After three weeks at the cardiac unit and the holiday in Beijing we started our practical training at the neurosurgical ward this Monday. The ward is in the building 7 at the seventh floor. The ward consists of about 40 patient beds and NICU – Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit. In NICU there are about 14 patients. The total amount of patients is about the same than in the cardiac unit. The first day was just presentations, procedure videos and getting to know the ward, our supervisor and two students who are helping and tutoring us in the ward – Viv and Abby (those are of course their English names). Viv and Abby were really nice and they talked with us without saying “Oh no, I’m so bad at English” all the time. It was really nice for exchange. Miika was at the NICU and the rest of us were at the ward. We just observed the nurses and asked questions about the nursing in their department. They sure use drugs and i.v. medications more than in the cardiac unit. Most of the patients are in very bad condition and it’s physically harder to treat them.

Because Outi got sick on Tuesday and wasn’t in the practical training on Wednesday either, the writing is from Miika’s point of view. Miika observed different kinds of procedures with his tutor, for example tracheostomy and lumbal puncture. He thought that the tracheostomy was very terrifying because the doctor only had sterile gloves and a mask when he did the procedure. He also thought that the patient didn’t get enough medication and felt pain and the doctor was sweating all over the patient’s tracheostomy wound. Pretty disgusting! At the ward the doctor gives prescriptions to the patient’s family and relatives and they get the medication from a pharmacy. That means family members etc. have to pay all of the medicines themselves and that’s expensive. After the lunch break Miika watched videos about basic care.