My Medical Mission Trip

My second clinical day took place on September 24th, 2015 at Saint Barnabas Hospital in Livingston, New Jersey. My preceptor Maria Brilhante, MSN, RN, allowed me to observe the morning huddle that took place with all the nurse managers that are in the hospital. The purpose of this huddle was to keep the director of nursing informed about the census on each unit. I found this processed to be very uniformed and professional because the DON was engaged. The day went on with me attending meetings on how managers could implement plans to contain cost for the hospital. Maria did her daily rounds on her patients and her nursing staff. She has a folder that contains papers on how each nurse is progressing from the time they get off orientation. Her motto to the nurses is, “You are good at what you do, so when I coach don’t take offense. I am only trying to get you to be great”. This boost their confidence which I thought to be important.

The kids in the Dominican Republic may never realize how much they helped and inspired me, but I will be eternally thankful. They may just remember some random girl giving them gifts and that’s the end of it, but little do they know they gave me such a greater gift. The passion and joy of helping

Being a volunteer at the UM Charles Regional Medical Center is a great way to give back your community and in a small way help society to become a better place. However, before you can become a full volunteer there are certain requirements that you will need to fulfil.

Thursday morning was one more day that I experienced nursing in a different setting as a LPN. I was extremely excited to get to the VA with everything in place this time. I knew I would get to do something new! I was picked to go work with DR. Frank Gyimesi and his nurse, Helen, who is a LPN. It has been 4 years since I have worked in women’s health. After going under Helen’s wing and getting educated on the VA, who is eligible, and getting an education on the use of their eligibility, is unbelievable. Women veterans health care is a growing program for today’s health care system due to the number of women that enter the military compared to many years ago. Military sexual trauma is something that

This week started off pretty slow. Monday I had the opportunity to go on a home visit to a foster home. This has been one of the most interesting visit of all. I went out with Faith, a Family Specialist. This therapeutic foster home housed 3 special needs children. The oldest girl has a diagnosis of Asperger and the youngest children, a girl and boy, have a diagnosis of Autism. They are awesome kids and they have been blessed with delightful foster parents. I just get good vibes whenever I interact with this family.

The country was foreign, a first for me. Dilapidation and ruin scattered the horizon as far as one could see. Guatemala is a place where poverty has a strong grasp on its people. We traveled tirelessly for hours to reach the poorest of the poor. Upon arrival old, young, and natives of all shapes and sizes formed receiving lines, eager to welcome us with gifts of smiles and gratitude. It was an experience that forever changed me. This was the first time I had stepped outside the boundaries of the American culture into a world where nothing is taken for granted. Each day spent on my mission trip brought a fresh awareness of gratefulness. Any pre-trip reluctance quickly became a vague memory as my emotions welled within bring a fresh change to

At St. Jude Research Hospital their mission is to find cures and means of prevention for life threatening pediatric illnesses. Thanks to Danny Thomas’s vision, no child is denied treatment based on religion, race, or a family's ability to pay. St. Jude has achieved a survival rate of ninety-four percent, since the hospital was opened in 1962. It was also the first organization to develop a cure for sickle cell disease, that require a bone marrow transplant and now has one of the largest pediatric sickle cell programs in the country.

It is a warm summer evening at Grady Hospital. It is my first day as an emergency room volunteer. I’m nervous and eager, hoping to see something exciting. However, it is surreally quiet. Suddenly, there is word of an ambulance en route. Minutes later the paramedics burst into the trauma slot pushing a man on a stretcher. His head and face are covered with gauze that is soaked through with dark blood. It is a flurry of well-orchestrated movement as the attendings and residents start to resuscitate him. They pull back the bandages to reveal a deep gash that is bleeding profusely. With much effort his vital signs are stabilized and he begins to regain consciousness. Later, after the excitement had passed, I learned what brought him here. He is diabetic and couldn’t afford to properly manage his condition. He had fainted due to hypoglycemia and hit his head. He had almost lost his life because of the unfortunate financial realities of modern healthcare. In that moment, I came to appreciate the very real cost of disease and the incredible role physicians have in ameliorating it. This formative experience was the beginning of my path to medicine.

4. It is the responsibility of any individual having personal knowledge of an act, achievement, or service believed to warrant the award of a decoration to submit a formal recommendation into military command channels for consideration. A Soldier may not recommend himself/herself for an award or a decoration.

First I want to say thank you so much for being a part of making this trip possible whether by prayer or financial support!

Since transferring to the University of Southern Maine from Colby College to become a student of the University of Southern Maine School of Nursing, I have been looking forward to the opportunity to travel to the Dominican Republic with the University of Southern Maine School of Nursing Dominican Republic Outreach Program. The Dominican Republic Outreach Program travels from Maine to the Dominican Republic every six months to provide basic health care and health education to residents who otherwise would have no access to such care, and I am beyond excited to announce that I will be taking part in the January 2017 trip to the Dominican Republic!

I have learned from my experience that there is no better place in this world other than this country to learn about new cases or to do a research project or to avail the best treatments to my patients.With the latest technologies and rare cases found here, I wish to pursue my career as an internist in the United States.I have many attributes to contribute to Internal Medicine.My family has taught me the values of hardwork,honesty,dedication and commitment to goals.I am a critical thinker and problem solver and I will deliver all these to my residency program.Each patient is a educator for me and this teaching attracts me to academics and I look forward to being part of an institution that provides a healthy learning environment based on open

For my project I have been volunteering at Rogue Regional Medical Center. I started volunteering at the hospital in July, I now am still working to complete all of my hours. My previous hours were spent with gaining training so I could be successful in my volunteering. Also I worked with employees of the hospital to learn the lay out of the hospital. My project has had bumps along the way but I have worked them out and I’m now getting close to finishing my hours.

Analyzing the journey of a hospitalized patient is imperative in nursing practice in order to produce holistic, strengths based care (Gottlieb, 2014). When examining the patient and his or her journey, it is crucial for the nurse to explore many factors including the patient’s personal history leading up to admission, the unique and individualized care plan, impacting strengths and gaps within the healthcare system, as well as the factors affecting discharge care and planning. For the purpose of this paper, a patient by the name of Anna will be explored in order to highlight essential aspects associated with providing holistic care.

My participation in multiple medical mission trips has allowed me to learn more about science and technology through being a medical scribe and helping in the pharmacy. As a scribe, I was able to learn about the symptoms, causes, and treatments for individual patients. I was able to see the common symptoms in different geographic areas. I also saw how crucial it is to use technology in medical care in order to document the patient visits and the drugs prescribed. Unfortunately, on one of the trips I did not have a computer to type the patient information on, so I had to handwrite the information. This really gave me an appreciation for the use of electronic medical records in doctors offices here in the states. In the pharmacy, I learned more