Mexico City or Bust!

The president and provost have spoken, Mexico City is a go! I will take with me 4 of the junior nursing students and this trip will serve as a pilot program to explore more opportunities for future such nursing courses. I sent out applications last week and this next week we will be making some decisions. I'm still potentially looking for other RNs who might be interested in going as part of our group.
Now it's on to more long curriculathons! YAY!

Overcoming Blood Part 2

This week has been the long awaited "IV week" at school. We finally were able to get the materials we needed for the students to learn IV starts. Never has there been a more anticipated yet feared skills lab in all of nursing school history. Do you think the fact the students practice on eachother might have something to do with it?
I asked for a volunteer to demonstrate and IV start on and to my surprize obtained one without difficulty. Only later did I find out that this particular student isn't overly fond of needles. She could have fooled me, she did just fine!
Though I know that this skill can be very difficult for many of the students, there is one who seemed to have a little more apprehension about it than the others. After one of the practice sessions I kicked out my other students and kept this one... First we worked on putting on the tourniquet, then palpating the viens, then drawing blood and finally starting an actual patent IV. She performed the skills beautifuly and left my arm "hematoma free." I'm not sure why but for some reason the most difficult part was touching the veins. But... She was determined and willing to work hard to overcome this and she did! I know it sounds a little strange but I came away so inspired by this!
Just two days later I found myself in a situation that was difficult for me, one that I despirately wanted to overcome. I thought about how she had overcome. I decided to pray and to tell myself "I can overcome because it has already been overcome for me by the blood of lamb."
Throughout this past week I have seen many of the students "overcome blood" but the overcoming blood... Another "happy teacher moment!"
John 16:31
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Overcoming Blood

I was reading a book by one of my favorite authors Paul Brand and came across something very fascinating. The chapter was describing the development of the smallpox vaccination and an expedition sent out by the king of Spain to vaccinate Bogota Columbia in the midst of a smallpox outbreak. They had now to way to preserve the live vaccine during the long voyage so they created a human chain to incubate the vaccine during the months it took to reach Bogota.
The chapter went on to describe how the body's immune system creates antibodies specific to invaders that it has been exposed to. This is how a vaccine works, either by exposing the body to a weakened form of the invader allowing the body to create it's own antibodies or, in the case of immune globulin, by directly giving the body antibodies to protect against a given threat.
The next point Dr. Brand made was what blew my mind... We have a saviour who came to live among us in human form. He was despised and rejected, temped and ultimately killed all so that we could have eternal life. He overcame these things for us so that by his overcoming blood, we too can be overcomers! This brings a whole new meaning to "this is my blood which shed for you and body which was broken for you." We truly are saved by the blood of the lamb.
I took the opportunity to discuss this with my students this week. We ended up having a little Passover Seder in post clinical conference. There truly is power in the blood!

Foleys for the Philippines!

A few months ago I received a donation of some 700 Foley catheters from a pharmacy in Bellevue. Some of the catheters went to the nursing lab for the students to learn and practice procedures on, the several hundred others have been sitting on shelves in my office awaiting shipment.
Picture this, used urinary catheters washed being washed and hung up to dry on bushes. That's the reality in many places around the world. Studies show that in the US alone approx. 25% of hospitalized patients with indwelling urinary catheters develop bladder infections, 30% of those go on to develop a systemic infection. How imagine what these numbers might be like in places where the catheters don't come out of sterile packages.
A friend of mine from work had been a nurse in the Philippines for several years before coming to settle in the United states with her husband and children. She still keeps in contact with those she worked with and sends several packages a year to friends and family still living in the area. Long story short, we have found a home for our Foleys and developed an unofficial "Foleys for the Philippines" program. We're hoping to be able to start shipping the Foleys in May.
Kind of funny the things you get excited about when you're a nurse... :)

Fruit Salad

A week ago today was my last day with my first (official) very own clinical group. We've enjoyed some great times over the last several months and they have been pure joy to work with. I'm proud of their accomplishments and how far they have come. All of the nurses we have worked with sing their praises. I truly was blessed with some fantastic students. I think I have learned more from them then they have learned from me.
On our last morning together I made them breakfast, cinnamon rolls and fruit salad...
I gave each student a different fruit and also assigned them one of the fruits of the spirit that I thought he/she was especially gifted in. As each student added their fruit to the bowl and read the Bible verse I had given them I told them the story of how they earned that fruit. The other students were invited to share how they have been blessed and encouraged my their classmate as well. We decorated photo mugs with pictures we had taken during our time together and the verses I had printed for each one. It turned out to be a wonderful time.
However, at the end of the salad they noticed that "faith" had not been added, our group had only 7 students and we all know that God is love. They then did something I didn't expect, they gave me faith! "You had faith in us. We have seen your faith in how you prayed for us and how you have been sensitive and responsive to God's leading with us. We are blessed by witnessing you live your faith." WOW!!!

Presidents and Provosts

Last week I encountered the dean of the school of nursing while in the copy room. He tends be somewhat elusive at times so I took the opportunity to ask him a few questions. The top question of course was regarding being able to invite students on a medical mission to Mexico City.
The response I got wasn't really what I expected, it was much more... "Perhaps we make it some sort of pilot class that could satisfy the upper division elective." Of course this sounds like something I would interested in so we set up a meeting. The meeting went very well and our gracious hosts Carlos and Carrie have already begun to set some things up for us. But there is always a however...
The proposal is now waiting on approval from the provosts. This apparently requires some rather intense communication between my dean and the president and provost, all of whom are busy people.
My email inbox is now stuffed with CC'ed messages to and from presidents and provosts. It's hard to be CC'ed on conversations between people like this, I have a difficult time not emailing back. So for now I wait, my summer plans hinging on the decisions of presidents and provosts.