Day 2 - hospital observations begin

Hey travel journal,
So it's day two and it was just as busy as day one. Omg I'm so tired and my feet are so sore.
The day started with a group of us heading to a local store that sells traditional Taiwanese breakfasts. We spent a good 15 with a translation app and a list of foods a buddy gave us and we think we figured out some of the menu and all decided to have rice and vegis but then somehow got to ordering and ended up with egg in pastry and an iced tea (which was probably a bit on the sweet side for me) but both were very nice. Then back to the dorms and got ready and headed off to the bus which took us to a private hospital - shin King Wu ho-su memorial hospital, where we are doing our observations. We were ushered into a meeting room and given a weekly itinerary, a pen and a Chinese newspaper. We had a welcome and learnt a little bit about the hospital and their values. I have learnt that they are very people orientated and have many staff to ensure that people are followed throughout their hospital experience and that as an 800 bed hospital they are considered small (I know right.. What!?). I also learnt that they don't have a level four because that is the number for death, so the levels skip the number four. everything in the hospital is a combination of Chinese and English, especially the patient diagnosis on the charts as they hand over diagnosis in English. It's so bilingual, I love it. After our quick intro and tour of the bottom floor. We broke up into two groups and had a tour of either the surgical ward or medical ward and then swapped. We started in the general surgical ward were they look after patients who have had abdominal, breast or thyroid surgeries. They explained that they have stretchers they put out next to each of the patients beds, where they have a family member stay with the patient and help them with everything they need like eating or getting up to go to the toilet. And each room only has a suction and oxygen port. They use portable monitoring equipment if the patient requires observations to be completed. They showed us the store room where they keep all of their drugs and equipment, and the new cloud computer system. Everything is barcode controlled. The patients IDs the staff IDs, even monitoring the monitors are scanned and then the cloud attaches the results to the patients file. They have an electronic whiteboard at the nurses station that had each of the beds on the screen with icons that say of they are contagious, gender, condition, if they have a DNR etc. And you just have to click the bed on the map and everything about the patient comes up and on their computer the entire patients file and all test results can be accessed. After the surgical ward we headed over to medicine where the ward structure is the same. Interesting they apparently don't have a specific in patient cancer care ward, so patients who are on cancer medications get put onto a general ward and their meds get put in a locked cupboard and the general ward nurses dispense them. After our ward tours we went to lunch. We walked down a side street near the hospital and we all stopped at different vendors to get some lunch. I had a scallion which is pretty much naan bread which an egg layer and corn. It was so tasty. Then we headed back to the hospital and had a tour of the Osce centre where students take their practical assessments. The rooms are proper examination rooms and a resus room but they have one way windows on one side so that the professor can stand on the outside and see and hear everything without the students being able to see them. They have twelve hurdle assessments they need to pass in this section. Then we had a tour of the cancer treatment prevention centre which is pretty much just an office and a consultation room. This is where cancer screening is undertaken and then if diagnosed the patient gets a case manager who looks after them for a minimum of 5 years regardless of if they go into remission or not. And they are provided with an oncologist. The support team just provides them with any assistance and provides regular assessments and check ups. After that we were done for the day and half the group headed back to the dorm while all of us parameds caught the train into the city and had an explore. We stopped at a few shops and spent some time in a winnie the pooh store where Nikki brought something for her sister and then we went to a 511 store where they boys brought some pants, a top and torches between them. It was mostly cloths and bags, which I was hoping for a little more gadgets and stuff but that's ok. And then we wandered and looked around on the way back to the train where we headed to some night markets to meet up with the rest of the group. The night markets were pretty cool. Absolutely huge and very similar to all Asian markets really. We all just wandered for ages and brought different foods and shared them around. Fried stinky tofu is ok but weird, pig blood cake is just like chewy weird texture grossness, vegetable dumplings are soo good, and spicy mushroom chunks are also super tasty. While there we came across a temple which was nice and traditional with people praying which I loved because it shows its functional in the community. And we all pulled a fortune stick but the fortunes are all in Chinese so I have no idea what mine says lol. Then we headed back to the dorms, showered and now I'm soo ready to sleep the screen is blurry. Night xoRead more