too much ego for this clinic

today was a little rough. another medical team arrived today...a dentist, a nurse practitioner, and a podiatrist. both the nurse and podiatrist saw all patients, whereas the dentist gave sealants to all the children. i was assigned to the podiatrist and it wasn't pretty. he is the epitome of what gives doctors and americans a bad name. he came to the clinic in cargo shorts, a baseball hat, and a junky t-shirt and walked in like he owned the place. i doubt he would ever dress like that in an American clinic. his whole demeanor was condescending, chauvinistic, and self-righteous. one of the things that i really appreciate about the MOH hospital is that despite the fact that the patients are desperate for medical care, the clinic maintains high standards when it comes to patient treatment, confidentiality, and proper medication regimens. this doctor preferred to leave the door wide open while he saw patients so that he could get airflow. meanwhile patients were divulging their personal stories. when dr. cheryl told me to ask him to have the patients sit on the bed so that they could close the door, he replied (and i quote), "i think i'm going to do whatever i want, since i'm the doctor practicing here." For a man with such a huge ego, he had no idea what he was doing when it came to general medicine. he acted like he did, but i've been here long enough to know that he hadn't much of an idea what he was talking about. i ended up having to ask the pertinent questions and by the end of the morning i was writing all the labs and prescriptions and he was just signing. a woman with a vaginal infection came in and he actually said, "i don't do that stuff, you can get this one." people would come in with abdominal pain and he would say "it's just bc haitians don't know how to eat" when really it is most likely a parasite or typhoid. he would ask for fancy tests and when i told him that they don't do them here he said, "why not? that seems stupid, it's not hard." he completely did not understand the lack of resources.... he was constantly saying, "why don't they do this? they should run it like this. this place would be better if..." he overlooked peoples symptoms and prescribed cop-out drugs...easy symptom maskers.

the worst part is the way he talked about the staff at MOH who to me are beyond amazing. when i told him that i would check w/ blondie about a certain medication he responded bitingly, "you mean to tell me that a pharmacist is going to tell me how to treat my patients?? ha." when i told him i had to check with dr. jenifer about something, he said, "who is this jenifer person?"...i told him that she was the head doctor here to which he replied, "oh yeah? is she actually a real doctor or something like a chiropractor?" he was unprofessional, overly judgmental, and rude. "how do things ever get done around here? can't they do something about this heat? are they even gonna feed us here? pb&j, really?? can i get an extra pen or can they not even afford that??" he made me absolutely sick to my stomach. i wanted to tell him off so badly, but i had to bite my tongue. the only good thing about it is that i had to make my own diagnoses and prescriptions. but that should not happen. he in no way respects the standard of care that would be accepted in the U.S. he made haphazard diagnoses and he acted like everyone should be thankful that he is there...haitians are poor, i'm donating my time to their desperate bodies, so how dare they not be satisfied with this crappy medicine that i practice? they are lucky to have me. after all, I AM A DOCTOR. the whole thing made me so mad, my face felt on fire the entire morning. at least i have an example of someone that i never want to be like. self-righteous, judgmental, short-sighted, ego-centric, condescending jerk.

selfishly i don't want to work with him tomorrow, but i know that i might have to bc i've had the most treatment and diagnoses hours.

i learned today that haiti is considered a 5th world country which is basically a 3rd world country that has no hope bc of lack of resources. it is depressing that such a category even exists.

one of the girls here has typhoid fever and we can't figure out how she got it, so we're all being extra cautious. what's crazy is that she had gotten the vaccine before she came here, but apparently it is only 50% effective.

i feel like i've vented a little today, so i'm going to end with some nice pictures :)