Phlebotomy

So, with about 1,5 months to go until we graduate, running around like headless chickens at our school, trying desperately to hand in drafts for our theses, getting papers signed and filed, writing last minute re-exams, attending courses that were missed, just when our schedules cannot get any more full, a message arrived in our inboxes a week ago:

”you have to attend compulsory venipuncture lectures and skills labs.

Regards, your isp supervisor”

Well, at least we got to do something fun, like stabbing each other extracting blood, it really helped to vent the anger that had been accumulating this Autumn semester.

I love that word Phlebotomy, by the way…you can do so much with it.

random friend: ” Oh hi there, I see you have a hole in your arm, have you been to the phlebotomist recently?”

me: ”Oh actually it was a coincidence really. I was walking in the street one fine day and then I heard a Pssst! in an alley, of course being so curious I had to find out where it came from. Next thing I feel someone poking a needle in my arm. It was only later that I realized I had been phlebotomized.’

random friend: ”I see. being phlebed is considered to be a right of passage in this part of the world. you can officially call yourself an initiated phleber, or  phleb for short.”

me: ”I’m a phleb! why I never thought it would have such a nice ring to it. thank you!”

Salutations to all who endure blood donation, and support the red cross. I’m very jealous of you guys because I recently found out that it will take three years before they would consider accepting my blood. apparently having lived in a malaria infested area before the age of 5 (WHO sees durban as malaria infested), and having recently returned to a place rife with malaria (Zambia), they discriminate against my blood and thus make me wait three more years before I can become a part of the club.

oh well, I’ll just keep my malaria infested blood to myself then, and not feel at all any guilt about it.

Health Tip: Donate blood! It’s the right thing to do!

The wonderful amazing fantastic world of scientific databases.

‘…And PLEASE be very thorough in observing our rules concerning ‘Googling’…’ the words of the head of our department still ring in my head on my first day at the polytechnic, ‘IT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED!!!!!’.

Of course I immediately understood why. The same of course went for using wikipedia as a source for references. Most people who’d even have half a brain could understand the basic concept of what ‘reliable sources of information’ meant.

So this is why we have been cordially introduced to Ovid medline and Pubmed, as well as Cinahl (now EBSCOhost). A kind and meek librarian (blesshersoul) took the liberty of guiding us through the treacherous meadows of AND’s and OR’s and through the valleys of keywords… all of which, needless to say, did not stick with many.

I have always found Pubmed the most appalling of the databases. I don’t know why, but I just never got on well with Pubmed. It cannot be that I hold a grudge against it for never being able to interpret my carefully selected keywords appropriately, or for always wiping out my meticulously constructed searches just when I seem to be getting the sort of titles that have even the slightest concurrence with my search needs, oh no… No, I seem to have a completely baseless hatred for poor old innocent little Pubmed, which was apparently merely constructed for the use of teaching stressed out, frustrated people who have no time to waste, that they really do need to learn the virtue of patience.

Now that I have only two months left until I graduate, it is again, needless to say that I have become seasoned in the art of Lastminutry and ‘fake’ database searches (lightly implying the act of slapping on a few references comprising of articles that were found in under five minutes and seem to have appropriate titles or abstracts, but have never been thoroughly read through), and yes even the guilty, dirty, disgusting, unscholarly practice of Googling.

I, along with many in a similar fate have found ways of extracting really really useful information from Google without putting the credibility of my essay into jeopardy. Actually, the Knight in Shining Armour that I am fondly referring to is

Google Scholar…

…who had done nothing but provide me with brilliant references and wonderful fulltexts of good quality articles and had saved me from many a drab, half prepared and watered-down essay.

Actually, I was introduced to GScholar one fateful morning when I was yet again raging battle against my enemies Ovid and Pubmed, by a kind and liberating friend who whispered like a drug dealer: ‘psst…wanna know a secret trick of mine?’…and I have been hooked ever since she showed me the link on the google search page.

GScholar has been a breeze of air freshener in a stuffy wooden institution, because it is so easy to use, interprets the keywords 100 times better than any of those pretentious fossils ever will, and quite often refers immediately to a source where one can obtain a fulltext pdf or at least a decent abstract.

