Learning in a Technology-Advanced Society

As a US migrant nurse, there are a lot of things that I had to adjust to. Although I already practiced in a hospital which boasts of being hi-tech and fully equipped with state of the arts facilities, it was still different when I came here.

All nurses in the floors and ICUs have computer monitors which they just push and pull around as they do their rounds. Charting is done through this monitor. When they give medications, they scan patient's wristbands which has a barcode on it and then scans the medicine to ascertain that the right drug is given to the right patient at the right dose, time and route. I had to attend a one-day course, learning a computer software which one of the hospitals used.

As for the medicines that we give to patients, I had to get my fingerprint into the computer system called Pyxis so I can have access to the drugs. The process goes this way: the doctor writes down the order, the nurse scans the order sheet to the pharmacy, the pharmacist checks on the order to make sure that the patient is getting the right dose and has no medicine which interacts with the new drug as well as no history of allergy for that particular ordered drug. The drug is then encoded into the patient's computerized record so that it is made accessible in the system. There are drug stations for each unit which they call Pyxis. I automatically charges these medicines to the patient as soon as I get the medicines out of the Pyxis using a username and my fingerprint as "password".

There is also one hospital which is more advanced than the rest. The medical supplies are located in a central supply room in each floor. To gain access to the room, you need an ID badge which you swipe into this machine by the door. Inside the room, there is a scanner which you use to scan into the buttons which represents patient's rooms so it gets charged to the right patient, then you scan the buttons on the boxes containing the supplies which you will be using for the patient.

Sending blood specimen to the lab is just as fast. We just put the test tubes in a canister which we dock inside a pod. We press the key (e.g. LAB) where we want the specimen sent. This goes through the wall and we call it "tubing the specimen down to the lab". One hospital would also tube blood packs for transfusion using this system as well. Request for blood therefore takes only a couple of minutes. Laboratory results are also out in the computer system within an hour.

Another thing that I noticed also is that all nurses have their own hospital phones. When I needed to endorse back the patient to the unit, I simply call the unit secretary and she connects me to the phone of the nurse who is in charge of the patient. Sometimes, the nurse would leave her phone number so I could call her directly.

There are a lot of other gadgets which I had to orient myself with, because I never got to handle these in my own country. A basic one would be figuring out how to operate a bed with all its many features and functions. It had to be demonstrated to us. And all these technological advancements are supposed to provide better quality of care to the patients.

But one thing which I am really thankful about, amidst all these technological confusions and challenges is that people here make you feel that it is alright to be a little ignorant, it is alright to ask, it is alright to admit that you do not know. And that makes a lot of difference in my adjustment as a technologically-challenged nurse. Without judgment, I was accepted and understood.

And rarely do I see patients look down on a new nurse. They were encouraging. I even had one patient apologizing to me because I had difficulty sticking a needle on her. She said she was sorry for making my job difficult, as though it was her fault! And when I finished doing the dialysis, she was very generous with her words of appreciation. Then I realize that when it comes to showing appreciation, I was stingy. I am more vocal about criticism rather than appreciation. And so I came to learn to verbalize words of gratitude as well. I learned to be more generous with kind words. I then realized that I have improved my quality of care to my patients not so much from the technology that was available to me, but more from the kindness and appreciation that I learned from them.

Winter Running

I looked out and saw the sun shining. It seemed like a nice and warm day but I know looks can be deceiving because I saw from the SUV's thermostat that the temperature outside is 27F. I won't even bother converting it to Celsius because I know that it is going to give me a negative number. And any negative number multiplied to a positive number will still give you a negative result. If you belong to my generation, you would have remembered that TV jingle "subtract 32 from degrees Fahrenheit, the result keep it in mind. When you multiply that by 5 over 9 and you'll get Celsius just fine".

I promised myself that I will not let the winter season keep me from running. I've been thinking of going to the clubhouse to try that treadmill but I never got to doing it. Now, my brother-in-law and my husband decided to run and I thought, why not join them? It's gonna be my first time to run this season. It will surely be something to write about.

I donned four layers of shirt and three layers of pants. These should keep me warm. As I stepped out of the SUV, I smiled and looked at the vast expanse of white snow before me. I covered my nose and face with a scarf to keep the the air that I breathe in warm. I am very prone to hyperreactive airway and could not stop coughing if cold air gets into my airways. I wanted to keep a slow, steady pace so I was prepared to run alone as my husband and brother-in-law also wanted to run their own paces. After 1 mile, my Running Mate was already beside me. I guess that is the value of running in solitude and that is why I do not mind running alone anymore.

I had a huge prayer intention and I discussed it with Him. In the past, I would usually offer my sufferings and sacrifices for my petitions but now I cringe at the thought of it. This was a huge one and I fear that I may have to suffer and sacrifice a great deal just to have this prayer answered. But He shook His head and told me. "I do not need your sacrifice and sufferings. I need your acts of love. And you know what I mean."

I sighed with great relief. For I saw what He meant. The memory came rushing back like a movie rerun.

It happened two days ago, when I was giving dialysis to a difficult patient. I am usually kind and smiling to my patients, wanting to make the few hours I spend with them a very pleasant experience. But this time, it was difficult to put a smile on my face. And so I just performed my task without looking at him. He was just a patient and I was just a nurse doing my job in a functional manner. Then suddenly I stopped and looked at his face. I "saw"Jesus looking back at me on the bed, getting the dialysis. My heart softened. Now, this Man I know and I care about, this Man I can show great kindness and warm regard. And I did, without much effort. At the end of the dialysis session, when I looked at the man again and saw the patient and not Jesus anymore, he was a transformed man. His attitude towards me changed. I saw gratitude. It was a lesson taught by the Great Teacher. He taught me the easiest way to perform acts of love especially when I feel so unloving. And this is just what He is asking of me in order for Him to work on my petition... perform acts of love.

