As part of our final-year Family Medicine block, we attended Daspoort Clinic for three and a half weeks to get exposure to the primary healthcare system. The clinic has a wonderful multidisciplinary team, including the receptionist: Tanja Smith, Pharmacy Assistant: Charlene Meyer, sisters Kedibone Shakwane and Phindile Masemola, Community Oriented Substance Use Programme (COSUP) Coordinator: Ivy, Clinic Coordinator: Kenny Mafala, Consultants: Dr Botha and Dr Esoop, and teams of dieticians, physiotherapists, psychologists, audiologists, social workers and dentists—including both seniors and students.

As students, we consulted individually with the patients, formed a comprehensive assessment and plan, and then presented each case to the senior doctor. This allowed us to experience first-hand the common conditions that burden the Daspoort population. Non-communicable diseases are highly prevalent, with many patients having multiple comorbid conditions. We were taught to take a holistic view of the patients and not to focus only on their medical conditions. We experienced home visits where we walked into the community and witnessed the living circumstances of patients. This gave us great insight into the effect of a patient’s context on their conditions and vice versa. We worked with COSUP patients and became more aware of the practices of COSUP, which gave us greater insight into the substance abuser population. We also became familiar with the pharmacy and prescribing and dispensing of medication. The responsibility of seeing patients individually along with the guidance and education of our senior doctors allowed us to practice and improve our consultation skills and clinical knowledge which will be of great importance as newly qualified doctors next year. 

The staff are friendly and always willing to help and educate. The clinic is well run and efficient. The reasonable patient load allows for attention to detail for each patient. The extensive multi-disciplinary team is one of the greatest benefits of the clinic. Not only do the patients benefit from the holistic and extensive management by the team, but we learned so much from one another. Each Thursday morning, a presentation was made by a different department, displaying how patients were managed within that team and the uses and benefits of their discipline, with a discussion on how other departments could also assist that patient.

As students, we greatly benefited from the emphasis on education and improvement at Daspoort Clinic. We thoroughly enjoyed the friendly and cooperative atmosphere and felt welcomed and included as part of the clinic’s team. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Daspoort Clinic.