Another week has passed and another week closer to home time! I've loved being on this crazy adventure but I have to admit to looking forward to getting back home soon. Living out of a bag for 4 months is not fun, especially when lovely people keep giving me gifts which is so nice but I'm literally having to wear everything I own at this stage just so I can fit everything else in the bag! And speaking of wearing things, the sooner I never have to look at any of the clothes I've brought on this trip the better! Blind hatred is all I feel for them now😂
I spent this past week in Boston where I visited Massachusetts Eye & Ear, 12 floors of dedicated EENT and it was amazing! It was my last hospital visit of this trip and the perfect place to finish that side of things.
Firstly, I was barely in the door when I was being jabbed with a needle as I wasn't allowed in without my flu shot if I was going to be there for more than 8 hours and as we had a few days planned out that was the case. They know how to welcome you in Boston!😂 This was actually the only hospital on my entire journey that needed my proof of inoculations etc. I was actually glad after so many months of carrying them around that someone finally wanted to see them! Ironically, I've actually refused my flu shot at home for the past 2 years, little did they know that all it would take was a bit of bribery involving visiting a fancy hospital in Boston and I would become very compliant all of a sudden!
I spent my first day observing and shadowing nurses in the adult inpatient floors and emergency department. I was honestly so envious looking around at an entire emergency department just for EENT patients! Obviously, it has it's limits. Mass Eye & Ear is attached to Mass General Hospital by a bridge and if there are any non ENT related emergencies the patients are transferred there and vice versa. But to have all these triage cubicles and clinical areas set up and ready to go with all the equipment relevant to that speciality was just the most beautiful thing (I'm easily pleased, I know)!😃
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| Getting my flu shot in Occ Health! |
I also spent a day in theatres where everything is electronic, from pre-assessment onwards. Marilee, one of the nurses took me through the entire process with a patient who was due for a biopsy that morning. All patients have pre-assessment and consent done on the day which is a bit different to us (for non-urgent surgery, paperwork can be done several months in advance) and both have their advantages and drawbacks but it was interesting seeing absolutely everything being done electronically. Marilee did say that although the technology is great and helps to eliminate mistakes and confusion and help improve communication she has to be careful not to end up glued to a screen and forget about actually having some human contact with the patient who is right beside her!
It's something that is an issue in the States, the technology in all of the hospitals I've visited has been insane - they are light years ahead of us in that respect and it is amazing the things that can be accomplished with that. But something that is becoming a focus for nursing staff is not to to forget about the patient in the midst of it all and watching the nurses in Boston, I don't think they have too much to worry about. There was a great atmosphere around the building. I was lucky to spend time with the nursing chiefs of Adult, Paeds, ED and theatres (Theresa, Kathy & Jo-Ann) who were all just bossing it but also seemed to have a great relationship with their teams.
In theatre I also met Dr. Randolph who helped set up my visit (through his connection with Prof O' Donoghue), I stayed for one of his procedures in theatre and it was great to meet and have a chat before I finished up for the day.
I also became a bit obsessed with the hyperbaric chambers that they have here - 3 in total and mostly used back in the day to help injured firefighters (due to smoke inhalation) and divers (injuries due to incorrect decompression when coming back up) as there is a large navy presence on this part of the East coast. Due to better equipment and stricter safety regulations there are now less of those accidents to deal with and the chambers are now mostly used to enhance wound care for complex patients e.g. if someone has had a flap and it isn't taking for some reason they will have 2 sessions a day in one of the chambers as the increase in oxygen can help improve healing. Again, so jealous of the technology available here!
I also had the added bonus of being surrounded by an almost entirely Irish community! Everyone I met was either first or second generation, visited Ireland pretty frequently and were still very connected to their roots. There were Kennedy's, O' Donovans and Mcs everywhere I turned. Not to mention a bizarre amount of Claddagh rings! It was the same in the city, people were just chatting about visiting Ireland or Irish relatives as they walked down the street. There's a beautiful famine memorial in the city centre (37,000 Irish landed in Boston around the time of the famine which started it all) and I even found some Barry's tea on sale!
Although the best had to be when I was having lunch with one of the hospital staff, Kevin, who presented me with a Barry's teabag at lunchtime as she brings them everyday, she didn't even know I was coming!
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| Delighted sure! |
At the weekend I visited Salem as I've always wanted to go and it's not far from the city. My friend Gary, who I know through playing Irish music, drove me there and we visited one of the many museums. It's the only house left with a connection to the witch trials as one of the judges used to live there. October isn't an ideal month to go to Salem as it's so close to Halloween so very busy but unfortunately I didn't have any other options!
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| The Witch House. Bit creepeh. |
After the museum and some food we went for a few tunes in The Druid pub which was great! I haven't played in months so was definitely rusty but got into the swing of things after a bit and had great craic with a Chicago flute player, French guitarist, Alaskan bodhrán player and Connemara/Boston flute player! Maybe I should do my next study on the diversity of people who play Irish music!
I've had a couple of free days this week as things are starting to wind down coming to the end of my trip. Again, part of it was due to a previously planned visit in Toronto that didn't work out but at this stage I'm not going to panic about stuff like that as I've seen and learned more than I ever thought I would so anything else at this stage is just a bonus!
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| The beautiful scenery on my way from Boston to Canada through New Hampshire & Vermont |
I'm still going to Toronto as I already had my train and accommodation booked so I'll just have to go to Niagara Falls instead! I did stop in Ottawa for 2 days on my way to see Heather, an old friend from my college days back in Galway. It was lovely to catch up and she and her boyfriend Steve made sure I had a thoroughly Canadian experience as we went to the ice hockey (Ottawa beat Dallas 4-1. Woo!), toured the parliament building (no sign of Justin😢) and went for a hike to see the beautiful maple leaves in all their autumn glory! They also made sure I tried poutine (chips, cheese curd and gravy, it's as weird as it sounds but nice!) and beaver tail (a flat bread shaped like a beavers tail, of course!) to round it off. I mean at this stage I'm practically entitled to citizenship, right!?
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| I'm in there somewhere! |
So, next on the list is the Magnet Conference in Denver. I'm really looking forward to meeting some of the NUH team there but also some of the Magnet teams from hospitals I've visited around the States have invited me to their functions so it will be lovely to see them again.
I've got a couple of days to get on top of paperwork and admin which is good and then it's onto the home stretch!
The visit to Boston being my last hospital and specifically ENT really did feel so apt as I thought back to my very first visit in Lusaka, Zambia. 3 ENT surgeons, 10 ENT beds and 1 scope for the entire country. Talk about coming full circle to finish in a 12 floor, dedicated EENT hospital with it's own theatres, emergency department, entire floors dedicated to research and developing their own drugs, their own MRI, CT and PET scanners. All just for 1 speciality and 1 city! The world is a crazy place.
To think that their is such discrepancy in hospitals around the world and the way patients can be treated is hard to believe. Seeing it with my own eyes in the one trip actually makes it harder to take in for some reason!
Nurses seem to be the common denominator though. Technology and equipment aside, the role of nursing across the world when stripped back to basics is about caring and advocating for our patients and that is something that has been the same from Africa to Asia to North America.
To finish the whole shebang at a conference with 20,000 (ish!) of these lovely people definitely sounds good to me!
Slán go foill
Kate
