ABSTRACT
Originally from the United States with a background in intensive care and emergency nursing, I (Katelyn) moved to Malawi to work as a nurse at a rural hospital. I cared for patients on both the adult and pediatric wards with illnesses ranging from malaria to opportunistic infections to mental illness. What I observed was that rural hospitals in Malawi are resource poor, with few oxygen machines, no CT scans, a small number of available laboratory tests, and limited medi - cation access. I spent the first few months of my time in Malawi relearning how to be a nurse with significantly different resources and in a vastly different culture. In addition to my inpatient work, after several months I also began working for an outpatient malnutrition development program. For the malnutrition program, I regularly visited rural health centers that were part of our district and followed up with severe malnutrition cases out in the villages at the patients’ homes. I am very thankful to my Malawian colleagues who taught me how to be a nurse in rural Malawi and helped me to better understand the factors-cultural, poverty-related, and otherwise-that impact health care in this beautiful but struggling nation.
