Thursday, January 25, 2018

Clinical Experience January 16-18

January 16th:
Sarah Lehman: “Today I was on the MICU unit with Mady, I also got to watch someone have hemodialysis which was a new experience for me and really interesting. Both Mady and I also assisted in a code; we helped give compressions to the patient. This was a first for me so it was new and honestly a little scary. I learned a lot from this experience and wouldn’t change it.”

Mady Urman  “I was also in the MICU unit today and it was very interesting for me as we had to do many things manually that we would normally do with a pump in the U.S., such as a tube feeding and gastric lavage. In addition, I help give chest compressions with Sarah during a code which was also a first for me, but a very good learning experience overall.

Claire Bjorklund “My first day was in OB/NICU with my Filipino partner, Carlo. The day went by very quickly and I was able to learn in a very hands on fashion. Carlo and I started with assessment of postpartum mothers since the NICU only had two babies. I was able to bathe babies, which made my whole day! I had so much fun and wasn't able to wipe the smile off my face all day!”





Kilen Eilefson “Today I was in the Emergency Department (ED) with my Filipino partner, Ciana. Although it was a relatively slow day, there were plenty of great learning opportunities. I was able to have my first experience inserting an IV, which unfortunately did not go as planned, but I feel more prepared for next time nonetheless. This was my first experience working in an ED, so it was interesting to see how the workflow differs from a normal unit. This was a great experience and I look forward to seeing more of the hospital in the next couple of days”




Tori Anderson “My first day was in the OR. I was excited because I have never watched a surgery performed besides a Cesarean section. In the morning, we waited to see if our patient could undergo the surgery because of previous health conditions. They were able to perform the amputation that needed due to sepsis. I scrubbed in and assisted the surgeon throughout the operation. I enjoyed my experience in the OR, as I was able to learn new instruments and tools, as well as communicate closely with the surgeon and other members of the team. I was also able to observe a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which was really interesting to see.”
January 17th:
Sarah Lehman “Today I was in the ER, it wasn’t super busy but I felt like I was able to learn a lot and get a lot of experience. It was interesting to see how big of a problem dog bites and rabies are in the country, I think we had 3 or 4 patients come in for the rabies vaccines. I was excited to insert my first IV, and I actually put in 2 more. I feel a lot more confident in putting them in now.”

Claire Bjorklund “Day two I was in the OR/LR where I was able to scrub in on a thyroidectomy and observe on a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Scrubbing in and passing tools is harder than it looks, and I may or may not have been yelled at in Tagalog! Both surgeries were very cool to watch and the size of the thyroid removed was extremely large. The highlight of this portion of my day was extubating the patient!! My favorite part of the day was when Mam Janice came and told us we could observe and assist in a birth! Watching Tori scrub in on delivery and being able to be a part of the first cares for the newborn was definitely the highlight. Observing the first latch of breastfeeding and assisting Mady in dressing the baby and bringing the baby to the mother made my whole day.”

Mady Urman “Today I was in the OR/LR and was able to observe a thyroidectomy and scrub in for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. These were both amazing experiences, but my favorite part of the day was when I was able to do observe a birth and do all of the aftercares for the baby such as drying her off, helping her latch on and doing her first weight, measurements and immunizations.”

Kilen Eilefson- Today I was in the MICU. This was the first time the lack of technology really became apparent to me. I was blown away by the inadequacy of devices in the intensive care unit. Things such as IV pumps, oral care sets, medication carts, feeding pumps, and computers were scarce. These are all things that we rely heavily on in intensive care units, and normal floors in the US. It was very interesting to see how this affected the management of the patients like how the nurses went about setting drip rates manually, and how they were not able to rely on technology to help them with their care.

