Kicking The Bed Pan

So for those of you who do not know what a bed pan is, it is "an object used for the toileting of a bedridden patient in a health care facility, usually made of a metal, glass, or plastic receptacle." (wikipedia) A little bit somber, I know, however lets move on to the fun part! My bucket, or bed pan, list consist of the following:

• travel the world (this is the most important thing on my list)
• continue to donate to charities (hopefully I'll be able to give money to charities when I start my career)
• go to EDC & Coachella & Burning Man 
• have a Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars movie watching marathon
• be successful in my career
• start oil painting 
• pay to take my family out to a really nice dinner
• give my brother advice that will stick with him throughout the rest of high school 
• be healthy (eating and exercising right)
• look amazing when I come to my high school reunion
• go to the gay pride festival in SF in 2014
• I know it sounds super cheesy, but find someone who loves me. I don't need to marry the guy, but I want to be with just one person for the rest of my life and not divorce or split up. It doesn't mean I'm only going to date one person, but when I feel like I'm ready for a life long commitment, I truly want it to be life long
• be able to wear atleast 3 inch heels for hours at a time and not feel uncomfortable
• dance until I can't feel my legs anymore or wake up unable to walk
• run a marathon
• stop biting my nails
• get my teeth professionally whitened
• pay to take my parents on a cruise
• change someone's life for the greater good
• see something magical 
• go to the city, Berkeley or San Francisco, and pass out "I think you're very attractive" cards

Thats all I can think of at the moment. I hope you all have a good week before Winter Break!

Surviving The Extremes

Hi bloggers,
For the book iQuest have to read, I chose Surviving the Extremes by Kenneth Kamler, M.D.. He decided to travel the world to 6 very different and extreme parts of the world to test what would happen to the human body in each extremes. Not only does he talk about the human body, but the techniques and medicine used by people who live in underdeveloped or rural parts of the world. The book is a very interesting and unique read, so I will be able to finish it very easily. I plan to read one chapter every 2 weeks. There are only 6 chapters in the entire book, so I will be able to finish it within the allotted time (January 28th).

In the first chapter, the environment is in the jungle in the Amazon. He talks about how both dangerous but necessary for survival it is in the Amazon. Yes, the Amazon causes heat stroke, is a home for poisonous and dangerous animals, and more, yet it also is a natural pharmacy and has certain poisons needed for hunting. The Amazon is a natural paradox. People in this environment need to keep a constant lookout for the anopheles mosquito (malaria), black caiman, anaconda, venomous snakes, poisonous frogs and caterpillars, schisto worm (liver parasite), stingray, electric eel and a most interesting creature called the candiru. The candiru is a very tiny catfish which looks for a source of salt. When someone or thing urinates in the water, the candiru will follow the stream of urine and lodge itself in the animal’s urethra. Surgery is required to remove it. Another interesting part of the first chapter is how he talks about performing surgery on the leader's son who accidentally cut his own arm with a machete. The human body is remarkable and can block the sensors for pain in nerves so one can get to safety if badly hurt without being hindered with the overwhelming feeling of pain. Once the boy starts getting help from Dr. Kamler, he begins to feel pain once again, and begins screaming in agony. Kamler begins to perform surgery and sews back the nerve together. The boy regains the ability to use his arm shortly after.

In the second chapter, he doesn't put himself in the situation of being stranded in the ocean, but instead talks about how a couple of people were able to survive in the open sea. The world record of someone surviving in the open sea is 130 days without any supplies. The world record winner's name is Poon Lim. To survive, he collected rain, caught fish, and kept moving to prevent bed sores. Methods thought up by other survivors include using improvised solar-powered stoves to distill seawater. The physiology of salt intake, dehydration and starvation are presented along with some cases of on cannibalism at sea.

 The point of the book is to inform the audience about the differences of medicine and technique in different countries of the world and also let the audience know what happens to the body in 6 different extremes. I really enjoy the book because its medical and scientific, yet easy to understand. Readers can be both young or old and still appreciate the content. Also, its interesting to learn about the different extremes in the world.

A Day in the Life of a Nurse

Hi Bloggers,

I've been volunteering at the San Ramon Regional Hospital for about two months now. I volunteer every Wednesday from 3:30-6, so  2.5 hours a week. Spending almost three hours a week allows me to be exposed to a very different environment. For one, instead of saying mentor, the correct terminology to describe someone you're shadowing is "preceptor". My preceptor's name is Julie, and she's the head charge nurse. This means she's manages all the other nurses during her shift. We both sit in the nurse's station on the second floor, in post op, or post operation meaning we receive patients who have just been through surgery. 

My day starts off with counting narcotics. We go into this small closet where there is this machine that is basically a vending machine for medicine. It is extremely secure, so it takes a thumb print before one can even access any medication. There are about 5 different drawers of medication, ranging from 2 to 30 different compartments in each drawer. We count every type of medication and put it in the machine. This is done before every shift in order to check that no one is secretly stealing any medication.

Next, at 4 o'clock, we go downstairs to partake in something called a bed meeting. This is when different departments in the hospital (pre op, emergency, etc) meet and talk about who is in each of the rooms and how many people do they have in the rooms in total. It is very interesting hearing them talk about "floating" people over (having someone work in a different department in case there are too many people in beds) or having a "super user" (someone who has passwords and codes to everything to help out other nurses). It took a while to get used to the terminology they use, but once you catch on, its like putting a puzzle together. Everything begins to make sense.

After the bed meeting, Julie and I go back to the nursing station where I proceed to answer phone calls from patients for the next hour and a half or so. The patients are able to call me and ask for help. The most common things they need are IV bag changes, pain medication, or having questions for their nurses. I page RNs (registered nurses) and  CNAs (certified nursing assistants) if they are needed at the station or at their patient's room. 

There are many positives and negatives I have noticed about working in the medical field, especially as a nurse. For one, it can be incredibly traumatizing being in close vicinity to death. Once while working, a patient passed away, with his/her family in the same room. The family knew it was expected, yet when it happened, they walked out of the room bawling. Seeing this on a weekly basis, or even more, can begin to make you weary. On the opposite side of the spectrum, I've seen many patients get discharged with huge smiles on their faces. I can see that they are very thankful for the care they received at the hospital. 

I've learned many things while volunteering. I am very quick on picking up new things. For example, it took me about two weeks to understand what the was being said in the bed meetings. The technology is very different in hospitals as well. They don't use "normal" computers, instead, the computers are more high tech and hard to use. I figured out how to use the computers there in less than a day.

In terms of what I've learned in the medical field, I've learned quite a lot. I see nurses run back and forth to their 5 or so different patients, trying to comfort them as best as possible, and yet they keep a positive attitude. It made me realize that if you want to be a nurse, you have to be willing to not only put in the hard work (with sometimes no reward if the patient isn't thankful or does not make it out of the hospital) but also be incredibly positive as well. In addition, the positivity makes a great difference in the patient's moods. 

For time management, I need to work on organizing my day a little bit better. I need to make sure that I don't get senioritis and actually complete my assignments before the due date. I can already see my grades slipping a little bit