Student ID: M0402082
We have a briefing by Matron Noraini when we arrived at Seremban Hospital on the 8th of November, around 8 am. Most of us were feel slightly awkward then, since we did not know what to expect from the visits at all. However, it did not take long before Matron Noraini makes us feel comfortable and relaxed by chatting with us. I have to say, I am really impressed by how easily she is able to build rapport with us. After a brief introduction of all the sisters and on what we were supposed to do during the visits, we were divided into groups for different wards.
I was assigned to Ward 6B, the female medicine ward. The head nurse who is in charged of the ward is Sister Darwiyah, and she guided us for a tour around the hospital along with the group of Ward 6A. Personally, I find the division of all the different wards to be quite systematic, and I really like the concepts of a “husband-friendly” (where the husband is allowed to accompany his wife during labour) and “baby-friendly” (only breast-feeding is allowed for the babies) hospital. After we finished our tour, Sister Darwiyah gave us a brief introduction on the roles and responsibilities of the nurses and the hierarchy of the hospital organization after we have introduced ourselves. She also explained on the arrangement of the beds (the patients range from sub-acute to acute as their bed position lie closer to the head nurse’s room).
Before we proceed to take down the blood pressure, pulse and temperature of the hospital patients, Sister Darwiyah asked us to practice among ourselves first. After each of us have practiced taking down each other’s blood pressure and double checked by her, we began to perform the tasks on the patients. While there were little problems that I encountered when taking the patient’s blood pressure, pulse and temperature, I did face the problem of communicating efficiently with the patients. My Bahasa Melayu is far from fluent, and although I understand some of the Chinese dialects such as Cantonese, I was unable to communicate efficiently with the patients. Also, communicating with elderly patients who were senile was really tough.
We observed the nurses and doctors performing their daily routine for the rest of the day, which included intravenous injections, withdrawal of patient’s blood, and the follow ups of the patients by the specialist, doctors and medical students. We asked the nurses whenever we wanted to find out more about the patients’ diseases, and I am impressed by the knowledge they have, since I used to think that nurses’ training are mostly clinical and not so much on theory. It is also enlightening to find out how the nurses’ roles complement the doctors’, and the exactly how important their jobs are. We observed the nurses passing report to the nurses working for the next shift around 2pm, and practiced bedmaking before we left the hospital in a hurry as the bus were leaving soon!
On the 9th of October, we proceed to Ward 6B once we reached Seremban IMU Clinical School. The nurses were conducting bed-bath for the patients in the ward. I was reluctant to observe the process because the patients were all female, and most of them have their relatives accompanying them. Therefore I wondered around the male wards to observe the bed-bathing there. It is interesting to note that the girls do not have much hesitation to observe the process in the men’s ward! Later, we helped the nurse to do bed-making back in the ward.
Nothing much happened next, and so Sister Noraini taught us on the techniques to wear surgical masks and gloves. After that, we helped the nurses to distribute lunch meals to the patients in the ward. The meals are divided into 2 categories: normal diet, and low salt diet, depending on the patient’s disease. Right after we finished with the lunch distribution, we say our goodbyes and thanks to Sister Darwiyah before we left for lunch, and finally, back to IMU.
The hospital visits have helped me on understanding and appreciating the roles of nurses in a hospital setting, and I’m really looking forward on my next clinical posting!
I was assigned to Ward 6B, the female medicine ward. The head nurse who is in charged of the ward is Sister Darwiyah, and she guided us for a tour around the hospital along with the group of Ward 6A. Personally, I find the division of all the different wards to be quite systematic, and I really like the concepts of a “husband-friendly” (where the husband is allowed to accompany his wife during labour) and “baby-friendly” (only breast-feeding is allowed for the babies) hospital. After we finished our tour, Sister Darwiyah gave us a brief introduction on the roles and responsibilities of the nurses and the hierarchy of the hospital organization after we have introduced ourselves. She also explained on the arrangement of the beds (the patients range from sub-acute to acute as their bed position lie closer to the head nurse’s room).
Before we proceed to take down the blood pressure, pulse and temperature of the hospital patients, Sister Darwiyah asked us to practice among ourselves first. After each of us have practiced taking down each other’s blood pressure and double checked by her, we began to perform the tasks on the patients. While there were little problems that I encountered when taking the patient’s blood pressure, pulse and temperature, I did face the problem of communicating efficiently with the patients. My Bahasa Melayu is far from fluent, and although I understand some of the Chinese dialects such as Cantonese, I was unable to communicate efficiently with the patients. Also, communicating with elderly patients who were senile was really tough.
We observed the nurses and doctors performing their daily routine for the rest of the day, which included intravenous injections, withdrawal of patient’s blood, and the follow ups of the patients by the specialist, doctors and medical students. We asked the nurses whenever we wanted to find out more about the patients’ diseases, and I am impressed by the knowledge they have, since I used to think that nurses’ training are mostly clinical and not so much on theory. It is also enlightening to find out how the nurses’ roles complement the doctors’, and the exactly how important their jobs are. We observed the nurses passing report to the nurses working for the next shift around 2pm, and practiced bedmaking before we left the hospital in a hurry as the bus were leaving soon!
On the 9th of October, we proceed to Ward 6B once we reached Seremban IMU Clinical School. The nurses were conducting bed-bath for the patients in the ward. I was reluctant to observe the process because the patients were all female, and most of them have their relatives accompanying them. Therefore I wondered around the male wards to observe the bed-bathing there. It is interesting to note that the girls do not have much hesitation to observe the process in the men’s ward! Later, we helped the nurse to do bed-making back in the ward.
Nothing much happened next, and so Sister Noraini taught us on the techniques to wear surgical masks and gloves. After that, we helped the nurses to distribute lunch meals to the patients in the ward. The meals are divided into 2 categories: normal diet, and low salt diet, depending on the patient’s disease. Right after we finished with the lunch distribution, we say our goodbyes and thanks to Sister Darwiyah before we left for lunch, and finally, back to IMU.
The hospital visits have helped me on understanding and appreciating the roles of nurses in a hospital setting, and I’m really looking forward on my next clinical posting!
Due to the lack of space (Sister Teoh only wants 2 pages of 1.5 spacing length of report!), I didn't mentioned about seeing a poor baby with a sad case of hydrocephalus (his head swelled enormously... in fact, about the same length as the rest of his body!), a delirious patient who utter unintelligible words all the time and have to be tied down since she kept on pulling at her IV drip (she's found unconcious in the old folk's home), and a 40+ year old men who got his leg amputated due to gangrene caused by diabetes...
Also, I neglected on mentioning how BORED I was most of the time during the visits... It wasn't really bad, juz that we're spending far too much time there. IMHO, a day should be sufficient to learn all about the nurses' responsibilities!
But I'm serious about eager to go for my next clinical posting. Next time, I won't have to stuck with doing all the nurses' job like bedmaking and lunch distributing anymore! Yay!!!
>=) 