Tori Anderson “Today I was in Labor and Delivery. I was anxious because I wanted to be able to assist or observe a birth. My Filipino partner was Dana who was very helpful as we assessed the patient who came into the hospital that morning dilated already to 4cm and scheduled to deliver naturally. The patient progressed through labor rapidly, and my day was complete when they asked me to scrub in and assist in the delivery. The doctor told me to come close to her left and be ready. Before I knew it, the baby was ready to enter the world and, I was able to deliver the baby with the doctor by my side! The doctors did an excellent job explaining every step along the way including clamping and cutting the umbilical cord. I was able to care for the mother and newborn afterwards for some time as the baby started breastfeeding. I had an unbelievable experience that I am blessed to have been a part of.”
January 18th:

Sarah Lehman “Today I was on the NICU/labor delivery/ postpartum care unit. My last rotation in Duluth was at the Birthplace at Essentia where I also spent a day on the NICU so it is interesting to compare the two experiences. The highlight of my day was giving a baby a bath, it was a really good learning experience and I really like being able to work with a baby and seeing the mother’s reaction.”

Claire Bjorklund “Day three I was in the ER, with Mady and Dana! The day was super busy I was able to put in many IVs, check plenty of blood pressures manually and plenty of other things! The language barrier was a key part of the day, making nonverbal communication very helpful. I was able to assist and do many skills- the most vivid part of this day was watching intubation on a patient without any sedation, and following up with a NG tube places as well as a foley catheter. Watching intubation like this was much different from in the OR, but was a great experience. The ER nurses were great, and I was sad to have to leave clinical on the last day.”

Mady Urman “Today I was in the ER with Claire and it was an extremely busy day in the morning as many patients came in with various complaints such as dehydration, COPD exacerbation, abdominal pain and shortness of breath--to name a few. I was able to practice multiple skills including: IV starts, foley catheter placements, nasogastric tube placements, and many, many manual vital signs. It was a fascinating and very challenging experience as I was able to experience many new things, but also had the added challenge of a language barrier with many of my patients.”



Monday, January 22, 2018

January 20: Farewell to the Philippines

Graduates of Mary Johnston College of Nursing &
Gina receiving her certificate

 By: Tori Anderson

Our morning began with a seminar at Mary Johnston Hospital presented by Ma'am Gina. The focus was on Geriatric Health Literacy: Sensitivity to Cultural Diversity. The objectives discussed were about how to care for aging patients and raise awareness amongst nurses relating to the elderly. Ma'am Gina had us thinking about the meaning of culture, as well as personal values and the values and beliefs of others. We must appreciate the influence of culture in healthcare and show interest about issues relating to this population. Individualized care is significant when providing long-term care to older adults.

We learned about physiological aspects of aging and changes in the body we as nurses should be aware of. The seminar consisted of a large group of people including hospital staff (nurses), nursing students from Mary Johnston College of Nursing and CSS, and MJ alumni who were engaged in the topic.









There are some pictures below of the group.
The Filipino students who are in their senior year
are pictured with us as it is a requirement for graduation for them to attend seminars. We as students can use this information presented to us in order to make appropriate culturally sensitive care plans in our future as nurses.


Saturday evening was time to say farewell. We all believed the trip flew by because we were always active and busy with new adventures! We had a going away party and enjoyed dinner (pizza and ice cream!) and played games with the Filipino students and faculty. During one game, they would say a phrase that related to a body part then we would see who could buzz in the quickest and state our answer. For example, "something that can stick to wood" and the answer was "a nail." Another was "a young person in school" and the answer was "pupil." We also danced later on and listened to great music! All of the Filipino students love to dance so it was a lot of fun! We really enjoyed our last night together. 

This is a picture of the doll we received as a gift from Mary Johnston College of Nursing. We are thankful for this memorable keepsake. The Mary Johnston students will also receive one when they graduate in June. There is a group picture of us with our dolls while making a symbol with our fingers in the shape of a heart. This is something the students taught us and is common for them to do; it originates from Korea. We each had a chance to say our goodbyes and thank everyone for their hospitality, kindness, and patience (as we all learned some of their language: Tagalog). We could have stayed up longer dancing and spending time with our new friends, but we had to call it a night because we were leaving at 4:00am to make it to the airport. Overall, our time here in the Philippines has been a once in a lifetime opportunity. We learned a tremendous amount of information about nursing, health assessments, and cultural awareness. We grew as individuals who are about to enter the nursing world in a few short months.

