On May 23rd, Rachel Picard, a Nashua native and currently studying to become a surgeon at the University College of Ireland in Dublin, addressed the Rotary Club of Nashua regarding her Humanitarian Medicine residency in Tanzania, a country of 60 million people in East Africa. The medical system is a pyramid model of health care with clinics, district hospitals, regional hospitals and Tertiary hospitals. The level of care is more intense as one progresses through the system. The inability for many to afford care beyond the district hospital setting creates outcomes that are often dependent on one’s ability to pay.
Some bullet points:
* Tanzania is among the top 10 in the world for doctor to patient ratios with .31 physicians per 10,000 people.
* Maternal Mortality is 500 per 100,000 live births
96% receive some sort of prenatal care
51% receive skilled labor and delivery care
39% of the labor and delivery wards can provide comprehensive care
*A goal of Rachel’s work is to improve patient outcomes through an analysis of Hand Hygiene Adherence and Emergency Care Protocols using:
Quantitative surveys
Qualitative Services
Focus Group Discussions
Statistical analysis
Much time observing Emergency and Trauma Surgery Departments
Rachel went on to discuss the types of trauma and other emergency cases that present to her hospital. Challenging to be sure but there are some great success stories as well.
A brief Q&A followed her presentation.