Nurse Jen's Travels: In the Classroom

The first few months of surgery has come & gone. What a rollercoaster! I’m settling into my new job as OR Nurse Educator, a job that has me more at a computer than in the OR (not sure how well I like that right now), but I get to meet all the new people that come to the ship & help them adjust to the Mercy Ships’ way of life. I also get to work with the Day Crew, our local crew that are part of the Nurse Education Program, with all the joys & frustrations that go with it! I am finding new found respect for teachers now, especially my nursing instructors- I don’t know how you do it & not loose your sanity!

Ok- to be fair, the class room bits are fine & the nurses are excited to learn & participate, they pick things up really quick & even though English is still a struggle for most of them, they eager to learn. It’s the managing of all the stuff- be on time, only 30 minutes for lunch, stay in your room, etc, that has me pulling out my hair! A lot has to do with the cultural differences between the priorities in time. It would be considered rude to leave a meal when others are still eating, even if that means that makes you 20 minutes late coming back from lunch. And with English not being their first or even fourth language, communication can be a struggle, as medical English isn’t necessarily taught in school. *sigh*

But with all the frustrations, I do enjoy seeing that flash of light in their eyes when they get to try something new or see a new way of doing things. Most of our day crew nurses are older than I am & have been working in hospitals for many, many years, but as many of my nursing friends, a good nurse never stops learning. We’ve been focusing on patient care, performing patient safety checks (Time Outs), positioning & prepping the patient correctly & safely.

Here’s a little bit of what we have been doing.