We split into two groups and picked AM or PM. I picked AM and spent the morning in the maternal-child unit. I think the name is misleading though because it is really more of the community women's health clinic. Each day of the week is something different. Today was all Pap smears all the time.
I forgot how much I really love women's health. My clinical rotation in OB really put a damper on my excitement. I think I really enjoy gynecology.
The nurses here have so much autonomy it's crazy to me. The nurses in my area are all nurse midwives. They even have two male midwives!
The nurse I shadowed did a vaginal exam, diagnosed the patient with trichomaniasis, and handed her some medicine right then. They only consult with doctors for anything out of the norm.
After lunch I was supposed to go back to the hotel but I asked Tracey if I could go back to the hospital. I was hoping to tag along with her and pick up some more Spanish. I ended up being put in out patient with Taylor. They finish with their patients early though and we ran out of things to do really fast.
They shooed us into the orthopedic surgeon's office where we spent the rest of the day.
The doctor there was so talkative. He trained in the US in Baltimore I believe. He is originally from India and he was awarded a complete scholarship from the government there to be a doctor. It is only awarded to the top 500 out of everyone in the schools there. He and his sister won. Every year he spends a couple weeks in India giving health care for free as a thank you. He says now that he is older he is going for six weeks a year so he can help more before his hands start to shake and his eye sight goes and he gets too old. When he said that it kind of made me tear up a little bit.
He loves to teach and immediately encouraged us to glove up and get our hands dirty. Quite literally because I was able to cut off someone's bandages for a dressing change.
Apparently it is common for young men to get drunk here and get in fights. Except they don't fist fight, they use machetes.
Our patient had someone led fingers and stitches in place. The other guy got it worse; his little finger got chopped off.
The doctor also showed us how to wrap casts. I actually wrapped a cast almost completely on my own. It is kind of different than the way we did it in the ER.
Everything in the hospital was like stepping back in time. The nurses wear white uniforms, the meds are in glass ampules, and they have glass thermometers and no alcohol wipes.
Their sterile supplies are autoclaved and wrapped in cloth, not like our disposable supplies. They don't have IV pumps or syringe flushes. I realize how spoiled I am as a nurse.
No comments:
Post a Comment