This is an exciting and unique experience! – In April 2014 Zack went to visit his brother Joshua, who is working on information technology systems in Cameroon, Africa. While there Zack had the opportunity to teach, interact with their medical community, be a guest speaker on a local radio show, and interview one of their resuscitation specialists. We’ve tried to include a little of each of these experiences in this episode of the EDECMO podcast.  Yes, this is a little off-topic from our usual content; but we hope you’ll enjoy it.  Maybe medicine in the Third World is archaic and barbaric. Or maybe our First World medicine is just completely over the top?

In this episode Zack spoke with Christian  Ngem, who is a Nurse Anesthetist/Anesthesiologist/intensivist in Cameroon, Africa.

Christian Ngemt, Nurse Anesthetist (Cameroon, Africa)

Nurse Training – BVH 2002-2004

Baptist Hospital, Banso – Scrub nurse 2004-2007

Nurse Anesthetist School  – 2007 – present

“End of Life” care is much different in other cultures.

Having to utilize limited resources to take care of really sick patients, they have been creatively using drugs we all know and love. For example, the concept of sub-dissociative-dose Ketamine has been going on for a long time!

Drugs:

Ketamine = “The Magic Drug”

Thiopental

Morphine

Halothane

succinylcholine

Physical Exam = I forgot what that was until I heard Christian’s talk here.

While they truly believe in resuscitation, they also believe in letting go when the time is right.  Cultural perspectives play a huge role here and there is a definite emphasis on allowing death with dignity. Are we wasting time, resources, money, and effort with our Western extravaganza? Maybe we are.  Let’s open the discussion!