Community Service Reviews

CMSA Accreditations: None

Rural Allowance: Yes

Doctors Quarters:

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Academics:

• Weekly meetings in the boardroom with presentations on pre-selected topics. Monthly M&Ms. Specialists from Worcester Hospital (internal medicine/paediatrics/obstetrics) visit once a month to help with/teach around difficult cases.
• Academics will have improved since I was there. We didn’t have interns when I did comm serve, but apparently there are SU students and interns working there now. Worcester Hospital would send specialists to the hospital once a month for ward rounds/M&Ms/clinic days, and they were always happy to teach.

Supervision:

• Good supervision by family medicine registrar and consultants. Almost always extra hands around to help if things get stressful/you feel overwhelmed/don’t know how to deal with a patient.
• The senior staff may have changed in the years since I worked there. I know a few of the incredible people I worked with left/had kids a year or two later. But I’m general there are more experienced doctors/theatre staff/nurses who are always willing to help you. The team mentality one develops whilst working at a district hospital is also we identify in the way the doctors and staff support each other/try to make one’s life easier.

Clinical Exposure:

• Good exposure to medical and surgical patients, ward rounds and clinics. Plenty of trauma cases (especially over weekends).
• Asthma, CAP, MIs, CVAs, ectopic pregnancies, plenty of trauma (mostly due to nearby township, Zwelihle). I feel like there wasn’t much I didn’t see during my at working there.

Departments worked in:

• Internal Medicine, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Emergency Department, OPD’s – 2 month rotations between male/female/paediatrics/casualty/OPDs/maternity. The only real surgical exposure you get is caesars, but you can (very rarely) assist with small operations like appendectomies/hernia repairs.
• Internal Medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Emergency Department, OPD’s – “Wards are a mix of surgical/medical patients.
  3- month rotations in: male, female, paeds, O&G, casualty and clinics (OPD in hospital and surrounding outreach clinics).”

Social Scene:

• Small, “rural” town. 1.5 hours from Cape Town. Unless you get along well enough with your colleagues that you can socialize with them, then there isn’t much socializing to be done.
• Hermanus is a small coastal town, quite Afrikaans, with a lot of retirees. If you get along well with your colleagues, there are a few bars and restaurants that stay open late. Plenty of wonderful little towns nearby to visit. Whale season brings plenty of tourists to town for a few months (they even have a Whale Festival – market vibes). Lots of nearby hiking routes. Cape Town is only 1.5hrs away.

Additional Comments:

• Thoroughly enjoyed my year here and would happily have stayed on as a medical officer if they had had a post available.
• Would highly recommend. Wonderful place to live, good work environment. I learned a lot and would happily have stayed on as a medical officer if they had any job openings.