Hospital Clinical January 10-12

The first group of us (Claire S, Hannah, Courtney and Jenna) were in Mary Johnston Hospital located next door to the dorms for the first week. We started clinical at 6 am and ended around 2 pm every day.  A few of the days, we were together and some on our own with our Filipino buddies.  Below, we have summarized a few high lighting moments from each day in the clinical setting. 

January 10th 
Claire Stiff “Today I was in the Labor and delivery/postpartum unit praying that a mother would be ready to deliver a baby, but today was not the day for that. However, I got to bathe beautiful filipino babies for the first time. This was so precious! I also got to spend some time in the NICU holding babies and watching their improvements in health status.”
Jenna Sands & Courtney Schoen  “ For our first clinical we were assigned to the OR.  Courtney was the first to scrub in on a toe amputation while I observed.  After lunch we were moved to the ER due to the lack of surgeries that day.  In the ER Courtney and I had our first code ever and successfully revived the patient!” 

Hannah Taylor “The first day of our hospital rotations I was assigned to the labor and delivery/postpartum unit with Claire Stiff. Unfortunately, there was not a birth during our time there. However, we got to go to their neonatal intensive care unit and bathe a few babies who were absolutely adorable!

January 11th 
Claire Stiff “I was in the MICU (Medical Intensive Care Unit) where I inserted my first NG tube and cared for patients who were on a mechanical ventilator. The NG tube insertion was much easier than I had anticipated so I was happy with the turn out. It was amazing to compare the differences in the resources and materials we have at home to what is available here.”
Courtney Schoen “ Today I was scheduled on the OB/Labor and Delivery floor. This was one of my favorite days because it started out with observing a cesarian section because the mother had diabetes and the baby was large. It was 8lbs 1oz and a sweet baby girl! The rest of the day I got to spend in the NICU were I decided this was one of my top choices for a future career path.
Jenna Sands “Today I was scheduled in the ER.  I had to two codes early in morning, sadly one patient passed away, and then I got to experience cardiogentic shock.  The filipino nurses and doctors are calling me “toxic” as a joke of course; because I am attracting chaos where ever I go.”

Hannah Taylor “This day I was scheduled on the surgical intensive care unit. In the past I’ve rotated on an ICU, so it was interesting to compare/contrast my experiences. Within the first few hours of my rotation, ma’am Gladys came to bring me to the OR; there was a c-section! This was probably the most exciting part of my time at the hospital. It was such an amazing experience to be able to watch both a surgical procedure and a birth at the same time!

January 12th 
Claire Stiff “I was in the ER today where I inserted my first IV successfully (thank goodness). An ER attending gave me the opportunity to stitch up a patient’s laceration to the hand which was very cool since this is out of our scope of practice.”
Courtney Schoen “For the last day I was assigned in the MICU (Medical Intensive Care Unit). I was assigned to a patient that had a history of strokes and was at high risk for aspirations. I also was able to help patients with oral care and intermittent suctioning while the patient was intubated. To finish off the day I was able to watch an ultrasound done on the heart and a cranial CT scan.”

Jenna Sands “My last day I was back in the OR and was able to scrub in on a C-section and full assisted the surgeon!  I will never forget that experience and my first baby, whose name is Rainbow!  My second surgery I scrubbed in for was an laparoscopic appendectomy; which was amazing to see.  The surgeon let me suture the patient once it was all done!!” 


