Medical Assistant in Hospitals

Our medical volunteers are placed in a range of health care centres and clinics located in Cape Town, including Green Point Community Health Clinic, which provide facilities for poorer people who cannot afford private medical care.

This unique experience is the perfect project if you are embarking on a career in medicine, and will offer you a wide range of out-patient healthcare activities, suitable for medical students and medical practitioners. Not only will this experience provide insights into new techniques where you can learn from the local staff, but it will help to boost your C.V. and clearly distinguish you amongst your peers, giving you an invaluable edge for your future career.

South African healthcare clinics are currently often heavily under resourced, under-funded and struggle to have a good number of doctors and nurses available in comparison to the number of patients seeking help. Alongside this a large number of clinics and centres struggle with ageing and deteriorating infrastructure.

In these poorer areas, the healthcare is provided free-of-charge, but this often means that there is more demand than available supply. It also means that there is commonly overcrowding and extremely long waiting times for the medical care. Shortages of medications is also common, with an inability to always treat everyone who attends these very busy environments.

So as a volunteer, your help is invaluable! 

You will spend your days in your allocated clinic or centre caring for those in the local community. You will be typically volunteering from 8:00am to 3.00pm Monday to Friday. During the week you may do the following:

Assessments and care duties
You will help daily assisting in general patient check-ups, including checking blood pressure, breathing rates, pulse and temperature.  This will also include physical examinations of the height and weight of patients and building the medical history by obtaining important information on past medical history, medications and allergies.

Testing duties
During your working day you will also collect samples (urine, blood etc) for laboratory testing.

Preparation duties
To ensure the swift treatment of patients, part of your duties will include readying them for testing, treatment or procedures to be carried out by the doctor. This can include activities such as removing bandages or cleaning a wound.

Clerical duties
Updating the patient files and charts is really helpful for the busy nurses and doctors. You may also help with the scheduling of future appointments, manage cancellations and assist in clinic administration as part of your volunteering role.

General observations
During your time here you will be able to observe the way in which this healthcare system works in South Africa, which can be a real eye-opener and help to build upon the knowledge that you already have as a medical professional or trainee. This may mean also participating in home visits in rural areas to help with vaccinations or care for immobilised patients, alongside working within the clinic itself. You may also assist midwives out on their visits.

22nd July 2018
5th August 2018
12th August 2018
19th August 2018
26th August 2018
2nd September 2018
7th October 2018
14th October 2018
28th October 2018
4th November 2018