Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Tuesday, October 9, 2007 Relatively quiet day

Greetings from CLTC.

Tuesday is Chapel day and we had full intentions of going this morning (7:30) but for some reason last night we left windows open and if I had not mentioned, it gets chilly in the evening and at night and esp. after it rains which it did last evening. We both were cold all night and did not sleep well....finally at 6 a.m. we got warm and went back to sleep.......it was all over then. We will have to try again next Tuesday morning!

I taught my First Aid Class this morning and this afternoon I spent about 3 hours in the clinic. I had an opportunity to talk for a while with one of the nurses and we compared notes re. nursing duties here and in the states. She said the hospital nurses here do very little if any charting. The Drs do it all, however, did I mention that all nurses can deliver babies & suture wounds? The nurses in this clinic examine patients, diagnose and treat/prescribe medications. Today we saw a woman who had come in 4 months in a row with a headache, she was not referred on to a Dr. as she had a history of malaria and it was assumed that was the problem.

The clinic nurses put in an order to the government for supplies as they need them. Today the nurse was 'making bandages'......she receives a large roll of gauze and has to cut and fold the pieces of gauze to make her own bandages to have ready to use. That is going way back in the states.

These women are tough, however as Jan said this one country where men outlive women on an average. Let me tell you how tough.........we visited a woman Sunday who had a baby 9 days before. She walked 2 blocks to call the nurse to report that she was in labor, arrived at the clinic at 11 pm, the nurse told her to walk for a while, she did .....up a hill and back, she delivered the baby at midnight and was home again with the newborn at 1 am.........can you even imagine? That's PNG!

Did I mention that Duff and I both feel very comfortable here? Jan and Patrick have gone out of their way to include us and make the transition smooth....we have been here just one week today! More reports to follow.

Take Care,

Jim and Mary

1 comment:

Ann K. said...

From one RN to another---- No charting , huh??!! Sounds good to me !! :>)

Love, Ann K.