SA experience...

Since I moved to SA to work in a government hospital, my wife is 'karring' me to write about my experiences. So I decided to follow her advice, inspired by Bongi and his inspiring blog (read: other-things-amanzi.blogspot.com).
At the time I needed al my energy to 'survive' the notoriousness of a government hospital in Jo'burg. Now I have a bit more space and time (the Denmark part of the blogtitle) to write about some of the things i saw and remembered.

In the first weeks I was in the hospital on the East Rand of Jo'burg, I did some extra work to get some extra cash. I was based in the Emergency Department, for a year, after that I would move to Surgery. The all-knowing management was of opinion that I 'required some experience' in a ED-setting since I came from Europe. Meanwhile I was the most qualified and experienced doc out there....didn't bode well for the future I thought...
But anyway, I did some calls for Surgery, a good way to get known to the personel on the wards. Not unnecessary....

I got onto one of the wards, where I was questioned by the nurse about one of the patients. She wanted to know what his fluid-therapy should be. I checked on the patient and told the nurse to 'measure his output and replace the losses'. Her slightly confused gaze should be a warning to me, and I probably did. After finishing my evening round through the other surgical wards, I decided to come back and check up on the first patient. To my surprise the sister was fumbling and struggeling with the patient's drip. So I asked what she was doing.... She replied: 'you told me to replace his losses, but I don't get this bag connected to his drip, something is wrong!'. 
Well....something was wrong allright, she was trying to connect the urine-bag of the patient to his drip! 'Replace the losses'....

Though I realized they were right, I doubt the management meant this by saying 'I needed some more experience'...