A Day in Clinic
What Does Clinic Look Like?
Every clinic looks and feels differently. The site, the number of patients and their culture, and the capability of the team all contribute to the uniqueness of the day.
IMR clinics are designed to benefit the care our patients receive. You can expect to see each department in clinic to have a unique space. This might mean that the laboratory and wound care share a table in the center of a tarp or that each have their own room in a school. Your team leader, chief medical officer and your team will work together to create a functional and efficient space for you to treat your patients.
How Does Clinic Start?
Each clinic day starts with a short morning briefing at breakfast and a logistics briefing at the site:
- The team leader will review assignments for the day at breakfast
- The team leader and chief medical officer will designate areas for each aspect of clinic during an arrival walk-through
- All providers will discuss protocols/expected (potential) cases based on what was seen prior and do a walk-through of pharmacy and the various departments to see what is available and understand the layout of clinic
Setting Up Clinic
- Each team member will be responsible for a specific department or task to set up in the morning and break down at night. Tasks include:
- Putting up department/location signs and putting out garbage bags
- Establishing location of team bathrooms, lunch, and patient privacy area and notifying team
- Setting up team hand washing area and patient hydration stations
- Setting up provider and patient waiting and treatment areas: registration, triage, community education, patient/provider stations, private or separate areas for specialty care and mental health providers, wound care, laboratory, and pharmacy
- Establishing control of clinic patient entry points
- Packing and preparing lunch for the team
- Pre-packing medications and doing statistics in the evening
- Each department will have a self-contained bag with all of the supplies for that department and a packing list. It is important that every bag is unpacked and packed carefully for clinics to function efficiently!
- Our patients and our team are best served by a clinic that is orderly and quiet. It is important for you to be able to treat your patients in a quiet area, where you can speak softly and think clearly.
- Immediately establishing a waiting area for patients already in clinic prior to the team’s arrival will help establish a calm, orderly flow for registration. Patients will be assigned a number at registration that will determine the order patients are seen, again keeping clinic orderly.
- The team contributes to a smooth clinic by performing their assigned activities and not rushing the opening of clinic.
- Most importantly, sick or elderly patients, pregnant women, and parents with babies should be moved forward in the line and seen as soon as possible, especially if it is hot.
Clinic Departments
Wrapping Up the Day
We finish the day with an evening briefing:
- Everyone shares their most significant experience from the day. All providers are asked about their cases – what was the most common, least common, most difficult, and if there are any common illnesses that may benefit from specific community health education.
- Tomorrow’s schedule and clinic location will be discussed
- Pharmacy will update the team on common substitutions, medications that may be in short supply, and any prescribing concerns.
- Community Education teachers will share a story from their class and discuss what they have learned from patients that may be relevant to prescribers. For example, if community health learns that patients are using a spice that is very high in salt, providers can enhance their educational efforts with patients with high blood pressure by reminding patients to cut back on that particular spice in cooking.
Join Us in Making a Difference.
Bring much-needed acute medical and dental care to a beautiful, culture-rich destination. You can join an IMR medical mission team today!
