A Unique Experience

Overall, I have really enjoyed and learned a lot of new things through volunteering at Ben Taub. I still am volunteering and will continue as long as I can. I really think the service learning aspect of this course really benefited and related to what I was learning in Microbiology, especially with our group project presentations [Influenza]. Through this experience, I was able to hold and feed an infant for the first time, which is an experience I will never forget. I also got a good feel of what it is like to work in a high pace hospital. Everyone is constantly busy and on their feet, there's hardly anyone that is not stuck with something to do. This experience also reinforced the fact even more about how much I really want to be a nurse! I love working with people and I like how their is literally something new and different every day. I will also be helping out at the hospital Christmas party in two weeks, which will include food and gifts for the younger patients. Ultimately, I'm excited to continue my volunteering at Ben Taub and start nursing school this summer! :D

Front Desk

One of my last volunteer shifts (shifts run at least 3 hours) I was asked to help out at the front "circulation" desk on the 3rd floor (which is the same floor I have been working on). Previously, I had done a lot with helping out in the nursery with restocking several items, making cribs, feeding and burping babies, etc. so I did not mind doing a little bit of clerical office work since they seemed like they really needed a lot of help catching up with certain things and I figured a little variety with my volunteer work wouldn't hurt. At the desk, there were two receptionists--both were very busy but one, Diane showed me that I was going to be preparing envelopes to mail. They had a lot of envelopes!! No wonder they needed a lot of help.. My job consisted of putting a letter in each envelope and making sure it sealed. At first it looked like I was going to have to lick a lot of envelopes, but they had a "envelope sticker" thing that kind of worked as a paste to close the envelope properly. I know this post isn't as interesting as the others, but I was glad I could help in any way I can in order to get things done. When Diane wasn't busy with people, she sat next to me and helped me with the envelopes. She was very grateful that I was able to help her and I was able to tell her all about the nursing program at UST and my interest in nursing. Diane was very interesting to talk to and I learned a lot from her about what it's like working at Ben Taub, so I'd say my volunteer shift for this day was pretty productive! Towards the end of my shift, I left the desk area and went inside the nursery to say hi to the nurses. The nurses I usually work with weren't even in the nursery, but I scrubbed in anyway so I could visit the babies. It was cold that day as well so I put hats on the babies that were in the nursery (as told by one of the nurses). One of the things volunteers can do in the hospital is to knit/crochet scarves, hats, etc. for the patients. This is something I am definitely interested in since I love making this sort of stuff! ---Overall, it was a pretty good day! :)

Baby J

My next shift at Ben Taub I was asked to help at the circulation desk for my unit (3rd floor) by another nurse, but literally five minutes later a lot of babies were placed in the nursery and my shadow nurse, Bella, asked me if I could help with the feeding and making the cribs instead. I made a few cribs and restocked the items from the supply room until everything was replenished. I love feeding the babies! So I was definitely excited again to get to hold and interact with the babies. The little infant I got to feed (Baby J) was extra hungry and adorable. As I was feeding him, I found out the mother did not want him. Obviously I was shocked and concerned, but the nurses informed me that this kind of situation does happen (not a lot, but it's also not rare either). Although I felt sad that the mother didn't want her baby, there is also a "bright" side in that he has the chance to be adopted by a loving family, hopefully. I was very grateful myself that I got to hold and feed Baby J so that he would have some human interaction and bonding. 
I fed and burped about 3 more babies until it was time for me to leave. I had to make more crib beds in between feeding but it was definitely a productive day! I wish Baby J the best! :*

Feeding!

My next hour I got to feed a few babies, which I have also never done before. The hospital strongly recommends for the mothers to breast feed their babies but some either choose not to breastfeed or cannot for some other reason. My first baby I fed was a very hungry little boy! The bottles of formula that have are about 55mL and he drank it all! Every 30 seconds or so I would stop the feeding to burp him so he won't spit up later. There were still lots of babies in the nursery, which most of them had to have the bottle feeding. Once the little boy was finished with the bottle, I let the nurse know how many milliliters he drank so she can record it in her records. This is important for them to record so they keep track how often they have been fed and to know that they should be urinating as well because it can be very dangerous if the baby does not urinate or defecate. I changed the baby's shirt and wrapped him in his blanket like a sausage (there is a special technique to wrapping the baby with the blanket so that it covers everything except the head and neck). Once I put the baby back in his crib, I had to tilt the crib at an upward angle to help ease his digestion. Next, I fed two more babies - another little boy and a girl, and burped them throughout the feeding. So many babies come in and out that they all have ankle bracelets that monitor where they are at in the hospital. If a baby leaves the 3rd floor without the bracelet deactivated, there is a special code for "missing" baby. On a rare occasion, someone may forget to properly discharge the patient so the alarm would go off. On an even more rare occasion, a mother, or even someone who is not the mother can try to leave with the baby, whether it is their baby or not. If the alarm goes off for this particular code, there is a lockdown in the hospital and no one can enter or exit the building until the baby is recovered. This hasn't occurred very often at Ben Taub, but it is one of the necessary procedures that most hospitals practice.

