Heres another long one

Friday:
This was my last day at the dementia day care center. Today I really learned the difficulty of medication compliance in this population. It began when one of the guests came with the wrong medication for lunch, it was marked for a date in November, this could have been his fault or the fault of homecare, but he had the wrong medication. Then at breakfast, one of the guests took his medication that wasn’t due until noon. About an hour later, a few pills were found sitting on the table with no idea whose pills they were. It was a difficult day for compliance with drugs. One of the patients also became rather upset when some of the visitors were leaving. There was one lady who knew English quite well and was very nice to talk with. Also, Friday is a musical day and they bring out the piano and a few of the guests play the piano. It is quite nice. It was funny because a lot of the songs were familiar and I knew the English versions, especially the Christmas songs. Then we got comparing nursery rhymes and whatnot, it’s so funny how much is the same.
At night, I went to visit a new friend Natalie in Vasteras. I took the free bus there and was able to do my ethics homework on the way and while I waited for her at the train station, I felt pretty good about my work ethic. That night I finally got to curl my hair! Yay for styling objects. Then her friends came over and we listened to a lot of music on Spotify, mostly we had the same tastes and I was introduced to some music! All I can say is Swedish House Mafia is pretty sweet. I never knew who they were but I definitely recognized some of the songs, they are big here, obviously. There was a Halloween party at the student pub, we were going to go but the line was too long when we got there. That was the most Halloween costumes I had seen so far in Sweden. So instead we went to a place they knew the bartender and danced to hip hop music all night. It was so fun and I made a few friends.
Saturday:
This day I woke up and explored Vasteras. I walked all around and did a bit of shopping! Vasteras is really pretty, it feels like a big city because everyone is walking around on the streets going places and shopping. I went to a few stores that are pretty popular here in Sweden. Gina tricot and Vila…. I would compare them to our express and a little more expensive version of forever 21. At Gina, I got a cute dress. At Villa, I got black skinny pants, a lacy dress, a sweet peacock feather belt, and a gray blouse. I can’t wait to wear all my new Swedish clothes; I will feel so European hehehe! So then I took the bus back to Eskilstuna.
That night I met up with Hanna at Bella’s place and we just chilled and hung out with some of her friends, Robin and Johan. Then we met Bella and her friends Michaela and Johanna. They went to a concert Moneybrother and we were going with them to the aftershow. I would recommend listening to Moneybrother, I have been listening to a few of his songs and they are pretty good. Kind of have an OAR feel to them. It was a great time that night, but only one person had dressed up for Halloween. He was a smurf, and I thought I saw a Snookie, but Bella informed me she always dresses like that. I’m sorry, but don’t wear a leopard print dress and super high poof on Halloween night unless you are trying to be a snookie. I was in a bit of a culture shook there because the music was crazy with all of the strobe lights, smoke, and tambourines! It was interesting and fun. Bella and I danced the whole night!
Sunday
Nothing happened, I was lazy and chilled in the ghetto. I think it was the first Sunday in ages I haven’t gone and done something. It was nice to relax, but super depressing, really made me miss good ol Sunday funday with all of my friends. Also, there was a time change, I thought I changed my clock at night which I did but now it’s like I am only 5 hours ahead of the US. So then I got confused and changed my clock again the next day after I almost missed skyping with my mom.
Monday
I showed up one hour early to clinical. I really messed up the time change. At least I was an hour early instead of an hour late. I was a Vardcentral, a community health clinic in Skiftinge. Skiftinge is very hard to pronounce, it is like no word you would ever hear in the English language. I really am not sure which is more ghetto, Årby or Skiftinge. All I can say is the walk from Årby to Skiftinge is quite scary. Its about a mile long and you have to walk thru Årby, under the freeway, up a big hill, through the woods, into the creepiest tunnel in the whole world, though a truck stop area, past a grocery store, into a broken down shopping center and then finally you are there. I have taken pictures to document this entire journey which I will soon post on facebook. It is most certainly interesting.
Clinical itself was wonderful once it got started. The whole staff there is awesome! Lotta and Maria are my preceptors, but I will get to follow a few different people. First, Maria gave me a tour. The clinic has a lot to offer. There is a family center that takes care of babies, children, and pregnant women. Then there is a lab and pharmacy. They have occupational and physical therapists with a big workroom. The is an asthma specialist, nurses that specialize in heart care, diabetes, and incontinence. There is a psychologist, as well as nurses and doctors. A lot of district nurses work there. They are similar to nurse practitioners in the United States. They see patients, diagnose them, treat them, and prescribe medication. They work together with the doctors sometimes, but a lot of the time they are their own separate entity and do their own thing.
