transferred out of the ambulance on a rolling bed and straight into emergency. It could have been from dehydration, stress (they were in final exams), or something else ... we're unsure. Shortly afterwards, a teen came out with his IV in place, holding the plastic IV container, in hand, up high. Minor emergencies such as these, or most cases of hemorrhaging, fever, vomiting, and respiratory distress can be treated in this ER. Cases of head or thoracic trauma are almost always referred to the center in La Vega, with more technology and equipment.
A number of things caught my eye today sitting in the ER. A man grabs a tongue depressor, flexing it to give it some curvature. A little too long, he cuts it to about two-thirds the size. Another man, with a swollen, tender pinky finger, holds out his hand for the other to place the depressor carefully in place under the pinky and wrap together in tape. This is the cast that would hopefully heal this man's finger, which had been broken for 14 days. This is just one example of some of the things we noticed this morning in emergency, where we were saddened to overhear the phone call to the doctor on duty that there had been another accident in the area - this time resulting in the death of eight people. If you recall from an earlier post, four kids were killed last week in an accident.
Today I experienced one of the challenges in design ethnography ... culture. It is for the same reason that I have the utmost respect for the health system here that I find challenge in gathering information: doctors work in the public system because they truly love their job and helping people. Working in a public hospital or clinic is not that financially rewarding; to them, the reward comes from getting to know their patients personally and providing them the best care in their ability to alleviate their sickness, condition or emergency. They make the most of what they have and don't seek fault in what one may view as a challenge or lack of resources. For my investigation, this means that getting personal accounts or narratives of times where doctors experienced a challenge or situation of discomfort when treating a patient proves to be difficult ... and won't come directly.
My plan of action: conduct further, embedded observations in both emergency care and (hopefully) surgery to then verify with doctors. This information should provide some examples and structure necessary for doctors to better provide descriptive stories and, as a result, dig deeper into the needs of the healthcare system and physicians here.
A number of things caught my eye today sitting in the ER. A man grabs a tongue depressor, flexing it to give it some curvature. A little too long, he cuts it to about two-thirds the size. Another man, with a swollen, tender pinky finger, holds out his hand for the other to place the depressor carefully in place under the pinky and wrap together in tape. This is the cast that would hopefully heal this man's finger, which had been broken for 14 days. This is just one example of some of the things we noticed this morning in emergency, where we were saddened to overhear the phone call to the doctor on duty that there had been another accident in the area - this time resulting in the death of eight people. If you recall from an earlier post, four kids were killed last week in an accident.
Today I experienced one of the challenges in design ethnography ... culture. It is for the same reason that I have the utmost respect for the health system here that I find challenge in gathering information: doctors work in the public system because they truly love their job and helping people. Working in a public hospital or clinic is not that financially rewarding; to them, the reward comes from getting to know their patients personally and providing them the best care in their ability to alleviate their sickness, condition or emergency. They make the most of what they have and don't seek fault in what one may view as a challenge or lack of resources. For my investigation, this means that getting personal accounts or narratives of times where doctors experienced a challenge or situation of discomfort when treating a patient proves to be difficult ... and won't come directly.
My plan of action: conduct further, embedded observations in both emergency care and (hopefully) surgery to then verify with doctors. This information should provide some examples and structure necessary for doctors to better provide descriptive stories and, as a result, dig deeper into the needs of the healthcare system and physicians here.