Currently I am back in the states...in San Francisco for a layover before finally heading back to the Tri-Cities and my own bed! I have had a wonderful trip to Mongolia and have not only learned a lot myself but have hopefully taught some invaluable skills to people in need!
I hope you all enjoyed my little blog!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
In Seoul, South Korea for the night
We made it to Seoul, South Korea! We have a one night layover here and then will be flying back to the US tomorrow...home by 10pm! The last day in Mongolia was busy but fun...we were able to see some friends and say goodbye, see the cancer center and the hospice care, go to the international church, and do a little more shopping! My friend, Togosoo came and said goodbye to us as we left the airport which was really nice...hopefully we manage to stay in contact!
We will be touring Seoul before we leave tomorrow and I will have about a 9 hour layover in San Franciso which will be diffcult since I will finally be SOOOO close to home!
We will be touring Seoul before we leave tomorrow and I will have about a 9 hour layover in San Franciso which will be diffcult since I will finally be SOOOO close to home!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Shopping and touring Mongolia
Now that training is over, we have time to relax....SORT OF! We woke up early again this morning and started by touring an old Buddhist monestary that is now a museum then we met up with 3 friends we have made along the way - Togosoo (Talk-saw), TsaTsaa (Ta-Tah), and Mungun (Moon-goon) (all in their 20s so we get along great!)- and went shopping! They took us to some really neat places with beautiful items. No open air market however which surprised me. Mungun then took us to an active Buddhist monestary which was just incredibly interesting. We then came back to the hotel only to turn right around and go to another friend - Ganna's apartment for dinner with her and her roommates. Ganna is a doctor who quit her profession to work for Campus Crusades, a Christian ministry that ministers to the students. Her and her roommates are my age as well and dinner was very fun. I had a chance to show Togosoo pictures from home of my friends and family and will be giving her my WSU Chemistry t-shirt on Monday before we leave since she has her biochemistry degree and is now working towards a major (we had a few chats about quantum chem etc = CHEM NERDS!).
We have one day left in Mongolia...and it is going to be packed full! I know EVERYONE says this but seriously I cannot believe how fast these past two weeks have gone. Everyday has been filled with activity from the minute we wake up to the minute we fall into bed but it has been an amazing experience and incredibly eye opening to the fact that although healthcare in America is far from perfect...we have it pretty good!
We have one day left in Mongolia...and it is going to be packed full! I know EVERYONE says this but seriously I cannot believe how fast these past two weeks have gone. Everyday has been filled with activity from the minute we wake up to the minute we fall into bed but it has been an amazing experience and incredibly eye opening to the fact that although healthcare in America is far from perfect...we have it pretty good!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Training is OVER!
I cannot BELIEVE how fast the Emergency Training week went! Today was our last day and most exciting day...in my opinion. We trained them in CPR, spinal immobilization, triage, holistic healthcare, intubations, respiratory emergencies, and strokes then allowed them to put it all together with a double drill today! We did an explosive fire drill inside the hospital for the hospital doctors and nurses to practice with and then a car accident outside for the ambulance doctors, nurses, and drivers to practice with.
I did the makeup for the victims in each of these drills.....and it turned out REALLY realistic and pretty cool! We put bruises, cuts, blood, etc on the victims and gave them scenarios to play out. Then we put them in positions and started the "fire" and the "car crash." Then we sat back and watched...took notes...and gave them feedback when it was over.
I mostly stayed outside to watch the ambulance staff work. The ambulance doctors, nurses, and drivers are not fully trained like the paramedics and EMTs in America. They are allowed to do very little for the patient other than transport which is the root of many problems in Mongolia. Because of traffic in a city that has 1.5 million people in it and provides healthcare for the entire country, it takes ambulance drivers sometimes over an hour to reach a patient call and to transport them back to the hospital if necessary. If they aren't trained or legally allowed to perform tasks necessary to stablize patients, then that patient has a high likelyhood of dying! We gave some training to the ambulance staff but until policy changes in Mongolia there is not much more we can do. Still, the ambulance staff are incredibly intelligent and eager to learn. They can and want to do more for their patients so it was very exciting to watch them work. You could tell that they felt like they really had something to prove to everyone else. They did an amazing job and had a lot of fun during the drill.
