Friday, May 27, 2011

Panama

This is my second blog and there is quite a bit to share! Since my last post, I have been to El Universidad de Unachi, visited a women and pediatric hospital, and began work at my clinical site of Hato Juli. Lets begin with the trip to the University. When we first arrived, the whole group filed into an auditorium style classroom for the nursing students of Unachi and a representative of the nursing began to welcome us all to Panama and thank us for being willing to experience another culture. She also showed us a PowerPoint presentation about what their nursing school experience is like and how much they emphasize community in their schooling. Thankfully we had a translator because my head was beginning to spin! When the representative finished her presentation, a few of the nursing students, dressed in all white, began to serve us french fries and chicken nuggets. I was starving and played right in to the stereotype that Americans love fried food! When the meet and greet with the Unachi nursing students concluded, we headed for our next destination, a hospital for women and pediatrics. As we began to tour the hospital, I was thinking to myself that I am excited to see how the layout and how it compared to the United States. We were able to take a glimpse into the Pediatric ICU, and for anyone with a heart, it is hard to see those children hooked up to tubing and not knowing if death awaits them in the near future. As we continued the tour and saw the general floors, I noticed a difference between the Panamanian hospital and one in the United States. each floor in this hospital only had two or three nurses that cared for about thirty patients. In the States, nurses usually only care for about four patients but here they may have up to twenty patients to look after! Lastly, I want to talk about my clinical experience in Hato Juli. The first day I was there, I was basically the triage nurse taking vital signs and getting weights and heights for each patient. Next, we were able to go out into the community more and interact more with the people. This was an awesome experience as I was able to see how they live and go about their daily activities. Today was the first day of giving vaccinations. I gave four vaccinations and attempted and IV insertion on a nine month old. I was not able to find the vein but I gained valuable experience for my next try. Thank you for reading my blog and now tomorrow I head to the beach!

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