One Week in Chami

                So far we have been working in Chami for a week.  We started our day today at the clinic with me hoping to get a chance to hear some fetal heart tones which, seeing as we haven’t done L&D or OB yet, I haven’t had the opportunity to do.  However, our first patient was a middle aged woman complaining of a painful rash on her skin.  It was still interesting, especially since most of the skin issues I see in Florida are pressure ulcers.  Dr. Barry prescribed anti-inflammatory cream and Jessie convinced him to also include antibiotic ointment.  Laura was able to show her how to put it on and make sure she covered the whole area and rubbed it in all the way.
                The one male in our group (who asked to remain nameless) was invited to perform a breast examination on this same patient.  Lauren, who had already done one, was to show him how and he was to report his findings.  When he finished, Jessie asked him to report his findings.  He reported on symmetry, coloration, lack of masses, etc., and when asked about size he says “umm,  ummm, I don’t know, maybe a 34-B?”  It had the whole room just about dying laughing.  Definitely a highlight of the day. 
                As a community health nurse, one of the most difficult things is not being able to see the progression of treatment.  In the hospital setting you watch your patient over the course of their stay and are able to see if the prescribed treatments are working.  Here, the patients are sent home with their creams, lotions, pills, and recommendations but you never know if they will use them appropriately, if they will come back for follow up care, or if they will go home and put their medications on a shelf and forget about them.     I would imagine that this could be very frustrating for some nurses, especially if they are like me and would prefer to see a patient’s progression from beginning to end.

                Looking back, I never thought community health was particularly interesting, probably because you don’t often see all of the time and effort that goes into making changes in the community.  This experience has certainly opened my eyes to all that is involved in community health nursing, and has given me a great respect for the men and women out there every day trying to create change.