Tuesday 6 March 2012

6th March 2012

This is just a mini post of what I did during my few hours of volunteering on the 28/2/12.

It was a fun day, I actually learnt some things. I shadowed a HCA (Health Care Assistant), he taught me about taking the patients obs like blood pressure, pulse, oxygen concentration in blood which is taken by a machine (can't remember what its called). I also learnt how to get blood sugar levels. After, I observed him get these stats into the patients' notes.

I also saw that when a patient first arrives at the hospital, they need to be tested for MRSA (meticillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, a superbug) so swabs are taken from the nose - both nostrils - mouth and between the legs (the groin area). This is because it is often carried on the skin, inside the nostrils and the throat and can cause mild infections of the skin, such as boils and impetigo.
If staph bacteria get into a break in the skin, they can cause life-threatening infections, such as blood poisoning orendocarditis (an infection of the inner lining of the heart).

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