So I was saying that I've been in Vietnam for a whole week by now. Before I left, I had absolutely no time to be any kind of excited because I was swamped with work: three exams in the last week and cleaning my flat to move out, packing my belongings into boxes so that my parents could transport it all to Leipzig. Even after landing in Noi Bai Airport, I was void of real excitement (but that could also be because I was seriously lacking sleep).
But well, if I've realized something, then it is that you don't always need a grand opening to have a good time. I've certainly enjoyed my first week in Hanoi very much. :)
Aside from spending time with family, the first couple days of mine revolved around my internship at Viet Duc hospital, the biggest surgical hospital of Vietnam. I'm stationed in the department of Pediatric Surgery together with two med students form Luxembourg, who coincidentally also study medicine in Germany. We get along really well and I couldn't be happier to have met them.
Two years ago, I have already absolved an internship in a Vietnamese hospital, so I'm not as easily shocked with all the differences from Germany as the first time. Still, I was quite uncomfortable when I was in the ambulance on the very first day, and the surgeon on duty examined patient after patient without wearing gloves or disinfect his hands once. He touched the penis of one child, moved on to press on the belly of another, and then fumbled with the scrotum of the next one. Without. Cleaning. His. Hands. Once.
Well, yeah. One positive thing that I can confirm is that the competence level of the doctors here are comparable, if not even better than German doctors. The theoretical knowledge of the docs I've spoken to definitely tops that of several doctors I know in Germany, and the surgical skills of Vietnamese doctors are also impeccable in my eyes. It's just that I'm really not that much interested in surgery. The second hypospadia surgery to me was already really boring, even though I was the assisting surgeon. The only thing I found impressive so far is the retroperitoneal dissection of a neuroblastoma. That frigging tumor bled out 800ml blood of a poor 11-year-old girl...
Other than that, I feel like I have only seen penises in Peds. It feels like Peds is 5% tumor stuff, 5% abdominal surgery, and 90% penis issues. Phemosis, hypospadia, buried penis - you name it. I've never seen so many penises in one day in my life, and I'm not in frigging Urology!
Anyway, it's cool. lol
I want to move to Neurosurgery after two weeks. I'm pretty sure I can see the majority of surgeries at least once within those two weeks, and that is more than enough for a non-surgeon like me.
Here's a picture of the view we've got from the surgery tract - the 10th floor of the new hospital building. (Hanoi is so gray these days, it has been raining everyday...)
At least until this point, it should be noticed that I haven't mentioned food at all. Well, I have to save those adventures for another day, for another extra post. :)
