Sunday, October 19, 2008
* Glimpse at the Medical Ward *
Finally, the schedule of our comprehensive and final exams are out.- Communicable Health Disease - October 20, 2008
- Nursing Research - October 22, 2008
- NCM 101 & 101a (Comprehensive Exam) - October 22, 2008
- NCM 101 (Final Exam) - October 23, 2008
Last October 16-18, 2008:
we had our duty in the Medical Ward at Baguio General Hospital.
So far, of all the wards I've been to for this semester, I'd say this is where ones skills are really honed. I learned a lot especially in terms of medications (i-drug study mo ba naman ang 10-13 na gamot ng pasyente mo hehe) and I was able to do more than I did in the other wards.
October 16, 2008, the patient of my classmate died. It felt very heavy for us all. We were there for two weeks and my classmate handled her for 6 shifts. We witnessed her struggle as well as her family's efforts to hold on. Somehow I felt mad at her doctor. Where was she when her patient was suffering that much?
Really, it felt so heavy we went to the Nurses' Lounge and cry. After that, we prayed for her. Bilib naman ako sa mga doktor at staff nurse, they really stood their ground and didn't shed a tear. Maybe after handling a lot of situations like this, they became, I dunno - immune?
It was in this ward that I saw a glimpse of other people's desire to treat. Nurses who practice there for a short time are called nurse fellow. I don't know why others are just so -- pabaya. I'm going to state some instances (based on my shift and only in the patients I handled):
- 8 PM - Responsibilidad ng fellow nurses ang magbigay ng IV medications. Naibigay ko na lahat ng oral medications ng pasyente ko for 6PM at ang pwede ko na lang ibigay ng 8PM ay Lactulose (syrup). Pinaalala ko sa nurse fellow(in charge of my patient) na ibigay niya yung IV med ng pasyente ko, sinabi niyang "Ay meron ba ading? Tapos na kasi shift ko, i-eendorse ko na lang sa susunod". May miting ang mga staff at fellow nurse sa nurses' station at nagpiktur-piktur pa. Natapos yun ng 8:47 at hindi pa dumating mga fellow nurse ng susunod na shift. 9:03 na, saka lang dumating ang susunod na shift. Delayed ang pagbigay ng IV medication. Binigay ng fellow nurse on duty yung IV med ng 9:30. Para saan pa ang ginagawa ng student nurses na Incident Reports at pag-iingat kung mismong Registered Nurses(hindi lahat) ay hindi gumagawa ng tama?
- Blood transfusion (BT) -Before inserting the line for BT, they thawed the blood pack in a basin of tap water - it is not ideal to do so.
- IV line - Pasyente pa mismo ang naglakad palapit sa akin para sabihing paubos na ang 'dextrose' niya. Nagpanik ako't ini-'off' ko ang IV line niya sabay pumunta sa nurses' station. Sinabi ko sa nurse fellow in charge at sinagot niya ako ng "tignan mo nga sa chart niya kung may 'to follow' at tanungin mo sa kasama niya kung merong IV sa bedside niya..." Hindi ba't siya ang may responsibilidad niya yun? Pagkatapos kong gawin yun at sinabing walang stock yung patient, saka lang siya nagpareseta ng 'dextrose'. Hay. Paanong hindi made-delay ang mga IV fluids kung late inihoo-hook? Hindi pa yung tamang oras ng paghook ang isinusulat sa IV 'paper'.
- Doctor - I was doing my sample charting when my patient's doctor and a nurse fellow came to me. "Delayed na yang IV fluids ah. (Tumingin sa nurse fellow at sinabing..) ... Pakiregulate mo nga." . Bumilis ang pagpatak ng 'dextrose' sa rate na 21 gtts/min. Umepal ako. "Sir mali po yan kasi 500mL lang yang 'dextrose'.". Sumagot ang doktora "Diba dapat 20-21 drops yan? Kaya nade-delay ang IV fluids eh." (Kausap niya yung fellow nurse). Nagexcuse ako at umalis. Kinompyut namin ng groupmate ko ang rate ng IV. PNSS 500mL x 12 hours (macrodrip) = 10.21 = 10 gtts/min. Sinong mali ngayon? Bumalik ako. Wala na ang doktora. Sinabi ko habang hawak ang 'dextrose', "Sir, 500mL lang ito." Ini-regulate ng fellow nurse sa 10 gtts/min. Di kami nagpansinan pagkatapos.
