Back in the office Monday, we were surprised to learn that, as regards our IRB submissions, “sometimes the expedited review takes even longer than the normal review.” Despite how counterintuitive that sounds, we received conditional approval and on Thursday, we met with the IRB coordinator to go over our comments so that we can resubmit. All four of us were rather disappointed in the meeting. We’d hoped for a rigorous scientific and cultural review... and the only notes we received were to reformat our citations and include our nationality and marital status... Wait, WHAT? So for now, I’m having my consent forms translated into Kasem and Nankam and editing my proposal to include something like this:
Principal Investigator: Melissa Ogden, single white female, enjoys long bus rides through the jungle. Looking for someone to talk about kids pooping.
Ceci and I have started spending more time at the hospital, going in on Tuesdays to watch surgeries and on Wednesdays to go on rounds. We also left our phone numbers with the operating theater staff so they can call us in case of an emergency surgery or C-section, though nothing has happened yet. The entire hospital is staffed by only three doctors, but they’re always willing to explain cases and eager to answer any questions. Dr. Zach even started quizzing us on anatomical markers and making us calculate drug dosages. I was pretty proud when some of the cases, like an infant with Scalded Baby Syndrome, were conditions I recognized from class. I really enjoyed my time at the hospital, and feel like it’s going to be something to look forward to every week.
Tomorrow we’re heading into Tamale to celebrate Halloween with the Peace Corps, but this itself was kind of a lame update, so I’m linking my favorite Ghanaian song here in an attempt to make it big in the US by the time I get back. According to Eye Man, it's not actually Ghanaian, but it's still a big hit here. And it's fabulous.
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