Friday, May 4, 2007

Ophthalmo......O.M.G.

i started my e.r. clerkship a while ago, and the very first thing i was responsible for was the ophthalmology kiosk. I was thrilled, to be honest i used to love ophthalmology, yes i USED to because i was freaked out on my first day in e.r. . first of all i arrived at my shift to find another fellow H.O. (house officer) waiting for me, i said WHAT???? where is the resident, she said "no resident, he's upstairs attending an eye surgery" "omg" i said r u kidding me. then she started saying stuff like "now i will tell u how to remove a foreign body from someones eye" and "u should prescribe this when that happens" and stuff like that that i couldn't really hear while i was yelling in my mind. she had to stay to actually show me how to remove a f.b. on a patient, then she left. i was alone in a small 2m x 1m room looking at the door hoping no one would come in.

But of course someone came in and i had to remove a piece of metal from his eye WITH A NEEDLE, yes a needle. you see in Europe and advanced countries the use special STUFF to remove STUFF from patient's eyes because they are PANSIES, but here in Egypt we are MEN, we use and invent ridiculous methods because we are brave and broke.

anyway by the end of my shift i had removed foreign bodies from the eyes of about 18 patients (mostly blacksmiths who can't stand masks) i have treated about 4 corneal ulcers and referred 4 patients to the resident who didn't care to show up except when the H.O. at the resuscitation room asked him to examine a patient with eye damage. u see , he ignores me but he is afraid of the h.o. at the resus because he might Flag him (i.e. complain about him to the admin.).

I found out that day that we were really well educated and qualified to be doctors. i only had to overcome my fears to perform well. OH and here are some pictures of the hole i examine people in.


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