PAL Report

I’m Camelia Gecse and I’m Team Leader in General Surgery- UHD NHS Foundation Trust- Poole Hospital. When I first hear about Poole Africa Link I wanted to find out more about it and I was very keen to go there as I always wanted to do that as nurse. My working field is in theatres and when I knew that my role in Uganda will be to teach students about safety in theatres I though this is definitely for me and I wanted to go and help with anything in a poor country. I wasn’t wrong and it turned out to be such a great experience for me.

After a long journey that took 27 hours finally we are arriving at the hotel. We were all exhausted but happy to be at destination. On Monday we had an induction in Lira University and Refferal Hospital. As I lived in a communist country I had reminiscent memories about how it was Romania 25 years ago. The people are lovely though. All very friendly and very colourful. In the evening we decide about time table and what courses we are going to teach. On Tuesday I had a class with year 2 about Basic nursing ( Temperature, Pulseoximetry, BP) . They did very well as they are very keen to learn especially because they are paying fees to study.I was nervous as I never had to teach so many students at once.

We went to the hospital and we saw how they work in there. There are 4 theatres but only 3 functional. All the operations are done under spinal anaesthetics. They work with very little materials and in conditions that you can describe only if you see it. No current water, no surgical liquid soap, they are using reusable gowns and drapes. But they have strict rules about sterility and infection control in theatres. On 2 occasions I scrubbed as we were trying to teach them safety in theatres, about how to handle needles and sharps, about swabs , sharps and instruments count. We tried to explain the importance of having a check list in theatres for patients safety and to avoid complications and mistakes . There’s so many things to improve in theatres starting from safety and also little things that can make their life easier . Like drapes to cover operating tables as they cover the operating tables with hard plastic bags, pencil diathermy, sutures, scrubs , marking pens , sponges to prepare the skin as they are using cotton wool , instruments , instruments check lists.

They are not using the WHO check list but hopefully they will as they have it in theatres and we manage to prove the importance of having it. We have proved in practice the importance of checking the swabs as they said there are 5 but we found 6 in a pack.

Back to Lira University I discovered that they enjoy more the practical courses rather than doing a classic course on slides.

Communication is another issue they are dealing with and leadership practical doesn’t exist. We had a course in University related on communication and then we played a game ( NASA game).

Friday and Saturday I had courses in University and there was 2 successful days as the students enjoyed them very much as we had theory and practice.

My successful days was in university but I found myself more confident and comfortable in theatres . If I will have the chance I would love to go back to Lira and do more for them and for my own development.

On last day I’ve taught the students year 3 about sutures and stitching. They didn’t wanted to leave at the end :)

I felt all the time safe and everything was amazing. I came back home safe and healthy and I am grateful for this. We had an amazing team leader – miss Clark and I thank her for that , for looking after all of us and to bring us home safe.

I was privileged to go where not many people go and I am grateful for things that I’ve achieved. I’ve learned that life is not easy and you can live with less and do great things with so little if you are willing to succeed.