When the ambulance drivers drove their victims to the emergency room, I got to see what the inside drill was like. The ambulance drivers handed their patients over so that the emergency room doctors and nurses now had an overload of patients and had to deal with the disaster scenario. They did not do as well as I had hoped however. They were not used to that number of patients and were not comfortable delegating. Patients were forgotten and doctors tried to do everything themselves. This is once again a problem with policy in Mongolia because nurses are not allowed to do half the tasks nurses in America do for doctors everyday. Thus a nurse will sit with a critical patient, not allowed to do much to help them, until the doctor has time to come and see that patient. It makes for an inefficient system and at times of disaster, I confused and ineffective system.
So hopefully our training helped them enough to stabilize patients. The hospital doctors and nurses DID prioritize patients from most critical to least and they did stabilize them correctly etc which was VERY good. Also hopefully our suggestions on how they can establish an effective, efficient emergency care system in Monoliga were heard and steps can begin to be taken to make things better for the healthcare system here!
Overall the drills were VERY fun and I had fun with the victims. We went to a traditional Mongolian song and dance show last night that was incredibly interesting. We got to see an orchestra with traditional Mongolian instruments, throat singers (men who sing from their deep throat and can reach about 3 notes at the same time!), and contortionists. Tonight we went to a more touristy Mongolian restaurant that has a band with a throat singer but this time is was more modern music....Mongolian rock I call it. It was very fun. We said goodbye to most of the people we worked with this past week and gave gifts and certificates, etc.
Tomorrow we are spending the day with some friends we made while being here and a couple docs from the hospital going shopping, etc. It should be a busy but relaxing day! Sunday we are going to see various churchs, maybe back to the orphange, and maybe see the cancer center with their hospice care which should be incredibly interesting!
I did the makeup for the victims in each of these drills.....and it turned out REALLY realistic and pretty cool! We put bruises, cuts, blood, etc on the victims and gave them scenarios to play out. Then we put them in positions and started the "fire" and the "car crash." Then we sat back and watched...took notes...and gave them feedback when it was over.
I mostly stayed outside to watch the ambulance staff work. The ambulance doctors, nurses, and drivers are not fully trained like the paramedics and EMTs in America. They are allowed to do very little for the patient other than transport which is the root of many problems in Mongolia. Because of traffic in a city that has 1.5 million people in it and provides healthcare for the entire country, it takes ambulance drivers sometimes over an hour to reach a patient call and to transport them back to the hospital if necessary. If they aren't trained or legally allowed to perform tasks necessary to stablize patients, then that patient has a high likelyhood of dying! We gave some training to the ambulance staff but until policy changes in Mongolia there is not much more we can do. Still, the ambulance staff are incredibly intelligent and eager to learn. They can and want to do more for their patients so it was very exciting to watch them work. You could tell that they felt like they really had something to prove to everyone else. They did an amazing job and had a lot of fun during the drill.
When the ambulance drivers drove their victims to the emergency room, I got to see what the inside drill was like. The ambulance drivers handed their patients over so that the emergency room doctors and nurses now had an overload of patients and had to deal with the disaster scenario. They did not do as well as I had hoped however. They were not used to that number of patients and were not comfortable delegating. Patients were forgotten and doctors tried to do everything themselves. This is once again a problem with policy in Mongolia because nurses are not allowed to do half the tasks nurses in America do for doctors everyday. Thus a nurse will sit with a critical patient, not allowed to do much to help them, until the doctor has time to come and see that patient. It makes for an inefficient system and at times of disaster, I confused and ineffective system.
So hopefully our training helped them enough to stabilize patients. The hospital doctors and nurses DID prioritize patients from most critical to least and they did stabilize them correctly etc which was VERY good. Also hopefully our suggestions on how they can establish an effective, efficient emergency care system in Monoliga were heard and steps can begin to be taken to make things better for the healthcare system here!
Overall the drills were VERY fun and I had fun with the victims. We went to a traditional Mongolian song and dance show last night that was incredibly interesting. We got to see an orchestra with traditional Mongolian instruments, throat singers (men who sing from their deep throat and can reach about 3 notes at the same time!), and contortionists. Tonight we went to a more touristy Mongolian restaurant that has a band with a throat singer but this time is was more modern music....Mongolian rock I call it. It was very fun. We said goodbye to most of the people we worked with this past week and gave gifts and certificates, etc.
Tomorrow we are spending the day with some friends we made while being here and a couple docs from the hospital going shopping, etc. It should be a busy but relaxing day! Sunday we are going to see various churchs, maybe back to the orphange, and maybe see the cancer center with their hospice care which should be incredibly interesting!
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