[cathlab&SICU]

hey family and whoever else reads this :)
i spent my last two days in other parts of the "heart center". instead of staying on the critical cardiac unit(CCU)/ interventional unit as i had been doing, i went to the cath lab and the cardiac surgical icu for more of an observational time.
monday was the cath lab, which i find really interesting and fascinating. it is amazing to see the heart beat and the cardiac vessels fill with blood (or in most of these people's case, not fill with blood). i came across two very interesting observations. one- consent and autonomy. although the procedure is consented prior to the intervention, they have to re-consent if stents are needed. this consent is obtained from the family, who has the "say". although the patient designates this family member and probably discusses this prior to the intervention; the patient and the family must both consent for interventions/ surgeries. it's kind of hard to explain. in the US, the principle of autonomy applied to consents means that the patient themselves determine consent. obviously this can change in emergencies, for minors, etc. second, they don't use anesthesia (no biggie), just a little local. but they don't give pain meds or versed or anything like that! ahhhhh. hi. if you are coming at me with a needle to poke my neck, wrist, or groin artery, don't expect me to sit calmly, you better give me something to relax me first. they were saying that patients don't have much pain. but one of the patients i watched grimaced every time that they moved something. anyway, that's my rant.
the surgical cardiac icu was soooo neat! we saw a patient that just had a CABG be returned to the unit, which was quite interesting. the other thing i have observed in these units is that they don't have a cardiac rehabilitation. so, today in my presentation, i focused on that quite a bit.
today, we had case study presentations for the nurse managers, preceptors, and nursing students. there was about 50 people, no pressure. i discussed AMI, cardiac assessments, and cardiac rehabilitation. the nurse managers noted that the assessment is something that lacks in nursing here and were glad that i gave a demonstration on my lovely assistant jordan. it went well. here is a shot of me demonstrating a cardiac assessment and then of the audience.

for now here is a picture from sunday afternoon lunch on hefang street :)

hope all is well for you :)
thank you for all your prayers :)