Hola! Today was our third day of clinical at our assigned hospitals. My clinical assignment is on the internal medicine floor at Santa Tecla hospital. So far I have been mostly observing and learning from my student nurse and the nurse she has been assigned to. Although I cannot have much patient contact, I have been preparing meds, priming IV tubing and learning about the daily routine of a nurse at this hospital.
A major difference compared to the United States is the technology used for charting. For example, all of their charting is done on paper and is kept on the nurses cart in the hallway. There is no way to verify a patient has been given their meds or that they have taken them, besides a nurse’s signature. They have computers in the nurse’s stations but they are mainly used by the doctors, med students and for research. After completing clinical rotations in the United States, some may view this as a problem in “double checking” and verification. But these nurses and the hospital have it under control and during my time so far, I have not noticed any problems or incidences. Another difference is the detail in charting. Most of the charting I have witnessed is simply documenting when a patient has received their meds, glucose and the amount of urine output the patient has had. Whereas in the United Staes, a nurse will chart all of the above, plus things ranging from if their teeth were brushed to the minute details of a patient’s pressure ulcer.
After clinical, the other girls at the hospital and I went with our student nurses to meet with their professor. This meeting was very similar to a “post conference” I have experienced in the JMU nursing program. The students had to prepare observations they have made and share them with their peers and professors. It was refreshing to see the similarities to the way me and my peers discuss our findings after clinical.
After clinical we walked to La Platje Arrabassada (the beach) to rest a little before our Spanish class. After our Spanish class some of the group and and I went out for some tapas to kill time before dinner.
Tomorrow we are having our last spanish class and taking a cooking class with a professional chef near the port. I am so excited!
Hasta luego!
Julietta