Hannah Taylor “My last day I was in the ER with Claire! I also got to insert my first successful IV (we don’t usually get the chance to do this back home since the hospitals have an IV team for med/surg floors). I also got the opportunity to watch a breast biopsy be performed; this is usually done in a clinic as a minor procedure, so it was something new that I had never seen! I loved being in the ER; this is a rotation most students don’t get to see back home, and it is definitely somewhere I could see myself working as a registered nurse! 

Friday, January 19, 2018

R and R Day 1

January 13-15, 2018
By: Mady Urman

After our busy week of with half of us being in the hospital and the other half being at Mampweng, we all felt a little R and R time was well deserved and much needed. Thankfully, Saturday morning started our 2 days of "vacation" at the Camayan Beach Resort (http://www.camayanbeachresort.ph/in Subic Bay. We loaded the bus at Mary Johnston at around 8am (island time of course), stopped on the way for a few snacks and a bathroom break, then finally we arrived around 1pm. We weren't able to check in right away, but we did get to take in the beautiful sight of the beach and aqua blue South China Sea while we ate lunch at the restaurant within the resort called The Reef. The food was extremely tasty and of course us students had to indulge in some island drinks--it was a mojito for myself.


 After our satisfying lunch, we were able to check in and we immediately put our swimsuits on to start soaking up all the sun that we could. (Don't worry mom and dad we didn't forget the sunscreen!) Some of us tanned for a while and some of us went into the water right away, because conveniently there was a raft in the water that we could swim to and tan on. Some went snorkeling. The water was warm and refreshing! When we had soaked up all the sun that we could for the day, some of us decided to schedule massages and check out the water activities that were available next door at the Ocean Adventure park.

Finally, it was almost time for supper, so we all went back to our rooms to get ready and met at 6pm at The Reef for supper. During supper, we decided that it would be a good idea to debrief our weeks with our leaders so that we could share our thoughts, observations, and ideas for improvement with one another. In addition, the meal was indeed delicious and we again indulged in some island beverages. To end the day a few of us were blessed with the chance to get a massage and let me tell you guys it was amazingly relaxing after that long week. All in all, the day was a perfect way to start our mini "vacation".



Mampweng Day 3

January 12th, 2018:

By: Sarah Lehman 



Today was our last day in the Mampweng Community. We started the day off with a breakfast of corned beef hash and then we were off to Iram Elementary School to spend some time with the children of the community. We sang songs, or at least us CSS students attempted to and danced with them. We also were able to hand out small bags to each of the kids with a toy inside. They were all smiling from ear to ear, so grateful for their small gift, it is something all of us with surely remember.

 After the short walk back, we finished preparing for our presentation for Chieftain Rani and other representatives from the community. As Claire mentioned, we put a lot of time into our data collection and formation of our posters. We presented to our audience and then our Filipino buddies discussed what we should do about the information with the the community members, in other words, how to better the community. After a long discussion it was decided that the priorities were to create more bathrooms and to plant more trees throughout the community. 




We then packed up our belongings, had a quick lunch of fried chicken, rice and tortang talong (eggplant omelette), said our goodbyes and began our hike back. It was hot with the sun beating down on us, but our Filipino friends had umbrellas to stay in the shade. Even with the heat we happily hiked the way back while playing music and singing. When we got to crossing the river we were able to get a ride in the kulng-kulng (pictured below) to the jeepney stop. 

Tired and dirty feet



 We took public transportation home starting with a jeepney ride to the bus station. Luckily the bus was air conditioned and had WiFi so we were feeling pretty good until the bus driver starting driving. He unfortunately had a lead foot so many of us started to feel a little motion sickness during the 3 hour bus ride back to MJ. Some of us worse than others with two of us ending up throwing up. After the long bus ride we had to try and find a jeepney we could all fit in, we finally found one but they couldn’t bring us all of the way there so we rode for a little while, got off and walked to find another jeepney and the same thing happened. So we rode the second one a little ways then got off and walked through a crowed market, a mall and finally made it to another jeepney stop and they were able to bring us the full way to Mary Johnston. 

