Elliott's update on his nursing placement in Nepal

I observed a C-section and a miro-stoma, which is an operation done that widens the person's mouth as it was very small...



My last day at the hospital was today and I figured that it would be a good time to share with you some of my experiences as Ive had some time to process it a bit better. I will be staying with my host family for an extra week to spend some time with the community over Tibetan New Year (Lhosa) and to check out more of Pohkara, I may even extend my trip and do Annapurna Base Camp- we'll see.
Over these past six weeks of being in Nepal I have been working at the hospital and living with my Tibetan host family in their Refugee Camp. This time away has provided me with such a great opportunity to learn some new nursing skills and see some of Nepal at the same time. I had the privilege of deciding from all of the wards in the hospital where I would like to go and how long I would like to spend in each ward. My placement was divided into two blocks, I chose the Surgical Ward for the first three weeks and the Paediatric (Children) Ward for the last three weeks.
During my time on the Surgical Ward I was able to interact with the nursing staff and intern doctors and I quickly learnt the dynamic of the ward and how they worked. Most of them were very shy to begin with but over the weeks they seemed to warm toward me and they became very friendly. I quickly learnt that if I was going to get anything out of this time away I needed to take more initiative when it came to learning practical skills. After observing a variety of practices I took the opportunity to begin practicing and learning these new skills. I gained experience in administering intra-venous medications and performed many wound dressings. I practiced my aseptic technique while dressing bed sores, suture lines, an infected ulcer and many post operative wounds. For example I often cleaned a man's wound who had a pussy scar from an exploratory laparotomy, which is an operation that "explores" the "lap" or abdomen of the patient to determine the problem and then remove it. In this case the man had a blockage in his liver.
The hospital was generally dark, cold and could smell at times. Despite this seemingly gloomy circumstance I felt I was able to find joy in using what little skills I had to help others and also the staff made my time a lot more enjoyable. I also observed and assisted the staff with many burns dressings. A woman tragically died from septicemia after suffering from 95% superficial burns to her body. In terms of the cause of her burns it was never finalised as to whether it was suicide or the son murdering his mother- it was a complex situation. This distressing event gave me the opportunity to help with cleaning and preparing the body for the mortuary. I went to the operation theatre twice as well where I observed a C-section and a miro-stoma, which is an operation done that widens the person's mouth as it was very small.
Overall, my time on the Surgical Ward was very confronting but I feel I rose to the challenge and even grew to love the prospect of becoming a nurse even more. I feel that when I used the gifts that I posses to help others, however small that help might be, I felt that it satisfied and fulfilled something deep within me. I can only hope that my short time here was comforting to others in some way, I know for sure that I have left this Ward with many new friends. We're even connected on facebook now :) And of course I know I have learnt many practical skills and added to my knowledge.
I will update you soon about my time on the Paediatric Ward. Let me know what you think Fiona and if you would like more detail or have some questions. By the way Liz is doing Everest Base Camp! So she will not be in contact with you for a while I suspect. Thanks a bunch for organising this placement for me. I took some good photos today. Hopefully hear from you soon.