Ground breaking developments
I’m quite excited today (sad I know, but it’s still good). Tomorrow we will be undertaking a patient satisfaction survey at the health centre. I happened to be talking to someone from the Ministry of Health this afternoon and asked him if he knew of any other patient satisfaction surveys in Uganda. He said that he only knew of one that took place in a leading hospital in Kampala that is led by an Irishman. So we may not be the very first in Uganda but I think we are still on the cutting edge.
I have developed a template of questions to be asked. This has been derived from some of the Ministry of Health documentation and some are a common sense approach to the quality of healthcare, - information for patients & checking they have understood, privacy, infection control, cleanliness etc etc. The team that will be asking the questions are community healthcare workers attached to Salem. If I asked any questions I’m sure I would frighten everyone away.
These workers are also used to giving health promotion talks and using drama to covey important health messages in the community. I did some training with them this morning; it was so refreshing that the areas that I said I wanted to cover were areas that they also thought were important. I could really see a spark of enthusiasm in their eyes. The enthusiasm and obvious understanding for what we are trying to achieve also came through in their questions and comments on some of the questions. They will be talking to as many people as possible tomorrow using a conversation approach to try to ascertain their views on the experience of using the service. Once we have all the information I will produce a report for the project coordinator and the Board. One of the health workers also suggested we ask similar questions to the staff so that we gain their feelings on the quality of the service. May be this will be stage 2.
I hope it all goes as I expect it to and we don’t hit any unforeseen snags.
More later......
Feet feast
I think I have recovered from having my feet eaten. Thank God for antihistamine tablets. I only brought 2 with me – so I took one on Monday and the relief was amazing I suppose I wonder why I didn’t take one before. I used antihistamine and hydrocortisone cream but they didn’t really do much. It’s amazing how much better you feel when you haven’t got burning itches.
Ambassador visit 17th November.
The pathology laboratory is coming on well. It has been all hands on deck for the past week or so. I think we are on track for completion by next week when the German Ambassador to Uganda comes for the official opening, although there is still a lot to do.
I have some photos but will post later (they take ages to upload about 5 mins each).
We have agreed a programme for the day and I have been nominated to be Master of Ceremonies!!! This is a real honour – from what I gather the main challenge is to keep people to time on the programme – in Uganda that is no small feat. The programme is not at all as it would be in the UK it goes something like this: (I’m not completely sure of all the titles and roles by it goes in ascending order and it is very important not to leave anyone out who should be present)
1. Tour of facilities
2. National anthems
3. Address by Local Commissioner 1 – village level commissioner.
4. Address by Salem Project Coordinator / Medical Director.
5. Address by Salem Board Chairman
6. Address by representatives of funders
7. Address by District Health Officer
8. Address by Chief Administrative Officer – head of district council
9. Address by Local Commissioner 5 – representative of the Ministry at district level
10. Address by Regional District Commissioner
11. Address & opening by the Ambassador.
We need to cover all of this in less than 3 hours, so I shall have to think of some careful strategies for moving people on, as some of these people are well known for their love of public speaking. I’m looking forward to the challenge J.
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