I know I have been quite harsh toward fellow students who google everything , and the matter of that article was directed at the wrongful practice of mere googling out of laziness, and doing it in such an obvious and stupid way that makes me cower in shame on their behalf. And yet I feel obligated to issue a warning that please, dear reader, do not swallow all crap that jumps off the internet at you. Please be sensible and check that the information really concurs with with textbooks, and that there are no outrageous claims that are based on shady research methods. I have seen people present slides where stuff was very literally just copy-pasted straight into powerpoint where it claimed that a certain type of milk from a certain breed of cows had been proven to miraculously cure ulcerative colitis*, and where I heard someone argue for the plight of cigarettes that according to SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES it was proven that smoking does not cause or have anything to do with lung cancer**.

So please people, while words that are big are nice and all, check under their skirts to see what they really are hiding underneath. I shall now lay my case to rest in peace.

Health Tip: Washing one’s hands with soap and water has been proven to have no hindering effect on people who sneeze and cough into the palms of their hands, thus spreading seasonal flu’s faster than any biochemical warfare could dream of.

*that story may be slightly embellished

**that one, unfortunately, is a true account of the words of an actual ignorant, blithering fool of a loudmouthed teenager during a health promotion community outreach project.

Closure

I finally finished my stupid report for the exchange, which is a huge relief. I guess it somehow provided a sort of closure for me, and scince I have been able to move on with more important things like doing actual assignments for my autumn courses.

Anyway here is the link to the PDF verion of my report, which can be used as a guide for other incoming exchange students to Zambia.

Health Tip: Putting your left shoe on your left foot, and similarly putting the right shoe on the right foot is generally believed to help people walk straighter. No studies have been made yet to conclude that there is valid evidence for this phenomenon.

In Retrospect

Writing my first proper post-africa blog has proven to be more of a challenge than I initially expected. Numerous attempts proved futile and my frustration had been exerted in the form of work and studies, and more work.

So having deposited myself a handsome sum into my savings account, the nagging feeling that I had neglected somthing kept nagging at me, and when I happened to turn to my blog one fine saturday afternoon I noticed the conspicously boring looking post that I had previously left to amuse whatever tiny audience I had managed to gather over these past years.

The truth is, I have been searching for a proper catharsis for quite some time now, though I hardly think that writing a blog post could be termed as proper catharsis. The first time catharsis came up after my Zambia episode was when a friend and I were tryting to figure out the mechanisms of culture shock. The thing is, My trip to Zambia failed to induce symptoms of true culture shock because being native to South Africa, Zambia is sort of closer to home than say…Finland. But Zambia is not quite the same. So in a sense I had a sort of reverse shock, which people usually experience when they return home from a lengthy stay abroad. And yet it was not a true reverse shock because my time ‘back home’ was a determined time period and I knew I would be returning to my new settlement, back abroad. And the question I have been trying to face these days is what kin dof a shock am I going through now that I’m back in Finland?

Forgive the over-analysing and over-thinking, but I seem to have a special talent in that.

So this will then have to serve as my first proper post-Zambia post, and I hope that my passion for scribbling down my amusing thoughts here on this tiny blog will not completely dry up.

Health Tip: Accusing nurses of gossiping may prove to be very dangerous.

Home is where….

…This thing is.
Yes, I’m finally home. I call helsinki my home now because of many things, one of the reasons being that most of my stuff is here, and because, well, surely I do not have to explain myself?

I chose helsinki to be my home, and no one should argue with me on that.

At the moment I don’t miss africa one bit.

Health tip: still taking malaria pills… so I will get back on that…. in one week.

On Holiday

…so the Health Tip will be temporarily unavailable.

Saying Goodbye

This will be my last post written from this little internet café here in Lusaka. On Sunday I leave for my holiday in South Africa, where I will probably spend most of my time doing transcriptions of my interviews. 

The interviews went well, although I did not manage to get 8 interviews, as there were not that many teachers that fit the criteria of the study, but I’m grateful for the 5 that I managed to get.

So now, I’m busy frantically doing last minute stuff, like getting my assessment forms filled and signed, saying goodbye to all the lovely people that helped me here, and last of my biggest worries…packing! argh…I really really hope that I don’t have overweight.

trying not to cry. Sorry in advance if I’m going to be in a bad mood for the next three days.

Anyway, Zambia has not seen the last of me. I’LL BE BACK!!!!! Mwuaahahahahahahaha.

This is me in the Operating Room, or as it is known in Zambia: Operating theatre. The procedure I’m scrubbed for is a tracheostomy.