The thing about God is that He wants us to participate in His works. That is why some prayers are answered fast and some are not because some people are more willing to participate while others are more passive.

As I made my turn on the way back to the car, I passed by the huge tree which used to be clad in colorful hues of autumn. Now it was bare and naked. When you are running in solitude, it can be pretty natural to talk with nature also. So I greeted the tree (of course, just in mind) which still stood tall despite its dreary appearance. "Hi, Mr. tree. Don't worry, you will soon have your leaves back and I am looking forward to seeing your beauty again in a different form come Springtime."

Seasons change. Nothing remains the same forever. There are times when we have to shed some of our leaves, give up some things, let go of some people in our lives only to make room for new growth, new colors, new beginnings. We can easily adapt to changes if we open ourselves to it. I left the SUV and started my run clad on my blue fleece jacket with the mask on my mouth and nose. I ended my run with my fleece jacket knotted on my waist and my mask on my neck. I was breathing cold air without difficulty. I completed my 8km (5 miles) in subzero temperature. I have crossed that mysterious zone of winter running. I have discovered a new way of praying through acts of love.

Then I realized that there is still so much more to be discovered. There is still so much more that my Running Mate can teach me. I only have to run out and open myself to it, abandon my fears and embrace His ways.

Winter Adventure and Misadventure

My day started at 5:00am when the alarm clock rang. I was on duty today. I have showered the evening before so I just brushed my hair and dressed up in my 2 layers of thermal clothes before donning on my scrub suits. Breakfast for today: just coffee and Nutella sandwich. While munching on my meal, I boiled some water to cook noodles for the kids. At exactly 5:30 am the phone rang. Who could be calling this early? It was an automated phone message from the principal of the school of my 4-year-old daughter announcing that the school will be closed today due to severe weather conditions. Shortly thereafter, I received another call from the principal of my 9-year-old daughter. Another automated phone message announcing the same thing. So much for the warm breakfast noodles. Who knows what time the kids will wake up?

My husband turned on the TV to the weather channel. A snow storm will hit the city by noon according to the meteorologist. I hurriedly kissed him goodbye. Better to have an early start if I wanted to be home by noon. There was no trace of snow on my drive to the hospital but by 9am, it started to fall. I only had one patient to dialyze for the day and no add-on. By 1 pm I had already finished cleaning up and was leaving the hospital complex. When I opened my car door, I was wondering why there was a cover on my windshield. I then realized it was all covered with snow. For the first time I took hold of the brush scraper and started brushing off the snow. It was soft and feather light. I looked around and seeing that no one was around, I grabbed a handful and tasted it. It just melted in my mouth like some kind of cotton candy!

As I drove home, I made sure I was way below the speed limit. I was driving only at 40 miles per hour for the speed limit of 55. All the other cars were doing the same. I saw one car, not an uncommon sight, parked on the shoulder of the road... another casualty of the weather. I had my first taste of snow driving a day before and though it was really scary because I could not see the marks on the road, I was able to survive it without any accident.

Now, I felt the road was less dangerous because I was driving in broad daylight compared the other day. Then as I was approaching the stoplight some 500 meters ahead, it suddenly turned to yellow. Remembering my husband's advice to pump on the brakes a couple of times and not hit it hard all at one time, I did as instructed. I carefully pump on the brake. To my surprise, I felt the front wheel skidding to the left and my rearwheel skidding to the right. I released the brake immediately and turned the steering wheel to the right. Then I pumped on the brake lightly again, seeing the red traffic light looming ahead. The front wheel was now skidding to the right and the rearwheel to the left. Instinctively, I turned the wheel to the left now as adrenaline was rushing to my head. I felt myself zigzagging and was not sure if I could really make it just before the intersection. I was now holding my breath saying my prayers real hard. Just as I saw the barely visible line demarcating where to stop, I pumped on the brakes again and to my huge relief, the SUV just halted just at the margin of the line. I looked to my left. Fortunately there was no car on the middle lane. When I looked at the right, the red car behind me skidded to the shoulder and went through the intersection despite the red light. I was shocked. He could have hitted me from behind! I was still wide-eyed from shock as I fumbled for my cellphone and called my husband. I just needed to talk to someone. "I skidded! I skidded!"

I was glad I had my bluetooth on so I was able to talk to him, debriefing myself from that "near-miss" as I drove the rest of the slippery road going home. I was now just going at 20-3o miles per hour. Then the tricky downslope came to my sight. There was a truck to my left and a couple of cars in front and behind me. I could not skid again this time or surely it will be a huge accident for all of us. As I descended slowly, I felt my car gaining momentum. He adviced me to use the manual control to shift to a lower gear. I did and then I slowly half-stepped on the brake dreading to feel the wheels skidding again. It did not. I survived the downhill alive! Finally, I arrived home and saw a couple of kids sledding on the hilly part of the compound.

I was definitely shaken badly by the driving experience that I took on the kids' invitation to play in the snow. After eating lunch, we all dressed up warmly and headed to the backyard and played to our hearts' delight. We made snow angels and threw snow balls. But the best part of it all was just lying on our backs, looking at the snowflakes falling from the white sky and catching it with our tongue. There on the soft bed of cool snow, I felt safe and embraced by God.