Typical day at Donegue clinic

Typical day at clinic:

Up @ 7. breakfast at 7:30, initially only bread and tea.  Now more fruit added, coffee occasionally.
8:00 clinic starts.  Many patients wait in the small waiting area outside of the main consultation room, sometimes spilling out into the open area outside the clinic building.  
8 – 1:00 see 40-50 patients between the Malian doctor, me who assists, and occasionally the aide (village elder/assistant to the elder)
Typical consult: Graph paper book with lines drawn to separate the columns: name, sexe, age, race, village, occupation, temperature, symptoms/complaints, GE result, diagnosis, treatment given.  No other record.  Difficult to follow-up with care.
1:00-2:30/3:00- lunch and downtime.  Usually take hour nap. Write in journal if time.  The first 2 weeks were pretty much spent in Bamako every afternoon working on the study, so journal writing took a back seat.
2:00-7:00- travel to and from Bamako, getting provisions, and/or work on study there.
The 2 days we did not go to Bamako the first 2 weeks, we played soccer with the locals.  Truly and unforgettable experience (see later posts)
7:30- dinner
8:30-10:30- work on protocol
11:00- have beer (Guiness.  The first day I got there I asked for a Guinness, and they have supplied that for me for the past 2 weeks.)
12:00 or so- bed and read for a while