Year after year in nursing school we are told to use our
critical thinking skills. Ya ya we can all say we know how to critical think, well
at least I thought I did….until I worked as a nurse in a clinic in Haiti.
Then my opinion changed.
Critical thinking is not having the right drugs/dosages and
having to make do with what you have.
Critical thinking is not having a sharps container to put
your old needles in and having to make your own “sharps container.”
Critical thinking is not having the best wound care supplies
and using whatever you have.
Critical thinking is not having the right needle sizes.
Critical thinking is telling that mother whose breast milk
has dried up that until she starts Medika Mamba (Haitian malnutrition program)
she should add any type of oil to her mixture that she makes for the baby to
add fat to the babies diet. (We had 2 babies come in super malnourished one
that was 8 months weighing roughly 6 pounds)
Critical thinking is not speaking the same language and
knowing that ¾ of your patients can’t read or write and explaining how to take
5 different medications without writing it down.
Critical thinking is explaining how to take a medication
when almost no one carries a watch
around and most people don’t have 3 meals day, so instead using when you get up
and before you go to bed even though that might not be the best way to take the
pills.
Things that we would never think of doing in the hospital
are done each day in third world countries because it is all they have and
resources can be scarce. An example of what would make most health care
professionals cringe at home; reusing gloves and medication cups because there
is not enough to switch between each patient.
I was able to see things that in Canada I would probably
never see, example scabies and tinea capitus which is very common in children
in Haiti.
It scared me to think that when these patients were handed
their drugs they may not remember how to take them when they get home.
Food for thought…Having 30 sick children and their parents
waiting in this small, hot room and having 2 tiny rooms that include a triage
area, two examining areas for the doctors and an area to administer
medications. The one room is fully open and everyone can hear what you are
saying…all privacy is out the window.
Close your eyes for a minute and imagine this. You are in
labour and you arrive to the clinic fully dilated either by motorbike or
walking...you have your baby in this tiny, tiny hot room with lot’s of
people…about an hour later you deliver your baby with no pain medication…and
then about 2 hours later you hop off the bed, put your clothes on, pick up your
baby and ride off on a motorcycle.
This is a true story that we encountered on our trip and I tell you this
woman is an inspiration. I honestly don’t know how many of us would say we
could do that…
As a nursing student from a first world country I would have
to say I am pretty darn lucky to have all the supplies and resources I need to
give the best care possible to my patient’s. For all those nurses in third
world countries…thank you! You are an inspiration to all of us nurses back home
and you truly know the meaning of critical thinking and making do with what you
have!
Again I am moved by the Haitian people and their resilience
and inspired to make a difference!
