Challenges for admitted patients

In my time here, we have had a fair number of enrolled babies die. Or at least it seems like a lot to me, granted this is a skewed population - sick and admitted to the hospital as well as HIV exposed (if the mothers are sick, the babies will probably be sick too). Here are some challenges I have noticed thus far for admitted pediatric patients, their families, and the clinicians trying to practice medicine and get them well:

1)    There are constant drug and supply shortages at the hospital, including basic medicines, so patients can’t receive necessary treatment

2)    A lot of times kids won’t be given proper dosages of medicines or prescribed medicines at all. There could be a lot of reasons for this: nurses are overworked, there are a lot of patients and many to a single bed making it difficult to see all patients or have a highly functional system, caregivers and the patients are outside and not in the ward at time of drug dispensing, lack of health literacy among parents so they don’t understand what, when or how much of the meds their children should receive, etc

3)    The hospital is dirty so kids will oftentimes come down with hospital-borne illnesses that could drastically delay their recovery or kill them

4)    The guardian must stay (basically live) with the admitted child in the ward, which is not the most pleasant place. This means that someone must bring them food, guardians (the vast majority are women) must leave their other children and responsibilities at home. It’s a huge hardship on the family so many patients abscond.

5)    Misdiagnosis