Santo Tomas Hospital

Today we visited the Santo Tomas Hospital. After taking the tour of the hospital we went to the Maternity Ward of the Hospital. Once we got there they divided us into two groups (eleven in each). We first got to visit the nursery where two of the students got to feed and burp a newborn. The most interesting observation was that I recognized was the fact that the infants that were born to mothers with HIV had red biohazard bags tied to the newborns bassinets. We were also informed that red biohazard bags are tied to a newborns bassinet when the mother chart is missing or is not brought up with the patient, for precautionary reasons. Some of the infants were in the incubator beds. One cultural difference that I noticed between the US and Panama is the fact the Panamanians give their newborns their first drink of milk out of a small four ounce cup instead of them being feed from a bottle or breast. The Panamanian instructor really did not give the rationale behind this action, but it is interesting that they did that.

When we first got into the labor and delivery unit of the hospital we witnessed from the hallway of the unit a woman who just delivered a baby being sutured and the nurses were removing the placenta. Then we attempted to see a delivery but the patient did not want us to observe the delivery so we respected her wishes and left the area. We spent the majority of our time in the unit with approximately ten pregnant women who were receiving care from the nurses in preparation for the delivery. Even though we did not have the opportunity to witness a birth having this experience made me realize that I really do not know what I want to specialize in after graduation. I never imagined that labor and delivery would spark my interest as much as it did. I believe that I possibly want to work with newborns due to the fact that I love interacting and caring for infants and children. Fortunately, I have some time to evaluate my options. I love the fact that we get an opportunity to get some exposure to Peds and OB before the upcoming and final semester in the nursing program.