Success

Our talk went very well. My part was the most boring topic possible in nursing second only to nursing theory. I was very glad there was no audible snoring. Seriously, a lecture on nursing process is difficult to make interesting but the feedback was positive in that I used examples from their hospital and spoke slowly and clearly enough to understand. And I was told my explanations used simple language and so Manila, the nursing director, was happy. Barbara continued the lecture with physical assessment (the application of my part) which they were interested in and then we did psychosocial assessment which seemed to be somewhat new territory. They were very interested in this portion and although Barb did the presentation, we did very well bouncing off each other for examples and explanations. We were so relieved that to celebrate we stopped at a spa on the way back to the hotel and got facials. For $22 they soak and massage your feet and during the facial, they massage your hands and legs. They also give you tea to sip for the foot massage portion and a lovely drink after the facial. We plan to return. Maybe often.
This morning we were in the ICU which has 4 beds. It is connected to the emergency room and they share staff which makes sense in many ways. The ER has 4 bays and while I was there, an infant arrived in shock. The resuscitation effort was fast and the child was stabilized and on the ventilator (respirator) within 15-20 minutes. The poor Mom was young and really scared. I have never wished more that I had words of comfort but all I could do was gently pat her back and make a sympathetic face. Most of what I saw was consistent with what we would do at home given the same patient scenario. The ICU was filled with infants- all 4 beds including the one who came in while we were there.
At lunch time we went to a conference where a case is presented and then everyone discusses what went well, what did not and what are the lessons learned to improve care for next time. Again this is very much like we do at home and I was impressed with the discussion. These are bright, competent doctors. We worked on our talks for next week after that and I left a bit early to nurse my iffy stomach. Must have been something I ate or drink but I have been very careful.
We have arranged for a guide to take us to Angkor at tomorrow so that we can understand what we are looking at. I will have to figure out how to post this since my computer only connects at the hospital.
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