I’m totally going to miss Zambian food! (which tastes best when using your fingers)

I went on a stroll into town with a friend. this road is just around the corner from the UTH.

Independence avenue where my friend and I happened to stroll by. Its actually a very pretty street

 

Health Tip: Avoid using unwashed hands to eat your food in Zambia.

Strike!

(Above: Nurses’ strike worsens situation at hospitals” – nurses and doctors strike in response to a major corruption scandal at the ministry of health 10 billion Kwacha scam. 1USD=5500ZK, and 1€=7000ZK. – photo courtesy of a friend)

Right now the UTH is in a state of chaos. The doctors are striking, the nurses are striking and the patients seem to be striking as well because the wards are empty.

The government is keeping suspiciously quiet, the media is painting fantasy pictures of the situation and I’m stuck in the middle wondering why my friends are nowhere to be seen.

My best friend here in Zambia is also a student nurse, and she, amongst all the other students are being put to work.

This of course makes the nurse’s strike completely ineffective because they are using (or in my opinion abusing) med students and nursing students. The nursing teachers are also being put to work along side the students.

Uth has promised some kind of pay for the students, but its still not yet confirmed.

Today I spoke to one of the resident surgeons, and he informed me that the doctors will be going back to work tomorrow, following negotiations, but nothing has been finalized yet.

In my opinion, if you want a strike to be successful you should not give the government any options to bail out, or to cheat by using cheap labour. When the nurses were striking in Finland in late 2007, they went to extremes by actually threatening to quit their jobs (check out my post on the subject), and the student nurses signed an agreement that they will not work as substitutes when the registered nurses are striking. It came down to a bitter fight with people blaming anything and anyone and the media of course confusing people more than informing them, but in the end the nurses won because they stuck together. I think the nurses deserved to win and I was happy that things turned out the way they did because it affects my future too.

However when I look at the situation here in Zambia, it is clear to anyone that the nurses here are the most under appreciated, under paid and overworked workers, and yet they are the most vital together with doctors. It makes me very sad to see that a government seems to care so little about its health care workers by letting things spiral out of control like this.

I feel for the students, because they deserve, if anything, a better future than a monthly 1,3 million Kwacha (=€185) paycheck.

 

Health tip: try not to get sick in times like these….

Approved!

Finally today I went to see the secretary of the research ethics committee, and the chairwoman of the ethics committee happened to be there. I handed in my corrected papers… (yesterday I received the feedback, which stated that I was required to only draft a budget, and provide an information sheet with contact details for all participants, and then my proposal would be approved)…And I was asked to first wait in another office.

At the same time came another girl from England who was there for the exact same reason, and together we waited and exchanged our stories of frustration, anticipation and stress concerning the ethical approval of our projects. We had both at approximately the same time been calling the poor secretary almost everyday, only to be told to call the next day or the following afternoon.

Then the secretary, a very kind and friendly lady, entered the office where we were seated, and she handed each of us a signed letter announcing that our projects were approved ethically.

We were both so happy that we almost danced out of the university building and agreed to meet up again on friday to celebrate.

I sent a text message to all my friends, and to some important contacts in Finland and right now I’m sitting in this here internet cafe, perched victoriously on a high chair, having just conquered my nemesis, ‘bureaucracy’.

And now, the hard work is going to start.

Health tip: Oh I can’t think of a bloody health tip at this point…

P.s. the botswana trip went well. Spent one night in Gaborone, and spent altogether at least three days traveling on these wretched african busses. below are some pictures of the Kazungula border, and the crossing of the Zambezi river.

deported

Just this morning I realized that the stamp in my passport expired last week Thursday. So I immediately set out for the immigration office in town. Bad news hit me there, and they gave me initially 48 hours to leave the country, but I begged them for one more day, so I have until noon on Saturday to leave Zambia. Good news, I can come back the next day =)
So, I’m going on a mini holiday in Botswana this weekend.

I don’t know whether to cry or laugh. Things can be so ridiculous here.
One more thing to tell the grandchildren though

above: one last night together with the finnish girls (their blog link can be found on the right) and with our very close Zambian friend at the local bar and hang out place for the medical people, which is called Ridgeway and is situated on the university medical school campus, right opposite the UTH complex. The Finnish girls are leaving for Finland on saturday, so I will be missing their departure. I will surely miss the crazy times we had together. Hyvää matkaa, ja muista jättää raukkaus kunnes itte häviätte huimaavan tähtitaivaan alla! =)