We made it there even with a couple of us still feeling sick from the bus ride. We were all exhausted after the hours of traveling and were grateful when we found pizza waiting for us. It was a long and busy day but even though we were all exhausted we kept our heads up and stayed positive and tried to make the most of our new experiences. 

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Mampweng day 2!

Mampweng Day # 2
By Claire Bjorklund


A picture of one of the homes visited 
As the roosters crowed (all night) and the dogs barked (all night) the real alarm awoke Tori, Kilen, and Ciana at a rocking 5am!!! The three of them prepared us a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, fried eggs, and rice. All of it prepared with a headlamp for light over a wood fire. The rest of the group got up around 6 to eat breakfast and prepare to travel to Iram, which is a nearby village similar to Mampweng. We all completed our chores of a cook, dishwasher, cleaner, and supervisor and headed out for the hike to Iram! It was a beautiful hike around two miles through the mountainside, which gave us time to bond with our Filipino friends and take plenty of pictures.
Filipino and American Friends posing for photos on the mountainside
Group photo with Chieftain of Iram
Upon our arrival to Iram, the atmosphere was different. There was a main roadway that was paved, a new large basketball court near the chieftains office, and even a health center. Kilen and Gab joined some local boys in a two on two basketball game prior to our meeting with the chief. Through this meeting, we learned about the village. Some of the important details that Ma'am Ging translated for us were that the village relocated to this new place in 1991 after the volcano erupted https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pinatubo. Along with that, we learned about the community aspect that they hold throughout the village, including the new project of the basketball court to provide a place for the children to play and people to gather. Finally, we learned about the health of the community and the chief explained that he has connections to the Red Cross and can call an ambulance in a case of an emergency. When we are at home we can easily forget the luxury of something we think of as so simple- an ambulance and transportation to a hospital. It also struck me how different this village was from Mampweng where we are staying. Both are rural villages in the mountainside but Iram seems to have a plan, with more access to resources which ultimately affects the health, success, and outcomes of the villagers. After the meeting with the Chieftain, we headed to the health center. The health center greeted us with open arms to go out in the community and complete immunizations. With the immunizations for children, we weighed children, provided Vitamin A, a pill for worms, as well as Vitamix packets. We strategically broke these tasks down and conquered! Claire, Tori, Carlo, Gab, Ciana, Kilen and ma'am Maricel were the community crew, and enjoyed all the smiles of the children at the preschool! Mady and Dana stayed at the center to vaccinate infants, weigh them, and performed patient teaching!
Administering Vitamin A at the pre-school

Gab & Kilen playing basketball with local children


Kilen Weighing a child

Many & Dana doing check-ups
After the trek back to Mampweng the group quickly made lunch which was adobo pork and veggies! Like all the other meals it was delicious and fresh from the market that we stopped at the day before. After a brief lunch, we hustled to do our community assessment. For this portion of our community clinical, our Filipino buddies are required to assess the families within the village. Each of us paired up with a buddy and were set out among the village to complete the survey. The goal for this was for each pair to complete 10 surveys and gather data among these visits. It was planned that each group would have a community member as a guide, but only one showed up. Ciana, Myself, and Ma'am Julie were the only ones who had a guide, Nai Nai. We began with our interview with her family and household. During the interviews, we filled out four paper forms gathering data about how many members lived in the house, the members that lived in the home and the details about each member. Along with that, we assessed the type of house, route of water, comfort room availability (bathroom) and other details about the home. As you can see in the photos below, the homes are thatched roofs, usually one room that is raised about 2-3 feet off of the ground with a wood plank floor. If a kitchen was apart of the home it was most likely outside under some sort of covering, or just simply a wood fire. The interview process was lengthy and as the sun began to set we were crunched for time. Ciana did the asking of the questions and would give ma'am Julie and I a summary due to our short amount of time. In one instance we assessed a father who was living with his daughter and was believed to have Malaria. What struck me was the length and severity of symptoms this man had been having- yet he still had not received healthcare. What a blessing we were there to assess him and encourage the importance of health care attention for this elderly sick man. Upon assessment, we found fluid in his lungs with loud audible wheezing, in addition to the aches, fevers, and vomiting that had been proceeding for well over a few weeks. For my assessment we were able to stay fairly close to the church and entrance to the village, some others (Kilen, Carlo, Ma'am

