The Mercy Ship Conference
on Shona in Sierra Leone (Sierra Leone), 19/Mar/2011 08:30, 34 days ago
I was privileged to attend and help teach at the 2nd Sierra Leone Nurse Anaesthetists Conference, organised by the lovely people from the Mercy Ship. The ship arrived a couple of weeks ago and a group of anaesthetists came out from the UK to run a three day conference.We had a great opening ceremony complete with the usual opening prayers– both Christian and Muslim, speeches from representatives of various bodies including the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and the SL Medical and Dental Association, and everyone who was taking part got an individual mention. Nurse anaesthetists had come from all around the country, and some ofmy nurses from ODCH were also invited.There are only about 100 doctors working in government service in the country; there are 87 nurse anaesthetists so they add greatly to the capacity of the health service. They train initially as nurses, then as midwives, before doing the anaesthetic course– so they are well trained and experienced by the time they finish. I also think it’s a great thing for nursing advocacy – nurses tend to be seen as being the bottom of the pile when actually they are the backbone of the health service.As the only paediatrician there I helped out with the workshop on ABC in Sick Children and did a short lecture and ran a workshop on neonatal resuscitation (photos to follow at some point). It was really interesting hearing everyone’s views and experiences of neonatal resusc here – lots of people asked questions about ethics and when to stop resuscitating. We also got to dispel a few myths – such as using IM dexamethasone, and holding babies upside down by their ankles and slapping them to resuscitate them! I know from experience though that its one thing for a group of British doctors to come and tell someone something and entirely another trying to implement it!The conference was a whole lot of fun, good to meet up with people from the UK and give them a bit of local perspective on things and great for me to have some time away from the wards!