On Monday, I did office hours with Lotta. Lotta specializes in incontinence nursing in addition to being a district nurse. We did some wound dressings at first. Some were for people with edema in the legs or for diabetics with foot sores that wouldn’t heal. She gave a lot of vitamin B12 injections; B12 is a common deficiency here in Sweden. I even got to take some staples out of a young man who had gotten a hip replacement after falling off a balcony. That was my first time taking out staples. It was fun and I learned a lot even though many of the patients spoke little or no English. That can be the most frustrating part.
Tuesday
This was a very long day at the clinic. In the morning I did office hours with Lotta again. There were many patients who needed injections, dressings, and blood pressure readings. Lotta even gave a patient IV iron. She is a really good nurse who has a lot of respect from here patients. She also has her own Yoga studio in Eskilstuna and spends a lot of time there as well. She is currently doing a study with an American doctor on the effects of Yoga in asthma patients. She has a test group that meets in her studio. I thought this kind of research was really cool and interesting. I love how she combines her two interests together.
In the afternoon, I helped with the flu vaccination clinic. For four weeks during October and November, every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, the nurses run an influenza vaccine clinic. Between two rooms, we gave 149 vaccines in two and a half hours. It is really busy and fast paced. One nurse documents and the other administers the injections. After a little while, they let me give the shots. I probably gave about 30 or 40 flu shots today. It was good practice. The time went by really fast.
I met up with Hanna and Cath this evening to get dinner and go bowling. It was really fun aside from the fact I am a terrible bowler. I think I got the lowest score in both games. Cath is pretty awesome at bowling. So when we went to leave I totally thought I lost my bank card and dumped out my whole purse and pockets and everything. I could not find it I went through everything like 10 times. So I called my parents and had them cancel it. Later on that night I was rechecking my wallet again and remembered the little cell phone slot. Of course it was in there, so now I have to go through all the trouble of getting a new card. I am such an idiot. At least Hanna and her friend Pontus could laugh with me about it. Hanna and Pontus came to visit Årby and found out just how glamorous my lifestyle is. I truly think they were horrified with my apartment. They thought it looked like a hospital room, which it does. I mean my toilet is for the disabled and there is no shower curtain. Hanna wants me to put up a big poster of Jake from twilight. Haha, I definitely think that would make this room much better.
Wednesday
Today was another long day at the clinic. In the morning I did office hours with Maria. We took a lot of blood pressures, dressed wounds, and she educated clients with diabetes. Maria is a really good teacher. She explains things really well and is patient. She wants me to do a lot of patient interaction and to be involved in treatment. I really learned the issues diabetics face with their feet over the last few days. One man had a sore on his foot that had been there for 4 years. Because of the poor circulation, it takes forever to heal and they come into the clinic maybe once or twice a week to have their dressings changed. I can only stress to all the diabetics the importance of proper foot care. I love when the patients try to talk to me even when they have almost no English. It makes their visit much better. Sometimes, when the nurses are doing a lot of education I get really bored because I can only understand a few words of what they are saying. I guess I hadn’t expected such a big language barrier when I came here. It really has been quite the learning process.
This evening, Hanna was a huge help. She helped me figure out all of my buses and getting to Berlin. I am really excited to be going there this weekend. I want to see the Berlin wall, this huge palace Charolotte (sp?), a few museums, some bunkers from the war, and maybe a walking or bus tour. Berlin is one of those cities that everyone has heard about and I can’t wait to see it. Just think, not too long ago, I think like 20 some years, Berlin was divided by a huge wall, now it is a one city. I wonder if there will still be a definite divide between the East and West. So heres to German food!
Random thoughts:
1. I am in love with Sweden’s healthcare system. We need to change healthcare in America and have equal treatment for everyone. I think everyone deserves to be healthy regardless of their financial status. I am becoming a nurse to help people and that shouldn’t be restricted because they can’t pay. Hopefully, I will see this change in a lifetime.
2. Because of the high Swedish taxes, something like 32%, they get to go to college for free! This I am extremely jealous of.
3. Recycling is so big here. They recycle so much and are really leaving less of an impact globally. It makes me want to focus more on recycling. My family recycles at home, but outside of my house I don’t really recycle much.
4. I have already been here for a week and a half and I can’t believe it. I haven’t had a TV this entire time and it really hasn’t even bothered me. I feel like I had been watching less and less TV anyways. I have also been away from my cell phone and constantly texting. It’s amazing what you can live without and what you become so dependent on.
5. I can’t believe I am actually keeping up with my schoolwork online. It’s probably because of the lack of distractions previously mentioned.
6. Checked out the Ohio governor election and see that Kaisch won, I will be interested to see what changes happen in Ohio. Hopefully for the better for the citizens, especially jobs and economy.
7. We need Spotify in the US pronto!
8. Can’t wait for Berlin!
9. Yay for Liz coming next week!
10. Yay for Åland cruise in two weeks!
To my friends and family, love and miss you all but I am making a ton of friends here. Being here has really opened my eyes and to draw from some Capital nursing content, has made me more culturally competent.
Cheers!
Holly