We have now completed 2 weeks of nursing classes. And I still have no idea what is going on. Our schedule is different day by day, week by week. Often I look at the schedule the night before so I know when and where I need to be the next day. It is too varied to keep track of, and too overwhelming to really look at. Taking Pediatrics and Obstetric courses simultaneously is enough to make anyone crazy, squeezing them into 2.5 months is something else. Not to mention an additional night class at Rothberg International School. One thing that seems to be consistent is a 6am wake up time. Our nursing classes and clinicals are an hour bus commute away from our dorms. I’m not quite sure who engineered that one. My clinical this past week was at Alyn Pediatric Rehabilitation Hospital . This is truly an amazing facility. Each child has such individualized care. They design each kid a specific chair to mold to their body and provide the support they need, as well as corsets, braces, casts, and anything else. There is multidisciplinary care including occupational therapy, school, hydrotherapy, nutrition, and of course nursing care. Even the kids that have no hope in regaining function, they make sure to exercise the abilities they do have as not to lose them. Every faculty member knew every child. It truly appeared to be a cross-cultural family operation. Political and cultural views were put aside to work together for these children.
Next week my clinical will be at the PICU at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. We split into groups of 1 or 2 and do two days at each location. This has its benefits: we have very personalized attention and are able to gather a taste of different floors and facilities. However, the negative seems to outweigh the positive for this setup. We are not allowed to do anything. We are not with a specific clinical instructor, and therefore can't work under someone else's license. It is frustrating. We were thrown into our Medical-Surgical and Geriatric rotations last semester and gained so many skills, but are not able to practice or improve them.
The lectures on the other hand, are much better than at Penn. With a class of 5 students it is much more relaxed, personalized, and gives leeway for more interesting stories and information applicable to Israel. You also get to know your professors very well. Oh, and best of all, class pauses when you need a bathroom break.
1 comment:
I can't imagine how challenging it must be to be in so many different places and doing many different things. Even if you just get to watch, you can still learn a bunch. The rehab hospital does seem amazing...what sorts of problems land kids there? With the news in the US focused on the political unrest and terrorism, I found myself expecting that all the kids were victims of bombings...probably not at all accurate!
Can't wait to hear about your OB experience...there's a new film just out in the US called the The Business of Being Born...sort of an indictment of hospital birth and the way its done by doctors...I had an interesting chat about it (though I haven't seen it) with a family practice doc who has seen it...we chatted about the many aspects of home birth that we are able to offer at Silverton Hospital..she just had a baby there and she wondered if, given some encouragement, she might have managed without an epidural!!! It really takes a shift in ones belief system to do things differently.
Keep blogging...I enjoy reading them so much!
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