Spanish Town Hospital!!!!!

Dear Bloggers.....Good morning.....

Apologies for the late feeds..........I have been starting work at 7am.....and finding it very hard to concentrate in the evenings due to tiredness......I feel its the heat....it seems very draining and soon as I stop to sit down.....my eyes just start to close......I'm thinking along with the fact that I am putting on weight from the good food......it would not be a good idea to stay here too long......believe me when I say .....you would not recognise me when I got back.......My food intake each morning has been a mixture of......green banana, ackee and salt fish, fried dumpling, corn beef and hard dough bread, breadfruit....should I go on????Yes it has been nice.....but....I think cereal would be a good thing for me right now!!!

So as you can see from the title.....I visited Spanish town Hospital.....which is in a different Parish....MMMmmmmm. My lovely mentor met me at reception, I passed through the gates.....which may I add, was guarded by security....Fact!!!!May I remind you about the dress code in the Antenatal clinic.....It applys here too...He...he......No sleeveless tops....No short skirts or "Bottom riders" (there is another term....but though inappropriate!)....Only down side is.....IT IS SOOOOO HOT!!!!!
I was taken to the supervisors.......It's amazing how you can feel like a child when you are out of familiar territory...........I was greeted by one member of staff and looked at by another.....(I figure that having a person from a new country can almost make a person change the way they would normally do things????for example.....one of the supervisors seemed sooooo...let me put this tactfully....extra!!!with the way she was being....I think....is that really how you would be on a daily basis???It made me smile inside because it was like watching a comic sketch.....She seemed to be moaning about everything but in a comical way.....(I'm sure if she had known I was smiling inside....well lets put it this way....I don't think she would have been so accommodating...lol) A little friend, let me in to a little saying which made complete sense......"Empty barrels make the most noise".....love her xx
So getting back to this hospital....outside appeared very nice and inside seemed like it had new decor. I was orientated round by a Sis Graham who was the Clinical Supervisor for Maternity. We walked to the Antenatal ward which was comprised of 28 beds......(not much you think.....I have not finished...remember this please.....) Please bare in mind that this hospital is free......The ward has a very old look to it.....and very clinical setting...the walls are a mint green with tiled bluey grey shiny flooring......the beds are very...very old.....it felt like I had reverted back in time together with the nurses who were dressed all in white with a doiley looking nurse hat on......my question is....how comes I...who turned up in my blue trousers and black shoes...managed to get mud all up the back of my trouser legs as I went in....and every nurse who crossed paths with me had prestige white clean uniform on?????Twilight zone I think....lol.
Touching back on the topic of 28 Antenatal beds.....(single beds might I add...) I was made aware that sometimes the ward can be so full of women that they have to "double up!!!!"......yes you heard right.....one person at the top....and one at the bottom.....strangers in a single bed...AAARRRGGGHHHhhhhh.......couldn't see me doing it.....but needs must...I guess......furthermore....only two qualified staff on the ward......Girls.....no more complaints from u please about understaffed situations....lol...
Now on to the Postnatal ward......Same setting as antenatal ward......but guess how many beds????72 beds......and maybe 3 qualified staff on a good day....tut...tut....included in a room next to the ward, our version of a home from home room....(for mothers who have unfortunately had a miscarriage or stillborn child) consisting of 3 beds near each other.
Fact!!!!No birthing partners are allowed whilst a woman is in labour.....and there is no skin to skin with mother and baby????Furthermore......All women deliver laying down.....and yes I will go in to this at a later point.
The orientation continued to the Labour ward....where we had to change in to scrubs before we entered and where introductions were made.The Labour ward was again very clinical looking.....the labouring beds were close together with a shower type curtain dividing each.....but the women could see each others head if they really wanted too. The Nurses station was in the middle of the room.
The staff seemed very abrupt with the way care was administered.......previously a woman explained to me that when she was in labour at this hospital, she was making noise from the pain she was feeling from the contractions.....the midwife that was caring for her told her that I quote " me know you weren't making that noise when you were laying down and conceiving this baby....so don't make any now!!!!"....harsh words.....but the woman listened.....It seems like some of the staff are so over worked....or the kind of women they care for....has tainted their love for the job????
My mentor and I cared for a woman whilst she was in labour. The woman was very receptive to me as I talked to her and reassured her. There was a clear divide between the midwife and the patient here.....it was sad to experience.Once again could this be put down to a culture thing.....I don't think so!
Fact!!!!Diluted Savlon and Savlon....is used for almost every kind of cleaning in midwifery....i.e cleaning woman before a vaginal examination....cleaning equipment....etc.
Fact!!!!Once a woman becomes fully dilated, she is moved to the labour room.....where there is 2 beds. Once the woman delivers,her baby is put in a cot wrapped in a cover and placenta and membranes are completely delivered, the uterus is rubbed by the midwife to insure the uterus is well contacted, then the baby is taken and dressed. No skin to skin.

Good nite

Miss P xx