CMSA Accreditations: None
Rural Allowance: Yes
Duration of Rotation: 12 months
Doctors Quarters:
- No comments yet.
Academics:
- Your typical district hospital run by a few MOs and a large group of community service MOs. Academics are largely your own. Previous years managed to get involved with Rob Ferreira’s anaesthetic department but was not available in 2020. The MO’s that are there are willing to teach although tends to be more practical
- Minimal teaching. Comm serve presentations were encouraged for some time but fell away. It’s up to you to do the learning.
Supervision:
- The 4 Permanent MOs are almost always available, even when they aren’t on call. The sessional MOs who cover the senior calls for a large portion of the calls in the week tend to be difficult and it is often very hard to get them out, even for emergencies. Casualty is run by the on call comm serve alone.
- “The hospital is mostly comm serve run with some senior MOs, who are mostly very helpful.
Calls can be rough and are often covered by sessionals who will vary in their helpfulness. Some refuse to come out. MOs tended to be really helpful if on call. On call you are expected to cover casualty and all the wards, as well as book and assist with c-sections and other theatre cases.”
Clinical Exposure:
- Loads of opportunity to do and learn. Some colleugues did well iver 100 c sections and spinals, and there is no shortage of trauma and cases to learn from, although much if it( except c sections and anaesthesia) is a learn on the job experience. The permanent MOs are more than happy to teach clinical skills and there is ample opportunity to practice.
- If you are happy to get involved, there is ample opportunity for c sections, mini Laparotomys, ruptured ectopics and a host of surgical procedures, as well as loads of spinal and some general anaethetics. As you are often alone on call, you will need to learn to be comfortable with a host of procedures and managing many different patients and conditions.
Departments worked in:
- Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Anaesthetics - “Ample opportunity for cutting time. C sections and basic surgical procedures are done regularly and if interested, the permanent MOs will happily teach.
Also ample chance for spinal anaesthesia and basic procedures requiring some GA, as above.
Wards are mostly mangaed by comm serves and some of the MOs. In paediatrics, there is a great distric paediatrician who really is helpful. As above, the permanent MOs are always willing to help when needed.” - Internal Medicine, Surgery, Orthopaedics, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Anaesthetics, Psychiatry, ARV clinic, Emergency Department, OPD’s - As a district hospital you work in an see all types of patients from many departments. Lots of cutting time and room to learn, but hard work with minimal supervision
Social Scene:
- Very small town, run down, but with all your basic restaurants and shops. We made it manageable by socializing amongs ourselves. Really cold winters with up to 10 hours of loadshedding, power cuts and poor cellphone reception can make things really tough. Secunda is about 45 min away and has a big mall, with a woolies and a movie house.
- Very small town with very basic shops and a few restaurants. Witbank is about a 45 min drive and has a mall with woolies, movies and more. Social scene depends on the comm serve group
Additional Comments:
- A tough year and a tough place to end up in, but being close to secunda and Gauteng makes it manageable. The referral system is a distaster and your referral hospital almost never accepts patients, ambulance services are shocking and very little support from your regional hospital. Your time there will require a lot of team work in order to make it manageable, but there is a lot of opportunity to learn and grow.
- Rough comm serve placement, but you will grow and learn a lot. Very cold winters so prepare for winter. Loads of water and electricity issues, as well as poorly maintained roads.
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