Carlo, Sarah, Ciana, Claire Working together to immunize
Maricel) hiked a mountain! Three of the four groups arrived around the same time and were able to go to a deep spot in the river to swim! The water felt like heaven after a full two days of sweating! Of course, that is to us Americans, the Filipinos beg to differ and think the water was cold!! After swimming (Myself, Carlo, Mady, Kilen, and Ciana) we returned for dinner and found that Tori, Gab, and Sarah were still out...which began to be worrisome since it was dark! Killeen & Carlo set out to find them, and discovered that they had just misjudged the time and were on their way back by Gabs flashlight! While they gathered our lost members the rest of us prepared dinner and set the table in the church where we stayed. We ate dinner inside due to the bugs and the early sunset, inside the church, we had one solar powered light bulb!

Two-year-old village residents!
Dinner was eaten, and us Americans thought the day was near end (and we were exhausted!!) Quickly we discovered all of the data we collected must be analyzed, calculated, and presented on large pieces of manila paper.....long story short we were up until 3am finishing this task! What I took from this experience is we take for granted excel spreadsheets, powerpoint presentations, and automatic graph makers! Although this day was busy and exhausting, seeing all the things we saw and accomplished was humbling and worth every moment.
Up late calculating!

One of the Largest homes seen on our assessment tours

The Journey to Mampweng

January 10th, 2018: The Journey to Mampweng 

By: Kilen Eilefson

A 4 am wake up call greeted us Tuesday morning to kick off our day of travel. After loading our provisions into the bus, we took off towards our home for the next three days; the small village Mampweng, but the story is in the journey.

Leaving MJ before 5 am allowed us to see a Manila which we hadn't seen, a Manila without standstill traffic on every street. As we headed north, there was a noticeable change in the air. This was the first time we had been outside the limits of Manila since we arrived, and it felt great to step outside of the bus and breathe in fresh, cool air. Driving down the highway we were able to take in the views of the mountains upcoming, and the miles upon miles of rice fields that lined the road. The road to Olongapo was a scenic one to say the least.

Just before Olongapo, we reached the city of Subic. This city has a strong history of World War 2, as it is home to an American Naval base https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subic_Bay. Because of this, the roads are marked like they are back home; with stop signs, crosswalks, and traffic lights which the drivers shockingly follow. The quieter atmosphere of Subic makes it a relaxing place to be, and a place that I have decided I will one day return to.

Upon arriving in Olongapo, we stopped at its local market to buy fresh fish, chicken, and pork. Walking through the area where the butchers were making their cuts was slightly traumatic for some, but a memorable experience for all. We were able to see pig heads, hooves, ears, ground beef being made, and just about every part of every animal that was being sold. After gathering our meals, we met our guide for the trip, Ma'am Ging Tabujara, a Mary Johnston graduate with extensive experience as a missionary nurse in Laos, Cambodia, is the community health nurse who will be working with us and has been working with the community we stayed with.

Before leaving for the community, Ma'am Ging took us to the public health office to meet the city Doctor, Dr. Rodrick Bustamante. He was very happy to have us and explained to us the different health initiatives that were going on in the city, especially the controversial issues that have been surrounding the Dengue virus vaccine. It is very clear to us that Dr. Bustamante plays a huge role in his community's overall health, and devotes much of his time ensuring that his community is getting the health attention it needs.