- Chemotherapy - The watcher has bought the needed IV line and 'chemo-dextrose'. I called the fellow nurse on duty because we weren't allowed to hook it. She came and has hooked it together with the main line (like what the other fellow nurse did in the blood transfusion). And then she went back to the nurses' station. Nagtataka ako bakit nakatakip ang 'dextrose' ng carbon paper. Sinabi ko sa clinical instructor ko at sinabing takpan ko rin daw ang IV line dahil decreased ang epekto ng chemo-drug. The drug was photosensitive. Iniwan lang ng fellow nurse na ganun ang IV line kaya tinakpan namin ng carbon paper at coupon bond.
Hindi lahat ng fellow nurses na nakasama ko ay ganun. Meron akong dalawang nakasamang hindi pabaya. Every now and then, they'd come to the far end of the ward (Hema-onco; I was assigned here for the last two days) and check on the patients and even ask me how our patients were doing if I would pass by the nurses' station. I wished the other fellow nurses were like them. They even reminded me of the medications I shouldn't forget. ;]
Honga pala, wala akong sembreak talaga. Sa ika-27 ng Oktubre 2008 magsisimula ang enrollment ng Nursing. Hay... Tapos sa ika-30 ng Oktubre naman ay magsisimula ang advanced duty namin. Ay! Meron pala akong sembreak, sa ika-1 at 2 ng Nobyembre! Saya-saya, natapat pang Sabado at Lingo. T_____T
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
It was a fine day I thought. And I did shut up. :}I went to SM awhile ago and bought the biggest jawbreaker I could find. And yes, I was able to buy one for my brother. It cost me 96.00 for a single candy, but I did owe my brother anyway.
I always wondered what colors it had. Awhile ago, I got my answer. He sliced it into two (yes despite its hardcore coat, my brother was able to divide it) and I saw a wonderful result. Here it is:
(in the middle is a powdery substance I do not know what it is namedbut it tastes like ascorbic acid haha)
"Despite the hardcore coat jawbreakers wear, it bears different colors and taste as it slowly unravels its heart.."
Yada yada, tinotopak lang talaga ako lately haha! I'm having my duty at the Medical Ward again tomorrow. 7 to 3 shift, God help me. Sigh.
And oh, we don't have any sembreak. Details soon when I finally get back to myself haha.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
* In behalf of my September 2008 *
Whoa! It's been really long since I've posted anything. One month? Gosh. Haha.Anyway, I've been really busy with life. Studies is my life.
A lot of issues has been recognized and resolved and there are those that are still being addressed.
I'm in the mood for updating so I'm gonna start writing stuff. Warning: It's gonna be long haha. :)
Our first graveyard (11 PM to 7AM) shift happened last September 3 to September 6. It was as well my mother's birthday when we traveled to Lepanto. I wasn't able to join her celebration with my dad and siblings. Sigh. It was Wednesday when we traveled after our 5PM class in NCM. When we arrived in Lepanto, we were really tired. We barely had 2 hours to take a nap and prepare for our 11PM shift.___How did the shift go? Well. That was where I got my first I.R(Incident Report) from Ma'am Macy. I made a small erasure in the TPR sheet because a line went overboard when I plotted the values. We didn't eat much that time because in the morning, some of my group mates went to sleep while the others went to the market(I was one of them) and those who waited for us for them to be able to cook. It was also devastating because we weren't able to bring much of our stuff which made us borrow things from the other group.
___For my two nights, I was assigned at the OB-ward with Prenell. The both of us handled the whole ward. I took care of a mother and her infant. Gosh, her baby was real big and heavy -- which makes the baby reaaallly cute! :)
We also weren't able to take much pictures when we were in the capital already. We just wanted to finish what we needed to do for us to be able to sleep.
