PRECIOUS KALU

I work on a shift basis at St. Ives specialist clinic, typically having to put in 24 hours of work every 3 days. My duties require me to attend to a variety of patients cutting across different specialties/sub-specialties eg. Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics, General practice, Surgery etc.

My duties as a medical officer include:

• Conducting thorough patient assessments and collecting medical history to arrive at a working diagnosis and help build a medical profile.
• Requesting for relevant investigations and interpreting said investigations in line with patient's condition
• Explaining diagnoses, prognoses and expected treatment interventions to alleviate patient stress and increase understanding.
• Crafting a treatment plan that best suites patient's peculiarities and safety netting to ensure that patients are aware of next steps in the event of unforeseen complications.
• Educating patients on disease prevention and overall wellness initiatives.
• Completing ward rounds to evaluate quality of care delivery and creating plans to ensure optimal continuity of care.

As a house surgeon, I am responsible for;

• Working up patients for surgery, ensuring that their parameters are in line with agreed hospital protocol and consultant surgeon's preference.
• Assisting in major surgical procedures as first assistant to the consultant surgeon.
• Carrying out minor procedures requiring surgical skill.
• Ensuring that post-op orders are carried out and patient is reviewed few hours after surgery.

I am adept at performing basic everyday procedures such as blood sampling, iv cannulation, urethral catheterization, femoral cathetirazion etc. I am also skilled with the use of the facility's EMR for documenting patient care and progress.

• I worked at Keypoints Academy, Manchester as a volunteer Plab 2 tutor helping international medical graduates navigate the maze that is the Plab 2 journey
• Assessing student learning styles and adapting instruction accordingly to maximize student understanding both for physical and virtual classes
• Organizing one-on-one teaching classes to assess and enhance student understanding of topics they have previously been exposed to
• Demonstrating appropriate interpersonal skills guided by professional and ethical boundaries
• Handling intermediate to long hours of mock sessions to evaluate and improve student capabilities
• Teaching the first principles of history taking and basic management principles for the most common illnesses

• Emergency Care/Acute Medicine: Triaged and rapidly assessed a variety of emergency cases, including road traffic accidents (RTAs), surgical emergencies, labor cases, and pediatric emergencies
• Outpatient Clinic: Ran daily outpatient clinics, attending to diverse medical, surgical, pediatric, antenatal, and post-natal cases
• Night Shifts: Managed busy night shifts, performing triage, patient assessment, and emergency care
• Ward Rounds: Conducted ward rounds post-night shifts, updating management plans, dressing surgical wounds, assessing neonates, and recommending phototherapy when needed
• Itemized Duties: Took baseline physiological observations and applied values to patient care
• Performed otoscopies and non-complex ear procedures
• Conducted 12-lead ECG testing
• Worked up surgical patients and assisted in major surgeries such as exploratory laparotomies, hysterectomies, and caesarean sections
• Managed labor cases partographically, performed episiotomy repairs and vacuum deliveries when necessary
• Conducted major wound repairs and dressing under local anesthesia
• Carried out minor procedures, including manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and circumcisions
• Performed basic obstetric scans
• Conducted bedside tests such as capillary blood glucose measurement, urine dipstick testing, and packed cell volume (PCV) measurement
• Wrote prompt referrals for complicated cases
• Performed intravenous cannulation, venepunctures, and blood culture sampling
• Conducted urethral catheterization for both male and female patients
• Regularly presented cases to the facility consultant and other medical officers
• I have also gained continued experience with the use of Electronic Medical Records (EMR)

• Emergency Care: As the only medical officer available on night shifts, performed rapid assessment and triage of emergency cases, administered appropriate treatment, and referred patients to government tertiary hospitals when necessary
• Labor Management: Oversaw labor cases, ensuring the best possible labor experience with minimal peri-natal mortality for both mother and child
• Itemized Duties: Clerked and treated outpatients in the evening clinic
• Repaired episiotomies
• Ensured adequate post-partum care
• Conducted daily ward rounds
• Repaired mild to moderate surgical wounds and performed surgical wound dressing
• Assisted with major surgeries, including hysterectomies and caesarean sections
• Ran the antenatal clinic
• Performed manual vacuum aspiration (MVA)

• General Outpatient Department/Staff Clinic: Clerked and treated outpatients, ensuring accurate documentation for infectious samples to be sent to designated labs
• Adolescent Health/HIV Clinic: Clerked and treated adolescent patients
• Ran the Adolescent HIV clinic, including scheduled checkups and prescription of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and prophylactic medications against opportunistic infections
• Maintained frequent communication with consultants, providing them with patient and administrative updates

• Emergency Care: Took rapid history and assessment of acutely ill patients
• Formulated treatment plans for all outpatients, including admission decisions
• Ensured that plans in patient case notes were carried out by hospital staff
• Promptly and timely referred patients to tertiary facilities when necessary
• Clinical Procedures: Carried out complex venepunctures, IV cannulation, urethral catheterization, episiotomy repairs, and manual vacuum aspiration (MVA)
• Ensured requested investigations were promptly carried out by lab personnel
• Education and Training: Assigned presentation topics and oversaw preparation for students (School of Health) and nursing staff
• Taught students and nursing staff during clinical postings
• Served as an adjunct lecturer at the School of Health affiliated with the hospital, lecturing on care of the eye for the 200L class, including JCHEWs and CHEWs
• HIV/AIDS Clinic: Acted as the clinical officer in charge of the HIV/AIDS team/clinic, ensuring tracking and management of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the community
• Ensured commencement of ART and prevented loss to follow-up
• Workshops and Seminars: Attended various workshops/seminars sponsored by global bodies (USAID, ProHealth, etc.) and incorporated new knowledge into teaching sessions for the facility and standard of care
• Ward Rounds: Performed daily ward rounds, teaching Community Health Officers (CHOs), Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs), students, and nurse apprentices
• Established best practices for the duration of my stay

• General Duties: Took detailed histories and performed daily in-patient summaries for unit patients
• Discussed patient management plans with unit registrars/senior registrars
• Executed procedures including venepuncture, IV cannulation, urethral catheterization, episiorrhaphies, and capillary blood glucose measurements
• Retrieved investigation reports for morning ward rounds and completed discharge summaries
• Presented cases to unit/departmental consultants and provided clinical education to students and nursing staff
• Departmental Rotations: Obstetrics & Gynaecology: Administered cancer chemotherapy in the Gynae-oncology unit
• Actively participated in labor monitoring, deliveries, and episiorrhaphies in the labor ward
• Surgery Department: Assisted in pleuroscopies, chest tube insertions, pleurodesis, and IV pain medication administration in the cardiothoracic surgery unit
• Managed in-patient care and conducted wound debridement/dressing in the burns unit of the plastic surgery department
• Paediatrics: Managed blood transfusions, exchange blood transfusions, and cancer chemotherapy administration in paediatric haemo-oncology
• Provided intensive care for neonates in the emergency neonatology unit, including IV and umbilical cannulations, IV antibiotics administration, and peritoneal dialysis
• Internal Medicine: Oversaw dialysis procedures as the sole doctor in charge at the dialysis centre in the Nephrology unit
• Conducted femoral catheterization, managed BP emergencies, and interpreted chest radiographs in the Chest Medicine unit