After our meeting, we finally headed to the community in the afternoon. The bus dropped us off with our things a little less than 2 miles from the village, as the roads were unsuitable for bus travel. This left us to carry our personal bags, while our provisions were placed on a converted motorcycle to be taken to the village. After about 45 minutes of hiking through the heat, we came to the crest of a hill and looked down to see our home for the next 3 days; Mampweng-home to the Aeta (indigenous people of the Philippines) http://originalpeople.org/the-aeta-people-indigenous-tribe-of-the-philippines/

Soon after arriving, we set up our sleeping mats and mosquito nets in the village church. The mosquito nets ended up being more of a challenge than we had thought to set up, but in the end, everyone had a spot under the protection of a net. Soon after this, Chief Rani came and met us, and took us on our first tour of the village. We were then able to meet the community members for the first time and get a layout in our minds for our survey we were to complete the next day. It was a great way to cap off an exciting full day excursion and left us ready to crawl onto our mats for the night.









Monday, January 15, 2018

January 9th: Quezon Memorial Park, Heart Center, & Market Market

By Hannah Taylor

On our first Tuesday in the Philippines, we had a busy, or a "toxic" day as our Filipino friends would say. After eating breakfast, our Filipino buddies joined us to visit a few landmarks. Our first stop was at Quezon Memorial Circle park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_L._Quezon, which is a national park located in Quezon City. The national park has many beautiful spaces, such a small amusement park, a memorial shrine, various smaller gardens, and even an has area for bike rentals. When we arrived, we had a little over an hour of time to spend. Many students rented bikes, and the rest of the time was spent exploring the park and looking at the different exotic plants for sale. 

After exploring the Quezon Memorial Circle park, we went to Gerry's Jeepney Restaurant for lunch. This restaurant was really unique and fun to visit since the dining tables were actually in a Jeepney, which is a form of public transportation in the Philippines that is honestly super cute because it's so vibrant and colorful! At the restaurant, we ate lunch on banana leaves, and the Filipino nursing students taught us how to eat with our hands. Disclaimer: we all washed our hands before lunch; don't worry parents!

After eating lunch, we arrived at the Philippines Heart Center (PHC) around 1:30 pm for a tour of the hospital. After a brief presentation about the hospital, we broke up into three different groups to begin our tour. The PHC is a 354 bed tertiary center focused on the care of cardiovascular patients, which is composed of 21 nursing care units. These nursing units include 74 semi-private rooms, three adult service wards, a pediatric service ward, 53 ICU beds, 24 suites, 56 private rooms, and one presidential suite. The hospital was originally designed to have four "petals" on each floor, which was meant to represent the four chambers of the human heart. A highlight of the tour for many of the students were visiting the presidential suite; attached is the link to a video captured by Courtney Schoen, our extremely talented videographer! https://youtu.be/LcgJOX2EMyE

After the tour of The Philippines Heart Center, we stopped at our final destinationGreenhills "Market Market." We went into the area of the mall where you can bargain with the vendors, which was full of what easily looked like one hundred pearl shops. Each of us was paired with a Filipino buddy, who were all great in helping us bargain for good and fair deals! Below is a personal statement from CSS nursing student Jenna Sands—a novice pearl fanatic! 

"I didn't realize that I wanted or even had a need for pearls until I arrived at the market. It was a landmine of pearls!! I was on the hunt for string necklace with a purple pearl and literally, only one booth had what I was looking for but was selling it for P350 ($7.00). I had Carlos, Jay, Bayer, Kyle, and Heven (students at Mary Johnston) all looking for a cheaper necklace in the massive sea of pearl booths. The first booth was the only place and they even hand made a new one so it was to my liking. I don't how (because everyone was speaking Tagalog), but the boys got the owner to lower the price to P280 (about $5.00) What a STEAL!!" -Jenna Sands