When we arrived at Baguio - Saturday noon time, I immediately went home and without hesitations, I slept the whole afternoon and woke up at 9PM. My parents and siblings were done eating dinner and yes, they bought a family size pizza. There were still a lot of cake (gifts for my mum from her officemates and friends) and yes, indulgence hahaha!
For the next two weeks of September, we didn't have any duty. We did our Research proposal. We defended our Research problem on September 17 and our problem was fully approved! Yay for us! It was a pioneer study so I guess it's a challenge for us to really make it grand. Yippee! I freaking missed ice cream. We don't have any communication anymore. The last time was when we agreed to meet at SM. As usual, when I told him I wanted to hangout that very moment, he'd come whatever happens. But this time, he didn't. He let me down and that was the time I decided to stop dreaming. Haha. Well, that's the truth. I had to face it. As of now, when I think of it, I guess, I'm okay. Sigh. During those two weeks of doing our research proposal and problem, we had an overnight stay at Eka's house. We were able to finish what we needed to do and of course, take pictures at the same time. It was a fun and tiring night too. What we did was a success. As of now, we're preparing our defense for our Chapters 1 to 3. It was Scarlet's birthday. We decided to make a simple surprise party for her debut. We bought her a cake and gave 18 packs of pancit canton (haha) and the fun part is we celebrated it with her in Singgles with our complete group members. Although there were those who didn't drink alcohol, it was good that they stayed with us even for a while (pakikisama) for Scarlet.___T.J came as well. Haha, I don't want to address what we did here anymore. It was a foul play I admit because we were playing bitchy against Jael and T.J. Our issues are now resolved.
___We sang our hearts out too. Haha. There were a lot of people that day at the bar even though it was still 4PM. They were also celebrating the birthday of their own friends. Haha.
We finally had our ARAS. Before that day, our issues with Jael aggravated and a lot of tension was observed. It made our working relationship hard because the quality of work we were doing were affected. So after we were able to submit our research output, we decided to have our ARAS up in the mountains near our school. It was a success because we were able to address our own issues and problems, as well as suggestions to one another. It was good we were able to do this because our third community exposure was coming and it would be very, extremely hard for us to work together if it wasn't resolved. The fourth week of September was our third community exposure. We were transferred from Kiangan to Sadanga. It was a far better staff house compared to Kiangan. We had our own bathroom and comfort room, had a better sleeping room and everything in the house looked new hehe. Well, it is comfortable for short. We went to Gravel Pit and it was hell tiring. Literally, we went down a mountain and talked with the community people there and then went back up to our staff house before 6PM. I couldn't imagine people residing there have to walk that far just to go to school, market and even travel to other places. We visited our target clients and families, we also went around Kiangan, Taaw and Sadanga to take the folks' blood pressure. And here, we had the chance to take pictures in Lepanto haha! :)After our third community exposure, we arrived at Baguio shocked with what we have seen at the school. The grounds were dirty and manila papers and cartolina were posted all over the walls of the school with notes and comments from the students. That same evening, we stayed to listen to Dean Tingda's speech. It was really heartbreaking to listen to all of those but we needed to know all the reasons so we stayed. I spoke in behalf of the third year's, specially to those transferees like me. It was when we have finally found a home for us, a good mother (Dean) and second parents (faculty), it is now that we would be left. Just when we were about to grow as one. It was hard for us all. And even though we had options (as said by the Dean and other faculty), it still felt painful because really, Easter College is our new home now. Open letters were given by the parents, faculty and students but still the damn administration accepted the resignation letter. The dean has spoken and she said she would reconsider her resignation if her issues were addressed. The atmosphere that time was very sad. It was in that general assembly that the faculty announced their resignation too. I really felt sh*tty that time. Sunday, September 28. I was there at the PNA building when the parents and the Dean had their talk. The Dean gave her speech, as what I have heard in the general assembly the night before. There were a bit additional info she didn't tell us students and it was in favor for us. As I sat there and looked at everyone in the room, I could feel the power of the parents, really. They were determined as we, the students were. Soon, they