An Emotional Day

So..to be honest I have never held a infant before! Up until this day. I also have never changed a diaper or fed a baby before, but I figured I would eventually especially considering I am pursing nursery. When I arrived at my hospital shift, I immediately noticed that the nursery was nearly filled with babies and nurses and residents were busy with a particular baby. After I scrubbed in and was told to put on gloves, the nurse I typically shadow, Bella, told me I needed to hold one of the babies so it would stop crying because when one of the babies starts crying they all want to cry. So this little infant was the first infant I have ever held!! The nurse showed me how to properly support her head and cradle her so I can walk around with her to help her fall asleep. She was so cute and almost right away she stopped crying when I started walking around with her. She was still awake but I was so relieved she stopped crying because I can only imagine how it must be to be in working in a nursery filled with   crying babies. It was so sweet when she looked up at me and I held my finger near her hands and she grabbed it (I've seen pictures, etc. of this before and always thought it was so cute). I felt like this was an emotionally good day for me because I got to experience something new that I have never experienced before. I will definitely remember this for the rest of my life! I am actually kind of glad as well that I am getting more experience with babies before I am in actual nursing school. I know that most people probably already have experience so I sure am glad to have this opportunity as a volunteer to interact and help the babies in the nursery.

Babies!

So my next shift at the nursery I got to see lots and lots of babies! I was stationed in the regular nursery, and there is also an NICU nursery where premature babies and babies born with complications are held but I have yet to actually go in there. I started my shift off restocking the cribs and shelves. There were about 6 babies in the nursery at this time and it was so cute seeing all of the newborns. They were all either born that very same day or the day before.
I forgot to mention how much the staff emphasized the importance of washing our hands! Every time I enter the nursery I have to scrub in with a disposable sponge set and wash my hands very thoroughly. Also, whenever I take off my gloves, I would also have to wash my hands as well. There are posters all around the hospital to remind people to always wash your hands! There are also a few posters around about preparing for the flu season. The influenza virus is what my group collectively decided to do our brochure and presentations on.

Anyway, continuing my day at the nursery.. after I finished restocking the supplies I got to observe and shadow the nurses and a resident who were taking care of the infants. They would check their vital signs and made sure they were comfortable. After a while, another nurse, Daniela, showed my how to make a proper crib bed. With just a few tries, I was able to get the hang of it! Now I'm "skilled" in crib making. :) Once I learned how to do it myself, I had about 10 additional empty cribs to make. It is actually quite time consuming so once I finished making the cribs it was already time for me to go. I'm glad I got to learn how to make a hospital crib because I think it is something that I will eventually have to learn.

Next ---> An Emotional Day

First Day!

So my first day volunteering consisted of only 1 hour, but it was mostly familiarizing myself with my assigned post. From what I've heard, the maximum number of volunteer positions at BT are all filled, so I consider myself very lucky to have a spot. I was assigned (and still currently assigned) to the 3rd floor Nursery! I was so excited and nervous because even though I love little babies I have very little experience with them. A bulk of my time was spent getting to familiarize myself with the "stock room". This is a lot of what I will be doing as a volunteer in the nursery. I restock the nursery cribs and shelves with items such as blankets, bottles, formula, diapers, and clothes. All of these items come from a large stock room in the center of the floor. The first hour I spent flew by very fast because I am working in such a fast past environment, and the nurse that showed me around, Bella, was super busy so she kept me busy with restocking while she was busy going to the individual rooms to assess patients. There were no newborns in the nursery at the time I was there, which I was told was very rare, but I was only there a hour and I will definitely get to see them next time!


Next ---> Babies!