RLE 20 - Group 1 - Community Health Nursing's First Exposure in the Community

RLE 20 - Community Health Nursing, Group 1

Our first hands-on exposure to the community is a very, very, very challenging one. This time, it is really true, real, vibrantly on-the-spot and excitingly a challenge.

As we, the Group 1 of RLE 20 - Community Health Nursing under Prof. Fredelina S. Chua and with our Practicing Clinical Instructor, Ms. Nhestly Abejero are on-duty in the community in our Community Health Nursing (RLE 20) subject, we are challenged, excited and as well as happy to have really witnessed and applied what we have learned from the principles, theories, concepts, information and ideas out from reading the Nursing books in actual performance with the pregnant mothers who are having their pre-natal visit in the Barangay Puntod, Health Center in Purok 4, Cagayan de Oro City.

RLE 20 - Community Health Nursing, Group 1

We were divided into 3 groups. Imee Joy Abugotal, Imee Rose Capito, Eudz Dadula and Liezl Cuanan (Group 1) are assigned in receiving the pregnant mothers in their visit in the health center through asking for their personal information as they get the LMP (last mentrual period), AOG (age of gestation), weighing as well as getting the blood pressure. They are tasked also to fill-out the forms as they have asked questions to the patients as well. They are stationed outside the center, near the door. Me, Erul Conales and Cylyn Cagasan are assigned to have the IM (intramuscular injection), giving the TT (tetanus toxoid) vaccine to pregnant women and to those who are being infected with tetanus. There are 2 kids and a young man whom we give TT shots because they are infected with tetanus as the Nurse tasked us to do. Pretzel Abao, Julie Ann Bonono and Jacquilyn Blanco are tasked to perform the Leopold's Manuever and to identify the Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) of the fetus inside the womb of the mother using the doppler.

With all the procedures that we have performed in the community, we are trained by our professional instructors. There is also the Barangay Health Nurse, the Barangay Health Workers together with our Clinical Instructor and our Practicing Clinical Instructor who assist us in doing the task to the patients. We don't directly do the procedure unless our Instructor will tell us. We follow what is really the right thing.We observed aseptic technique all the time.

Thursday is scheduled for the pre-natal visit of the pregnant women and Friday is the schedule for "labor day". There are numerous pregnant women who went in the health center and so, we never mind taking our snacks because we will prioritize our patient in accommodating them as we don't know how many of them are going for their check-up. One can't be able to think of taking his snack especially when all of us are taking turns in assessing them. We are all busy. We are all working.

At the end of the day, we repeatedly and countlessly express that the first exposure that we have in the community indeed challenged and even pursues us like we don't want to stop our work because we are totally glad and very, very, very much happy. It is a nice feeling that when the patients leave the center, they never forget their "Thank you" to us and it makes us really proud of ourselves that indeed we have the potential to perform the procedure as licensed nurses do, as professional nurses do. We are delighted and very much inspired to perform our task well. Though it can't be denied that at first we are trembling, but we never let the feeling of fear dominantly taking our day out. We stand very confident and vigorously conquer our fear that we never tremble. We faced the patients with a smile on the face, clipped our trembling hands at the side of our body and accommodatingly be courteous to our them.

All of us, as we gathered in the Nursing lobby as we returned to school, no other words are coming out from our mouth but only "Wow. Daghan gyd kog natun-an karon nga adlaw. Tsada man diay gyd ang feeling pag e-apply na atong natun-an."

The experience that we had, added more to our knowledge and enhancement of our skills to further bring excellence into the whole world. We can't forget this day, the day of our first, ultimate actual exposure in the community. We are all happy, feeling the boost of confidence and worth that we too can be great professionals even though we are just Student Nurses.