planned on making a letter addressed to the administration of Easter College demanding an open forum which later happened the next day. September 29. Rally. It was a beautiful Monday morning. I arrived at school before 7:30 wearing a black shirt and jacket (it was the discussed color to be worn during the rally). There were a few people there, posters and banners were attached all over the gate, the walls of the school and even the students. Soon, the president came with his body guard. Note, body guard. How scared is he? Haha. He just passed by (and he was booed by the students as he went) and read the banners in front of the gate. Everyone was yelling at him but no one dared touch or throw a thing at him (dignity purposes haha) although we wanted to. After that, he was reported to have taken a taxi and rode at the other gate. Soon, students flocked. Duties, community exposures and even classes were boycotted. After some reminders from the student body, we finally rallied up to the admin building. We were restricted up to the gate entering the elementary and highschool building but we continued our rally. Soon, the Easter College bus was started and we didn't allow the bus to pass by. They used the bus as a threat to overran us and yes, the stupid driver really did use it as a means to break us. As it reached the gate, we wanted to get out because it really was threatening to overran us but the boys as our front liners used the gate as a weapon against the bus. The others pounded and kicked the front of the bus. When the students became wild and was getting restless because of that, the driver came down and was threatened of being beaten up for what he had done. He said he just wanted to pass by because he needed to fetch some fuc*ing important persons. Sheesh. Whatev! So there, when we let the bus pass (people pounded and kicked the bus as it passed by), we took the opportunity to run up to the admin building. We really did disrupt the classes of the highschool and elementary (haha). Not one administrative member came out of the building and listen to us. And guess what, the president was not there.___When the president came, he was blocked and surrounded by students and the media. He gave his speech (he was talking to the freaking camera) and even called us a mob. Whatever, he was such a chicken for not facing us.
___After that, we returned to the main gate and had a short meeting with the student body for some reminders and information. The open forum was to be held granted that we were "makakap-kapan" before entering the gym. How stupid.
___I hang on to every word the administration, faculty, students, parents and the Dean said. It was very very obvious that the president was INSECURE of the Dean's support and hard work. As he was introduced and as he sat there, no one gave a clap for recognition. When it came to Dean, everyone did clap and students even yelled for support. Anyway, back to the speech on what the president said. He kept pointing out that Dean is different from him, that he is not a nurse and all, that he has his own leadership style(yea right -- leadership of sitting at his office all day or even travel to other places just to escape from work and leave it to the dean) and the like. He was clearly separating himself from dean and when the parents got fed up, they told the president frankly that they were there to address the Dean's issues and not the president's issues. The president couldn't speak when the faculty said all the things he mentioned during their meeting which involves the risk of the College of Nursing's losing a lot of connections made by dean, the risk of losing the senior faculty and the risk of letting the passing rate of Easter College fall even below 50%. He just admitted to what kind of leadership style he has. And yes, we don't even have student handbooks together with other concerns the students have.
After the long talk among the students, faculty, parents, and alumni, the parents
asked for a two-week wait so as to prepare us (their children) if ever they wouldn't consider Dean Tingda's come back. (Pictures during the rally)
As for our last community exposure (October 2 to 4) for this semester, we had a hectic schedule of activities. Time constraint was pressuring us for tallying and finishing the results of Marivic's survey. It really is a big problem because the result of the survey didn't meet the population's number. Where were the survey forms? I don't know. The other groups didn't endorse nor give it to us for tallying. Sigh. It's starting to get very busy again because we have to prepare our defense for our Research defense on Chapters 1 to 3, we will be having our comprehensive exam a week before finals and we have to finish the community diagnosis before October 11. And one more thing, we will be having our duties for the next two weeks. How the hell are we going to budget our time with this? Huhu. This is the week we will be hearing the result of our efforts for letting the administration of the school to reconsider Dean Tingda's resignation letter. It will be determining our future. God help us.