Rwandans love personal contact. The standard greeting is head touching (left,
right and centre) followed by a handshake (several hand positions) and then
often more hugs. I’m sure none of us is
ever hugged as much as in Rwanda. Then
one asks about the person’s health and their family’s health. Only after that do you get down to
business.
The best way to get anything accomplished
in Rwanda is in person. E-mail is a
meager substitute. So, I spend a whole
year trying my best to keep communicating but often frustrated by the
distance. When I arrive in Rwanda,
everything comes together. We are so
much more effective in person.
Michelle, Derek, Christophe and I spent the
morning cleaning up the simulation centre. On Monday we have a group of 20 nurses,
anesthesia residents and surgery residents for a session on team
communication. This is a vitally
important topic to patient safety. I hope we can do it justice. These people
will all role-play in a mock operating theatre to manage an emergency. Stay tuned to hear how it goes.
Michelle ran a course last year to teach
skills to operating theatre nurses. Michelle
identified a particularly excellent OR nurse and we are inviting her to Halifax
to attend the Bethune Round Table meeting in June. She was thrilled to receive her invitation
letter.
Dylan and Tristan arrive very late tonight
(actually, in the wee hours of tomorrow morning). It will be wonderful to welcome them to
Rwanda.
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