Hallo

After sooo long time I finally have time to write something. My first practice in station Katharina (geriatry) is successfully over. This 4 weeks went past faster then I ever could imagine. I have only good memories what I take with me from this month, the co-workers took me as  part of their team. They let me do almost everything what they must do. Sadly here in Germany nurses cant take blood or put cannulas, for that they have doctor assistants. Other protcedures like infusions, catheterisation, injections etc are doing the nurses, but as we nurses are like vampires cant we be without taking blood. In Germany nurses job is also washing of the patients, hygiene. For me seems the system here very confusing.

The teamwork in this station should be a example for every nurse. I had a enjoyable time working with them.

In free days I had time to see Germany- Hessen. The International office took us to Point Alpha- a border watch-tower from the old border between East and West Germany near the Fulda Gap. There we heard about one part of Germanys history.

Like Liisi already mentioned had we also a Museum night in Frankfurt. We were very lucky that we could see George Condos work. It was a relaxing night in Frankfurt museums.

 

Mit freundlichem Gruss aus Fulda.

Sigrit

 

Hallo, wie geht's!

I am writing forward about the end of my first practice and about the beginning of the second.
When I had finished my 160 hours of practice in Internal Diseases department I was little bit sad, because it was such a good time full of work and good colleges who teached me a lot.
They told that they will definaltely miss my company.

The next day I had to start my practice in Surgical Department named Rosaly. They explained all the system with surgical patients- how to monitor them and how is arranged the operation plan.
The department looked nice but the work was totally different. I think the first week I learned it how things work there and then I could do everything by myself.

One thing what annoyed me little bit was that there was too many trainees in the same time. Because of that there was not so much work to do compared with last department.
My language was much better than in the beginning and I could communicate with everybody without big problems.

I wanted to pass this practice with one month and because of that I had to be in the hospital almost every day and I didn't had so much free time anymore.
It was very good that all the international students lived in the same dormitory so we could still meet. One really nice event where we participated was Museum night in Frankfurt. Here are also some pictures.

Until the next post! :)

Liisi Põldots
Õde 2

Germany 2.

I am really sorry that I haven't written so long, because I had crazy scedule in the hospital and the weather was good, so it was quite hard to sit behind the computer. Still I will tell everything how I have been.

The first practice in the internal diseases department was full of new things and I met really nice colleges and patients. There was not so much to study about nursing procedures, but more about how they are taking care of the patients. They are well organized and they pay attention to the whole treatment. Communication was in the first place always.

 They have lot of work, because without helpers lot of time took washing and bringing patients to diagnostical procedures. They were really happy that they had trainees to help them. We had to respond to all of the alarms what patients did and they had more time to fill the documentation. Mostly there was only trainee in one time and thats why I got quite lot to there.

The weather was nice- the sun was shining and it was even 25 dagrees warm. We spended lot of time travelling and enjoing  Germany nature. My german had emproved and I could explain almost everything to patients. Communicating with colleges was little bit harder  because they were speaking faster and using more difficult words. But they still told that it all takes time because german is not the easyest language.

Soon I will write new post!

Bis bald,

Liisi Põldots
Õde 2

Buonasera tutti!!

Sry, we haven't posted something new for so long time. All days we are spending in the hospital and often after that we go to the sea. Today is very very hot day (38 C) and it's too difficult to do something in such a hot weather.

So... we have began another practice. Now it's easier to communicate with Italians because we improve our Italian everyday. Unfortunately we still can't communicate in English, because here in Foggia only few people know English a little. But the attitude to us is very good and they are very helpful people. Most of the nurses are men and for us it's very strange and unusual. Also what is very unusual for us is that nurses are doing all the work here, like washing patients, changing urine bags, feeding patients etc.

On the last weekend we had visited Napoli and Pompei. It was very exciting and interesting trip for us. We have seen ancient Roman ruins and it's really inspirational place we have ever seen. Before we went to Napoli, all Italian nurses, doctors, patients, students said us that Napoli is the most criminal city in Italy and we should be very careful. We were a little bit scared before going but when we arrived in Napoli we just forgot our fright because the city was too beautiful and we even didn't want to go back home. We were lucky, nothing happened with us, no rob or something. It was the best trip for us so far. Now we have also plan to go to Rome next weekend. We hope that will be good trip.

Ciao!

Olga & Kätlin from Italy

Life in Italy

Ciao tutti!

So I haven't wrote in a long time, because I've been very occupied with my practice and on the weekends I want to do stuff that doesn't include sitting behind the computer. I'm going to tell you about my practice that is ending tomorrow.

As I said earlier I'm practicing in the cardiology intensive care department(UTIC as Italians call it). The collective in that department is amazing. All the nurses are very young, most of them are male, which at first was very unusual for me. The doctors were very happy when I first arrived, because they couldn't wait to start practicing English over a long time. By the way, all the doctors speak almost perfect English and they are always asking me to go with them, and then they are explaining different procedures to me etc etc.

I have had 3 different tutors in this department, who all speak English. Lucky for me they weren't the typical Italians who say something like "if you are in Italy, you HAVE TO speak Italian" because it isn't very easy to find English speaking people here. But in the hospital it is easier. Also I understand Italian quite well at this point, so even if they give me orders in Italian I still understand. I absolutely adore my tutors, they have been so super sweet and nice to me, I will definitely miss them!

(I've also had 4 patients over 70 years old, who spoke English to me, now that's something amazing!)

Nurses in that department work in 3 shifts-from 7-14, 14-21 and 21-7. The work is very intense, so in one shift there are at least 4 nurses working, and more than 10 patients. They nurses don't have any breaks here, they don't eat anything while they are working. Washing of the patients and changing of the diapers is done by the nurses. They do everything here! And since there are a lot of old people here in Italy, there are a lot of patients over 90 years old, so it's quite hard to work with them.

The hospital is huge!I have to take a photo one day...The first week I got lost every single morning before arriving to my department. All the workers in the hospital are wearing specific uniforms. For example UTIC department nurses are all wearing blue shirt and white trousers, all students must wear blue blouse and blue trousers, that were given to us from the hospital. I also have my own locker, there is a big changing room for students that is filled with lockers, very convenient.

The Italian nursing school has very strict rules about the practice. It's not good if we do over 8h a day, but I had to because otherwise I wouldn't complete my hours that are needed for my school in Estonia. The shief nurse comes to the department every day to check if we are dressed right and not wearing a T-shirt under our uniform that isn't white; that we are not sitting; that we are not eating or looking at our mobile phone etc. etc.

So this is a brief overview about my hospital life. Now I have to go because I'm working in the afternoon shift. When there will be a bad weather day I will write again about my life outside the hospital and also add some pictures. But until then...I wish you all the best and stay safe!

Maarja, from Rimini, Italy