| Students aim for this elective placement is to practice clinical medicine within the context of
a Ghanaian culture and identify the common diseases that affect the population. Students
will have an opportunity in history taking, procedural skills, physical exams, clinical decisions
concerning patient care and patient admissions etc. Furthermore, students will experience
how doctors worked in an environment where resources are limited and to develop their own
clinical skills. To achieve these aims, they will spend their first few weeks under the supervision
of the doctors working in all departments of the hospital such as out- patient clinics and A and
E. Within this period they will be able to identify some key illnesses that affect the population,
which are mainly malaria, hypertension and type two Diabetes. They will also learn the central
importance of a good history and clinical examination in formulating a diagnosis where basic
tests are not easily accessible. These will sometimes prove to be a challenge due to the
translation that would be required from Twi to English. Every student however goes through
the Emergency wards namely the labour ward and the Casualty unit. Students are also made to
join doctors at the operating theatre where they are allowed to observe surgical cases and in
some cases allowed to act as second assistants in some surgeries. All students are encouraged
to be part of grand ward rounds which is held once a week. Subsequently, students are made to
join medical officers on their daily ward rounds after which they go to a ward assigned to them.
A student assigned to a ward is expected to review as many cases as he or she can and to
discuss his or her clinical findings with the medical doctor in charge of the ward. Please note
that, students are not permitted to prescribe treatments for patients without authorization.
At the emergency unit, medical students in their terminal years of training are encouraged to
attend to new cases under strict supervision of the doctor in charge. The essence of this is to
encourage students to exercise their clinical prowess in arriving at diagnoses. |
