on learning. . .

Arianna hit the ground running once we returned to Kenya, especially with education. Several of her Pediatric Emergency Critical Care Fellows (Post-Graduate Doctor) did their last Kijabe intensive week before graduation and there is a new class of Pediatric Emergency and Critical Care Clinical officers (Nurse Practitioner Equivalent called PECCCO).

I was able to watch a mock trauma in the Emergency Department (in Kenya they call it Casualty Department) which is a super-fun as a learning experience for the students. A week later, I jabbed a pair of scissors through my thumb and waited E.D. for an hour between receiving suture and a tetanus shot. While I was waiting, a dehydrated 4-week old arrived to the resuscitaire next to my bed. It was awesome to watch the team do exactly what they had been trained to do. First, the casualty nurses jumped into action, then the PECCCO arrived and put in an IV, and by the time the consultant doctor arrived, things were good.

Emergency Medicine is about skill and knowledge, but also largely about systems. After so many years of practice, running the scenarios time and time again, it was awesome to see the system work so well.