HIV, disease plague, demoralization and “burnout”: resident experience of the medical profession in Nairobi, Kenya
Loading...
Date
2002
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry,
Abstract
This paper describes the experiencesof physicians-in-training at a public hospitalin Nairobi, Kenya, where medical professionalspractice in an environment characterized byboth significant lack of resources andpatients with HIV/AIDS in historicallyunprecedented numbers. The data reported hereare part of a larger study examining ethicaldilemmas in medical education and practiceamong physicians in East Africa. Aquestionnaire and semi-structured interviewwere completed by fifty residents in fourmedical specialties, examining social andemotional supports, personal and professionalsources of stress, emotional numbing anddisengagement from patients and peers, andsymptoms of post-traumatic stress anddepression. The factors affecting residentwell-being are found in this study to be morecomplex than previous interviews suggested. This study highlights the fact that as a resultof working in an environment characterized by poor communication among hospital staff aswell as a lack of resources and high numbersof patients with HIV/AIDS, residents'perceptions of themselves – their technicalproficiency, their ability to care and feel forothers and themselves, and for some theirentire sense of self – are significantlyaffected. Also affected are the patients theywork to treat.
Description
Keywords
Depression, HIV/AIDS, Hopelessness, Kenya
Citation
Raviola, G., Mwaikambo, E. and Good, M.J.D., 2002. HIV, disease plague, demoralization and``burnout'': resident experience of the medical profession in Nairobi, Kenya. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 26(1), pp.55-86.