Residency Inspection

We have had some excitement with our resident training program over the past 6 weeks. Evangel Hospital has a Family Practice Residency. Residency is the practical training that doctors receive after medical school. In the U.S. a family practice residency lasts three years. American family practice residents are trained in managing most medical problems. They have training in obstetrics and gynecology as well. They have a small amount of training in surgery, enough that they can often do some very minor procedures like removing lumps, bumps, skin lesions, etc. The training program here at Evangel Hospital lasts 4-6 years, depending on when the trainees can pass their board exams. They have much training in general surgery, orthopedic surgery, gynecology, and urology. Fifty years ago and in some rural areas of the U.S., you may have had your GP (general practice) doctor remove an appendix or perform a tonsillectomy—a rare occurrence now. That and much more is common place at this hospital. Dr. Aboiyar is the fellow that I am currently training. It is clear that he is very skilled in surgery, along with his skills in general medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics. Last week when I was gone, he took care of a couple of Ear, Nose, Throat emergencies using skills he had just learned from me in the past couple of months. What is amazing is that earlier in the day, he had done two prostatectomies. Ask your family practice doctor when was the last time he did a prostatectomy!

Dr. Aboiyar with his first tonsillectomy patient. A 3 yo with Down's syndrome.

The excitement at Evangel started last month when we were suddenly informed that our residency program was no longer accredited by the West African College of Physicians. This was quite a blow, since a couple of residents were just about to sit for board exams, and were not allowed to take the exams. Our program is well known and well thought of, but there seems to have been some politics going on. After some petitioning and scrambling, the college agreed to inspect our program and consider recertifying our program. The inspection team was at the hospital today. Though a visit of my clinic had not been scheduled, they did manage to pop in on me while I was seeing patients. As an entourage of six people barged into the exam room I explained to my patient, “Excuse me, I need to show the inspectors around. I will be back shortly.” Fortunately, my patient was a physician on staff who understood the situation.

The postop recovery area. No nurses, no monitors.

This afternoon the “consultants” (board certified staff physicians) met with the inspection team. The team seemed to be fairly impressed with our program. There were some criticisms of the hospital facilities though. I was happy to hear that somebody besides me thought that soap and running water would be nice to have in the wards. We hope that the decision to re-instate our program will be swift. We now have four residents who would like to sit for board exams at the next opportunity in April, including my fellow, Dr. Aboiyar.

Hot and cold water in the male ward.

Michael Mitchell, MD