Second Week
This past week we started our clinical portion of the trip. We were divided into four different groups going to different clinics. Each group was assigned to a professor from the University of Panama and to nurses at the sites. At the Policlinica Ramiro de Diego we were able to perform our first PAP smear ever! Nurses in Panama are expected to perform this kind of procedures; therefore they took the time to teach us how to do this and provided us with the opportunity to practice our new skill with a real patient. We were also able to administer several vaccines to police officers and nursing students in Chitre; I was able to confirm that men are definitely more scared of needles than women are.
As I was at the clinic I was very impressed with the role of the nurse here in Panama; nurses are responsible and held accountable for so many things with so little resources, yet they are excellent at what they do. As part of our clinical experience we were able visit some of the main hospitals in Chitre; there, we learned about the nurse-patient ration which is 1 to 30 at nights and 2 or 3 to 30 during the days. We also learned that no medical errors have been reported and no needle sticks have happened during this past year. It is unbelievable the amount of roles the nurse has to play and still be so good at it; I really admire these nurses for all their hard work and commitment to their profession.
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