Do You Have Schistosomiasis Mansoni?
What an interesting week I'm having!! I'm taking Missionary Medical Intensive, here at Equip, Int. in Marion, NC. I'm learning all about diagnosing serious tropical diseases, the best preventions for malaria, and how to cut and drain an abscess. We've learned how to take vital signs, suture a wound, and extract a tooth!! Yikes!! I must say, I don't plan on doing most of these things, but it sure is good training, just in case!! The core textbook we're learning to use is called the Village Medical Manual. This amazing reference book can be used by non-medical people like myself! By looking up the various symptoms a patient has, the book will direct to several possible illnesses. We have to do 40 case studies while we're here to practice using the book and learning important signs to look for in an sick person. The book also gives treatment for each illness and contraindications.
There are 17 of us here this week. Most are missionaries heading to the field or are back on furlough. Four are nurses, and some are starting or already running a clinic in a third-world country. I'm pretty slow with diagnosing the case studies (if you guess wrong twice, you "kill" your patient and have move on), but I'm starting to improve. We also had 10 pages of drug and dehydration math problems. Those I understood quickly, thanks to teaching 6th grade math for three years! :-)
Disclaimer: Before any of you start calling me for medical advice, or worry that I think I can become I doctor in two weeks... this course is also very careful to teach us to know our limits and that it is illegal to do any procedures we're learning in the states.
Time to get back to some more case studies! :-)
By the way, schistosomiasis mansoni (also called Bilharzia) is a disease caused by microscopic snails in stagnant water. They're found around the edges of Lake Victoria, which is why I won't be swimming in the Lake! :-)