Today was the first clinical day in Kotzebue. My preceptor's name was Esther, and she is originally from Rwanda and Kotzebue is her first nursing job! She was very nice and I learned a lot from her. Some unique aspects of the hospital in Kotzebue are:
In addition to the named aspects of the hospital, there were also many other things about the hospital that made it unique. Because it is such a small hospital, the nurse are doing so much more than what I have traditionally seen in large hospitals. For example, I was able to assist with a 12 lead EKG. The nurses are also responsible for inserting all of their own IV's and drawing any labs. Through everything that I learned throughout the day on the inpatient unit there are many things that I will takeaway with me. Working in a small hospital made me realize how important it is to have strong communication and a good relationship with the inter-professional team. I will use this knowledge to make sure that I foster strong relationships with any team that I am a part of in the future.
For fun on this day, we walked to the art gallery and looked around at all of the beautiful artwork made by the local people. The sunset over the ice/snow was beautiful. The arctic tundra is definitely a totally different experience than anything that I have experienced before. We also used our trusty crock-pot that we hauled from Anchorage to cook most of our meals for the week. It was really great to hang out with our team of four students and Paula, our instructor.
- Paper charting is the vast majority of the charting that they do at the current time. It was a very different experience to not have direct access to all of the notes, labs and other information right at my fingertips.
- The inpatient unit has 11 beds. When I was there, 8 of them were occupied, and that was considered a high census.
- The majority population that the hospital serves is Native Alaskan, and the region around Kotzebue is the Inupiaq. They use a lot of non verbals to communicate, so it was a different experience to not be as direct when communicating with patients in the nursing setting.
In addition to the named aspects of the hospital, there were also many other things about the hospital that made it unique. Because it is such a small hospital, the nurse are doing so much more than what I have traditionally seen in large hospitals. For example, I was able to assist with a 12 lead EKG. The nurses are also responsible for inserting all of their own IV's and drawing any labs. Through everything that I learned throughout the day on the inpatient unit there are many things that I will takeaway with me. Working in a small hospital made me realize how important it is to have strong communication and a good relationship with the inter-professional team. I will use this knowledge to make sure that I foster strong relationships with any team that I am a part of in the future.
For fun on this day, we walked to the art gallery and looked around at all of the beautiful artwork made by the local people. The sunset over the ice/snow was beautiful. The arctic tundra is definitely a totally different experience than anything that I have experienced before. We also used our trusty crock-pot that we hauled from Anchorage to cook most of our meals for the week. It was really great to hang out with our team of four students and Paula, our instructor.