Thousands of doctors attend to one sick child
When a child falls ill in Haiti, getting a fast diagnosis and affordable treatment isn’t always easy. Case in point — a 22-hour old infant presenting with pustules over the scalp and shoulder at a facility with no access to laboratory testing. The registered nurse treating the case took to Figure 1, posting images and paging healthcare professionals around the world for input. Were these pustules benign, she hoped to confirm, or were they likely to spread to the 12 other infants sharing the same room?
Over 16,000 members of the Figure 1 community sprang into action. A medical student suggested other laboratory locations where the baby could be tested, and a registered nurse offered the help of her friends in the Haitian medical field.
Before more work could be done, the mother and baby unexpectedly left the hospital, perhaps to avoid the cost of further medical care. But the registered nurse treating the case was comforted by what took place on Figure 1. A pediatrician pointed out that the condition looked like a benign case of neonatal pustular melanosis, and others agreed. This means that the condition is likely self-resolving within a few days. A nurse reassured her, “you did everything you could as a nurse and a caring, compassionate person”.
