- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
An Uncommon Experience
We have completed five days of clinical practicum at the clinic in the village Llano de Animas, and these have been the most amazing days in my life. The learning experiences acquired were unexpectedly diverse. We provided care to patients with pediatric illnesses, adult illnesses, post-operative care (i.e., suture removal), OB-GYN, immunizations and tropical diseases. However, this would not have been possible without the gentle guidance of the nurses at the clinic and of Dr. Elry.
I tend to think that there are many knowledgeable individuals in the world, but few are actually able to impart their knowledge to others. Dr. Elry is one of those one-of-a-kind people, whom you wish you could spend more time learning from. He has been a great teacher to me and the students.
One of the toughest jobs was performing an assessment of a child's throat. Despite how often we would show the child how to stick the tongue out, the child still would not do it and he would bite the tongue depressor. Dr. Elry showed us multiple times how to have the parent hold the child on the examination table and how to turn the tongue depressor to visualize the throat. He never lost his patience with us and never complained of being tired (though I did see him yawning and closing his eyes while sitting down.) I watched (in flowery pajamas) as he provided care to a patient who came to his clinic (in the Amatitlan church) at 9 p.m.
Dr. Elry is an amazing example of servant leadership and I wish that I could be like him, someday. - Mihaela Zegrean
Helping a young patient while always teaching
Clinic in a van: taking medical help to people in a remote village
Nurses Griselda & Casta of the Llano de Animas health post
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Popular Posts
Renewing our minds
Shortly after sipping on the best coffee in the world (i.e. Guatemalan coffee), we read a devotional about allowing God to renew our minds. And so it was. On this first day of clinical practicum, our minds were exposed to multiple and unique learning opportunities in a place least expected. We worked alongside the healthcare staff at a public health clinic in a village up the mountain from Lake Amatitlan. The seven nursing students were placed in different areas of this small clinic: the consultation room (which was staffed by a pediatrician), the immunization & family planning area and the medication dispensary area. It was amazing to see the level of organization of the clinic staff members given the few resources that they had. We struggled the most with learning how to read a mercury thermometer – turned it left and right, up and down until we saw that silver lining. We also learned that blood pressure would only be checked for patients 14-years of age and older as the clinic...
Making the best of the worst
Visting the Guatemalan hospital By definition, a "hospital" is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized medical and nursing staff and medical equipment. When thinking about a hospital, I sort of pictured a set off of the show Gray's Anatomy. The white linen, white walls, blue scrubs, monitors beeping every which way with gloves and antiseptic gel everywhere you look. Here in Guatemala, I assumed that it would look similar but be outdated compared to what I was used to. The problem with assuming anything, is that you never know the real truth. The 150 year old Guatemalan hospital was nothing that as nursing students in the United States, we would probably ever imagine. Walking in, the entrance was gated and locked to the outside community. After entry, patients were sitting outside the room to be seen, waiting their turn again. Within the hospital there were various rooms based on the specialty that was needed to be seen. It ranged from me...
Clinic Days
Clinic Days An overview of our busy week and the nursing activity done Being in my senior year of nursing school at Concordia, I have experienced most of my clinicals in a hospital setting. Being able to experience the clinical setting here in Guatemala is simply amazing. The clinic, named Puesto de Salud Llano de Animas, allowed us to see and examine many different medical problems that we probably would not experience in the United States. We had the chance to go out into the community and administer vaccines to children and women who could not make it to the clinic. While there, we got the chance to see a child who was affected by the Zika virus as a baby. She was diagosed with Zika at birth, which means the mother transmitted the virus to her while she was a fetus. The child now suffers from severe mental and physical disabilities due to the complications of the virus. She gave a cry, the sound of which I will never forget. Also in the community, we had the chance to see C...
Comments
Post a Comment