Today was our first day at our clinical sites! I arrived at the hospital at 8:50 this morning where we got a short tour and then went to our floors. I was paired up with a nursing student that spoke only Spanish. We took the coffee break shortly after. We purchased an expresso from a coffee vending machine and talked for about a half hour before returning to work. She gave me a tour and then we went around to the rooms giving heparin, flushing IVs, and helping the other nurses. Since it was a post op floor there were a lot of joint replacement patients and other surgeries. I was able to view a few wound changes and stoma cleanings. It was so interesting to me how similar the Med surge floors in the US were to this post op floors. I will definitely be on the look out for differences as I get accustomed to this floor. After leaving at one I grabbed a quick bite and then went to the university. We all had a debriefing of our day and shared things we thought were interesting from the hospitals. Finally, we had Spanish class where we focused on communication in the hospital setting. We ended our day by walking to the rambla for tapas and a bit of relaxation before heading home.
