Thursday, November 17, 2005

Where I work





I am a nurse on Kwajalein. I came from a large Cardiac Unit (CCCU) at The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu. Our unit was beautiful with state of the art equipment, a large staff, and all the tools needed to do anything that needed to be done.

Kwajalein Hospital has a 2 bed ER, 2 bed ICU, one L&D room, one Operating room and 3 patient rooms (2 double rooms and one triple occupancy room). Quite different than Stateside hospitals. Healthcare in this remote setting comes with its own set of unique challenges; the unavailablity of medications, supplies, equipment.... running out of medications, limited flights that arrive and depart the island, and long flight times to large medical facilities are just some of the challenges. I must say, the staff here are excellent and everyone here makes due with what is available. Creativity ensues!

Photos:
Patient Room (yep, that is 3 to a room!)
Nurses Station. The windows in the back lead into the 2 bed ICU
Kwaj Hospital ER
Kwaj Hospital ICU

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great pictures of where you work. It's funny how certain things look the same no matter where you are.