Mission to Cambodia 2014
from Karen Smith, Nursing student

Today we went to the Sihanouk hospital. Here half of us did check-off for the nurses in the hospital. Check offs was a type of memorization on a certain nursing process and skill. The five check offs we did were diabetes, pain, SBAR, Confidentiality and drug calculation. The nurses only have one check off a year, it is a big deal for them and they study very hard. It is all in English so many are more nervous about speaking the English correctly than knowing the skills. Everyone, however, had really excellent English. It was great to interact with them in this setting. Knowing as nursing students we have been in their shoes countless times.

The other half of the students were placed in different units of the hospital to have a clinical rotation. Many of us had great opportunities such as performing blood draws, starting IV’s, suctioning, nursing documentation, and much more. It was such an encompassing experience in just a short time. The nurses were eager to have us and teach us. Everyone got to do both the clinical rotation and the check offs depending on where you were in the morning. So it was a great opportunity for everyone.

It was a long day but a great day working in the hospital and interacting with some wonderful and skilled nurses. We all enjoyed the fried vegetables for lunch. We also got to experience sticky rice and mango for dessert that night. It was a treat!