Medicine that uses all of your training
We are blessed with a group of really smart, really dedicated colleagues. We are the people who sincerely considered joining Médecins Sans Frontières, but found instead a population of our own citizens in equally desperate need, while still having a sustainable and even very comfortable life.
Many of us came here thinking we would stay two years at most, and found instead the job we had always wanted.
Thriving in a resource-limited environment
“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.”Carlos Castaneda
We are, indeed, resource limited. This demands a high level of personal and professional skill to squeeze the last drop of information out of the resources we have. The “latest and greatest” equipment is rarely part of our tool kit. It is scary at first. Most newcomers have some culture shock on finding that there is not a specialty team available to take each complex issue off their hands, but they are also comforted by their colleagues' willingness to help. We are a close-knit team, supportive of one another. It is tiring, stressful, and very, very fulfilling.
Being resource limited also means some very basic things are in short supply. If you have percussion hammers, tuning forks, or otoscope/ophthalmoscope sets, don't leave them behind.
The chance to have an impact
It is a chance to go home at night tired, and high on having figured something out by being clever and using all of your brain, not by filling out referral forms or requesting yet another imaging study or cardiac catheterization. We use UpToDate a lot. Really, a lot. Several of us log over 300 CME hours a year in the course of our daily work. The end result is amazingly good, and we are all very proud of what we can personally accomplish.
Putting your skills to use
Maybe you have a special skill we can use here. Are you any good at bedside ultrasound? How is your dermatology? Interested in palliative care?
Each service has its own scope of work. Contact us and we can share the details for the position you're interested in.
