Clinical Days

We finished up our first week of clinical! I am exhausted. After clinical I usually come home and barely get anything done as I lounge around in my sweats, and then sleep for 12 hours without setting an alarm for the next morning. This week, we had 3 clinical days in a row.

Me outside the hospital.

I was out in Laoyiang Hospital in the countryside of Tainan this week, working in an ICU. I had no idea what to expect. We were first greeted early Tuesday morning by an Asian woman with a feminine pixie cut in the lobby of the hospital.  She signaled to us to follow her, barely saying one or two words at a time. We climbed some stairs and entered a facility that required a badge to get through, leaving our clinical instructor and the other students behind. She shuffled us into a small room off to the side where she signaled to our scrub tops and said, “Dirty” and then pointed to a pile of 90’s looking pink scrubs, identical to what she was wearing, obviously asking us to change. I chose a large, which had me swimming in the fabric, but the sleeves came about 6 inches short on my forearms! I realized the increase in size only increased the girth, not the length on the shirts. I definitely am longer than the average Asian woman!

Our day began with the nurses asking us how long we would stay and what we were supposed to do. It was clear they didn’t know what to do with us! We were placed with a nurse aide who seemed to have a bit more English than the first nurse, but who still struggled greatly to communicate. The stress these sweet Taiwanese people experience at trying to please their visitors and speak our language is amazing- the culture is so other-oriented. Everywhere there are signs that ask the people to be polite to others on the train, saying that Taiwan is happy. Every person reacts the same when told they have great English- with a shy smile and giggle, covering their face. We have the leaders of the nursing team of entire hospitals involved in our visit, and doctors catering to us and our understanding as they spend time teaching us and getting involved in our education. In the hospitals, nursing students are the lowest on the totem pole. Doctors are involved by bringing flowers to patients, in the mother’s day celebrations, and taking time to speak to patients who have questions who are not even their assigned cases.  There seems to be no sense of ego here. It makes me want to be a better person.

I experienced a period of about 4 hours when I had culture shock- we were at a Mother’s day celebration and people were filming us because we are white, and there was loud Taiwanese music and everyone was catering to us, and the food was all foreign and I locked myself in the bathroom for about 15 minutes just to experience some silence. I got really tired and just wanted to go home. But, I’ve felt that before and luckily after I saw my instructor and had some lunch I felt a bit better- we also didn’t feel like we were in a situation where we didn’t know what to do anymore, once we debriefed with our instructor on the fact that no one in the ICU knew what to do with us (they have never had us in the ICU before). We got back and enjoyed an afternoon of listening to patients’ hearts and lungs, watching basic cares and interventions performed (the Taiwanese have similar health outcomes to us but have much less to work with- a woman with a pelvic fracture was braced with a sheet tied and pinned around her sacral area, rather than the expensive braces available in the US), and getting more comfortable speaking with people who hardly know our language, and whose language we literally only know 3 words.  We made a dear friend named Joyce who loves to run just like me and ended up taking pictures and feeling very fulfilled (but exhausted) by the end of the day when we came home and went to the Taiwanese theater where you get popcorn and a drink with your ticket and watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (in English with Chinese subtitles). Overall, Tuesday was incredible.

When in Asia, become Asian. Also, I used a squatty potty on Monday. Can't remember if I said that already.

 
Joyce and the other nurses we worked with the the first day.

Wednesday we were in the same unit. I woke up early and went for a run. I found a park about a mile from our dorms that has exercise equipment. It was so enjoyable to run through Taiwan! The people are up and about fairly early- it gets light by 5 or earlier here. People were in the parks doing Tai Chi and children were on their way to school by 6:15.  I got some stares as usual but thoroughly enjoyed the sights (if not the smells) of Tainan. The park was wild with grass and weeds and a small, crooked Taiwanese man was tending what looked like a community garden in the back. The supplies were kept in a little wooden shack to the side, and stray dogs were running around. I loved it J

This is the park I ran in.

Turns out diarrhea is a thing here, so I experienced that. Whatever, I took some Imodium and I’m fine. Just trying to not drink the water. And I was sick for the first little bit but I think that’s because I wasn’t sleeping for 3 days of travel and then we were trying to flip, so our instructors literally had us running around 3 cities in one day carting all of our luggage. I was slightly grumpy because I had spoken with them about my need to be careful physically and wasn’t aware we would be pushed so hard initially, but it turned out fine- I just sucked it up and have made sure to sleep when I need to. Monday I didn’t go out after devotional with the group because I just needed to rest. And that’s okay.

I gave Atun a gift! A BYU shirt. She is darling.

We are on the train now to Hualien, up in the northwest part of Taiwan. We will spend the weekend river tracing and going to Night markets and experiencing Asia. I am thrilled, and honestly glad to have a five hour train ride (Tainan to Taipei on the bullet train, then a slow train to Hualien) to just relax. It’s been a busy week.

God’s been answering some of my prayers, slowly. I think this little pause from life is good- I’ve needed the clarity of stepping away. I only have my phone and internet in the morning and at night, and I’ve needed that. I need to figure out what I want in my life, and I need to figure out what God wants for me.

He says I need only wait and soon it will be made clear. I believe that- He always follows through when He says that. This summer will be a good one.

This is our dorms that the hospital is keeping us in!

This is just an example of typical Taiwan- there are so many advertisements here that talk about how happy Taiwan is! I love that. "Happy" all over trash cans. Haha.

My dinner last night- a Mango Smoothie