Satrom Gives a Tour of Elective Site

2nd Year Pediatric Resident, Katie Satrom, recorded a video presentation for the Annual Global Health Grand Rounds: While They Were Away: Resident Contributions Abroad 12-13 held on May 29, 2013.

Satrom Enjoys Some R&R Away From the Wards In Cameroon

The following post was contributed by second year Pediatric Resident, Katie Satrom, on international elective.

Mbingo offers great opportunities for beautiful hikes. Since the hospital compound is about 45 minutes from the nearest town, many of the hospital staff go hiking on the weekend for entertainment and exercise. Here are a few photos from our recent adventure!


Walking in some tall grass


One of the many beautiful waterfalls


Cows being herded by the Fulani people, a nomadic cattle herding group across West Africa


Paying homage to the coffee bean at a nearby coffee plantation


View of the hospital compound

Case Study From Cameroon

These cases were submitted by 2nd year pediatrics resident, Katie Satrom on international elective in Cameroon. Photographs were used with the permission of the family.

CASE 1. Differential Diagnosis of Acute Jaw Swelling

6 year-old previously healthy male presents with 3 days of painful left jaw swelling. The pain is worse with eating and is associated with bleeding from the mouth.

After IV therapy

Outcome: Given extremely poor dental hygiene and initial improvement with antibiotics, the child was continued on IV antibiotics for the treatment of a dental abscess and associated cellulitis.

CASE 2. Fine needle aspiration consistent with Burkitt's Lymphoma

5 year-old previously healthy female presents with 2 weeks of painless right jaw swelling. She was seen by an outside facility where she was treated with antibiotics for a presumed dental abscess without improvement.

After 1 cycle of chemotherapy

Satrom Arrives In Cameroon

The following post was submitted by Katie Satrom, MD, second-year resident in the University of Minnesota Pediatric Global Health Track:

The view from my room

Greetings from Cameroon!

Dr. Tina Slusher and I arrived safely in Cameroon last week. We're working at Mbingo Baptist Hospital, which is a 250+ bed mission hospital in the Northwest Province. There are 45 physicians who work here, 600+ staff, and over 100 volunteers annually.

The pediatric ward consists for 20 general beds and another 6 oncology beds. There are also some children who are boarding in the surgical and ortho wards. In addition, there is a newborn nursery associated with the maternity ward and a very small NICU.

Currently 3 American pediatricians are working at the hospital. They are all recent grads who have committed to working here for 2 years. The hospital has surgical residents through the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) program and also a med-peds residency (although they only do 25% pediatrics).

The hospital entrance

Our daily routine consists of morning report from 7am-8am, followed by either rounding in the nursery or seeing some clinic patients. Inpatient rounds begin at 9:30.

The local residents do all of the pre-rounding, documentation, and most of the orders. Later in the afternoon, we will follow-up with any loose ends, see new admits, or spend more time in clinic or nursery.

Our role is more for supervision and teaching, as the local residents do not have much pediatric experience. I am learning a lot from the residents as well, especially about specific endemic diseases and also how to best use limited medical resources.

Drs. Satrom and Slusher with two nursery nurses and another resident, Erin Young

There are a lot of volunteers who are coming and going. Currently there is an American adult nephrologist who is here to help set up peritoneal dialysis. We have had two interesting cases of nephrotic syndrome on the wards, so he has been a helpful consult.

This week, Dr. Peter Hesseling, a pediatric oncologist from South Africa, and his team are here. They have a Burkitt lymphoma protocol to deliver simple, low-cost treatment for children that can be used in rural hospitals. Their team has treated more than 900 cases of Burkitt's in this region of Africa so far.

There is also a 2nd-year pathology resident from Mayo here for 6 weeks, so it's been fun to hang out with her. My husband comes next week to help with some engineering projects, so I'm looking forward to that!

Drs. Slusher and Satrom on rounds on the wards

My first day on the wards, I saw a new diagnosis of Burkitt's lymphoma, intussusception, cerebral malaria x3, acute bilirubin encephalopathy, TB peritonitis, H. flu meningitis, and bilateral retinoblastoma, just to name a few

This 26-week preemie was born here and was stabilized on bubble CPAP, and is actually doing quite well. Dr. Slusher and I check in on her a few times a day and have had to be creative when the power goes out for extended periods of time.

I've also been able to observe and help Dr. Slusher teach the Helping Babies Breathe protocol to the local nurses. One of these nurses is visiting from another city and will bring back what she has learned to teach others. It's pretty neat to watch them learn about simple neonatal care and to know how big a difference that can make in infant mortality if done well!

I'll try to write additional posts with interesting cases and pictures. The internet connection isn't great, so sometimes it's hard get online and especially to upload photos.

Katie