Blog #2: Lauren Sarmiento

While I didn’t know what to expect at the clinics and hospitals here in Panama, I couldn’t help but imagine that the health care system was probably completely different than what I am accustomed to in the United States. The USF College of Nursing lab prepared us to expect needles without safety features, ampules full of medicine, and different methods of injection. With this in mind, I told myself to have a completely open-mind and be ready to learn their equipment and techniques as efficiently as I can. However, while my experiences were fairly different in comparison, they were decently alike at the same time, and I was pleasantly surprised.

We spent four days at a clinic last week and all rotated throughout the various stations. Let me begin by saying that I have never working in a community or public health setting before, so I don’t have an exact idea to compare it with, but my experience was better than I imagined. While the language barrier is rather difficult to overcome, the nurses really trusted us and we were able to show off our Bull Nurse skills! We performed countless vaccinations, injections, assessments, and wound care. We also spent three days at the local hospital this week and rotated throughout the ER, OR, and ICU. My experiences here were just as remarkable as my experiences at the clinic, and I truly learned a lot about the health care system in Panama. At the same time, I was able to lend assistance to the nurses and practice many of my skills, such as injections, nebulization therapies, intravenous catheter placement, medication administration, and more. I also learned a great deal from the nurses, doctors, and medical interns, not only about medicine in general, but also about how the health care system is run in Panama and the various jobs each health care provider is expected to perform. I am surprised that the nursing scopes of practice here are fairly different from those in the U.S. For example, nurses in Panama are unable to perform certain skills in the hospitals that we, as nursing students, were able to perform our first and second semesters. These skills include foley catheterization and nasogastric tube placement. At the same time, Panamanian nurses are able to perform other skills and assessments that are out of the scope of practice of nurses in the United States. For example, nurses here are able to see perinatal women up to 25 gestational weeks, whereas in the U.S., these women would be seen by physicians or nurse practitioners. For this reason, we were able to perform skills that nurses would not typically be able to perform back in the U.S, such as some women’s health assessments and screenings. 

On a different note, as I expressed earlier, the medical equipment in Panama is fairly different in certain aspects. When I went to perform an accucheck on a patient, I was surprised by the fact that in order to withdraw the blood from the patient’s finger, you are to poke them with an injection needle instead of the designated, handy-dandy pricks we use back home. Another example is what the College of Nursing prepared us for, needles without safety features. In order to handle these correctly, you must either discard the needle promptly after the injection or recap the needle (which scares me to the highest degree!). Yet, while they may not have all of the advanced, specialized equipment we would typically use, they make do with what they have and it works almost exactly the same! I really do admire the Panamanians for being so resourceful.

My experiences in the clinics and hospitals were better than I imagined. I felt very welcomed by all of the health care providers and they were fabulous teachers. It really is a once in a lifetime experience to be able to travel to another country and work among the natives who are in the nursing profession. I am saddened that our time at the clinics and hospital seemed fairly short, but I am truly grateful for the wonderful experiences! I am excited to see what the third, and final, week has in store for us!

Written by: Lauren Sarmiento