22.08.2011 Hospital

22.08.2011 Hospital

Today I did rounds again with the doctors and local nurses.  I miss the amenities at the hospitals at home.  I miss the care patients receive at home.  I miss being able to talk with my patients.  At home, we take vitals every four hours.  Here, heart rate and blood pressure are taken once in the morning.  Respirations are not counted, auscultation is not routinely done (and I doubt the ability for a lot of the medical professionals here to recognize the different sounds and what causes them), and the patients are not routinely bathed, walked, turned, or given ROM exercises.  Their families are responsible for feeding them, washing them, and assessing their well being.  The food they eat is brought from home.  If there is no family, the patients are not washed.  There was one Maasai man in particular who was in the hospital for a broken hip.  He was not in a cast, but just resting on his side.  We went in to change sheets and the local nurse wanted to skip his bed, because it was going to be difficult to move him.  I saw him and couldn’t leave him.  His sheets were covered in dirt, dust, and urine.  I pulled is blankets off of him and assessed his hip to determine the best way to move him.  I rolled him, and changed his sheets myself.  It was hard to do it alone because I didn’t want to hurt him or cause his hip more damage, but the man was so grateful after I had finished. Being here makes me truly realize how very important basic nursing care is.  It’s the foundation of every patient’s health and well being.