Marianna Colon
UF BSN Student
HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE
Coming to St. George's General Hospital, I knew that my experience would be different from back at home, but even to this day, I find this aspect of the trip my absolute favorite. I noticed right upon entry that the hospital was under a British system so instead of charge nurses and managers, there are matrons.These are the "charge" nurses and delegate the rest of the nursing staff to their assigned roles.
On average there are around 1-2 nurses per every 15-30 patients and work an average of 5-6 days a week. Just this mere insight, made these nurses out to be superheroes in my eyes. The nurses were so patient and handled all kinds of pressure with grace. No one complained, and all worked very diligently.
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The hospital is split up by gender and medical need. I was assigned the female surgical unit for the day and had the lovely opportunity of shadowing two nurses. I was able to perform vital signs, obtain glucose readings, and aid in transferring patients. I even took a trip in the ambulance to transfer a patient to another clinic to have a CT scan done. Many procedures such as MRIs and CTs are not performed in the hospital and patients are required to have these performed at various off site locations.
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Another huge insight that I noticed was the charting system implemented. There are no electronic health record systems in use. Everything is done manually by hand. Everyone writes and documents in the patients paper chart. This made it essential to write neat and legible for those following to be able to read. It also made accurate patient information even more vital. There isn't a system or a pop up window to notify the nurse that a dose was missed or already given. These nurses are on their A game and inspired me to be also, regardless of the resources I have in the states.
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Shadowing and being in the Grenadian hospital is something I will never forget and will take with me throughout my time in nursing school and as a nurse. There are several differences in the systems, protocols, and ways of doing things between the hospitals, but overall the acts of compassion, empathy and caring remain the same throughout the spectrum of nursing and I got a chance to witness this first hand; for this I am forever grateful.
