136. Takeo Five: Local Support

We try to bring our own supplies, personnel and meds, but are still rely on local facilities for OR rooms postop beds, and night nurses (I haven't seen any teams bring their own nurses for care of postop patients at night).

This hospital had the best night nurses I have worked with: reliable, knowledgeable, and good at documenting their care. The ORs have relatively new anesthesia machines (which means ability to monitor heart rate, oxygenation, and flow of anesthesia gasses). Overall, better facilities and support than I have seen elsewhere.

Interesting bed, you're thinking, but where's the mattress?  See the straw mat--that's it. And note the stacked porcelin dishes under the bed--families bring food.  Finally, the red pail? A chamber pot.  Yes, a chamber pot; patients stand up and pee at the side of the beds, which are of course in open wards. There is a squat toilet down the hall, but for postop patients not yet able to walk that far, if they can just stand at the side of the bed, they use the pot. When you think about it, not that much different from the bed side commode we use in the States.  Sit or squat, behind a curtain, or not, it's all relative.