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Quezon Amusement Park


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Quezon Memorial Shrine



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Biker Gang


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Gerry's Jeepney Restaurant


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The Aftermath

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Philippine Heart Center

January 8th

By Courtney Schoen 

Maganda umaga po (good morning),

Today was a day filled with orientation and preparation for our clinical experiences that will be starting on this coming Wednesday, the 10th. We started out the morning meeting with ma’am Edena, who is the dean of nursing at Mary Johnston. She started out by welcoming us to the school and the Philippines and then got down to business. She began by informing us what we had to look forward to during our stay here at Mary Johnston and what the rules and dress codes was during our stay. The dress code states that if we are to come out of our rooms we must be wearing bottoms that are two finger widths above our knees or longer. We also were to be wearing sleeved shirts and clothes toed shoes.She finished off the meet with a funny comment by saying, “if we ever needed anything or money to go to our professors” which they didn’t find as funny as the students did.
The next task for the morning was to plan for the community clinical that we would be attending the opposite week of our hospital clinical. Together as a group we planned what we would need to pack and what meals were going to eat. During this meeting we realized how truly important rice was in the Filipino culture. This was noticed when we suggested making grilled cheese or spaghetti and they asked if we could have rice with this, but when we said no the American meals were completely shut down.


To finish off our day of training and orientation we attended a tour at the Mary Johnston hospital that was only 15 steps from the school. During this tour we were able to hear about the past, present and future of Mary Johnston. It was wonderful to hear of the goals they aspire to achieve in 10 years and we hope they can do so. While touring the hospital we were all finally able to realize how fortunate we are to work as nurses in the United States because of the ability to chart on computers and our love of technology. Everything they assess is charted on paper and paper only. The next shocking thing was being able to see the wards, which were rooms that contained 6 or more patients with only a small curtain to give them privacy. These wards are for people who cannot afford to pay for private or semi-private rooms. Mary Johnston Hospital caters to a diverse patient population; from the very poor to those who are well-off. This was very different from the patient rooms we have at hospitals at home which are either private or two-bed capacity rooms. The tour was very informative and helped us get a feel for what we are going to experience starting this week for half of the group.

With clinical starting on Wednesday the nerves are starting to worsen, but for now, we are going to relax for one more day before the real work begins!

Mary Johnston Hospital (front view)








Friday, January 12, 2018

January 7th

By: Courtney Schoen 


Good morning from the Philippines!

This morning was the beginning of another eventful day full of church and meet and greets. To start the day we had a nutritious breakfast of none other than rice, eggs and bread. We have realized that we will be getting our fill of rice because it is served for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After breakfast and preparing for church we got on our tourist bus and headed through the busy streets of Manila. The streets are so busy that for the 4 mile trip to the church it took us 30 minutes (which is fast according to the locals). Once we arrived to the church we were introduced to the pastor and other members of the parish. During mass we were even invited to stand up and be introduced in front of everyone that was at mass. When mass senses we could tell that it was time for lunch because our stomachs were all rumbling.

On the way home we stopped at a local restaurant called Max’s where we ordered family style to get a sample of all the common Filipino dishes. The favorite of mine was the the fresh lumpia and sinigong soup (pictures located below). For my drink I ordered Ube leche with flan that was the color purple! It looked slightly strange, but tasted amazing!

Once we were done with lunch we came home and rested before our meet and greet.  More MJ students have arrived from their winter break.  We played a game of telephone in Tagalog; which ended poorly with team one ending with “I don’t know what they said” and team two ending with “kaka poo poo” (not a Tagalog word).  We played a few more get to know you games and we ended with the MJ students daring CSS to eat Balut. An aborted duck. Everyone ate it but Tori and Courtney gave it an admirable effort but spit it out. All and all it was a good experience and we gained many new friends in the process!

Fresh Lumpia

Sinigang

Ube Leche with Flan


Clinical Experience January 16-18

January 16th: Sarah Lehman: “Today I was on the MICU unit with Mady, I also got to watch someone have hemodialysis which was a new exper...