We made it to Cape Town!!

Hello!!

We finally arrived in Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday afternoon (September 22nd) and officially started our APPE rotation on Tuesday, as Monday was a national holiday. This worked out in our favor as we were able to get adjusted to the six-hour time difference over the long weekend.

When we arrived on Saturday, we first rented our car that we will be using for transportation throughout the six weeks here. It was definitely odd the first few times driving on the opposite side of the road but now we seem to be used to the change.  We were able to explore downtown Cape Town a bit which kind of reminded us of Faneuil hall back home in Boston. After walking around for a while we found an outdoor restaurant with a beautiful view of the harbor. The exchange rate is phenomenal so we have been eating many great foods!

Our first full day here we made our way to the cheetah exhibit where we could pet an adult cheetah as well as three cubs. This was an unforgettable experience and we plan on going back one or two more times while we are here, especially since it is only about 10 minutes from where we are staying!

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On Tuesday, we met our preceptor, Dr. Coetzee, and then made our way to the University of the Western Cape where we registered as students. The day was spent learning the objectives of our rotation and Dr. Coetzee explained how pharmacy is taught and practiced in South Africa which was extremely eye-opening.  He explained how South African students only receive about two-three hours of lecture on each disease state, whereas, we would receive about of 24 hours.

… Fast forwarding to our first day at the hospital – We met students from West Virginia who were on their last week of rotation, as well as a student from the University of Wisconsin who will be with us for the six weeks and made our way up to the wards. All patient notes, labs, etc are handwritten and stored in folders next to their beds. This is a HUGE difference from the United States and will take us time to get used to. We have also been assigned to act as preceptors for the South African students. With this role, we expect to hopefully teach them some new information and answer any questions they may have but we also expect to learn a lot from them, as they know what medications are readily available and what their guidelines recommend.

The country is beautiful and there are so many things to see! I will keep you updated on our adventures as well as our rotation duties 🙂