Day 11: A little education goes a long way

“Let us be the ones who say we do not accept that a child dies every three seconds simply because he does not have the drugs you and I have. Let us be the ones to say we are not satisfied that your place of birth determines your right for life. Let us be outraged, let us be loud, let us be bold.” ― Brad Pitt

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Many patients are nervous during a medical checkup but I’ve seen this the most so far in OB/Gyn (which certainly deals with sensitive topics). Today’s shadowing experience was spent away from Memorial at a women’s clinic with Mrs. Kim Low (a nurse practitioner). This would be the first time that I would be shadowing someone that wasn’t a doctor and the day was going to be jammed pack with patients. Mrs. Low was only a year out of her nurse practitioner program at Clemson but all her expertise in nursing was evident with every patient that she visited. There was a lot of autonomy that came with the job and only once, at the very end of the day, did Mrs. Low consult one of the doctors regarding a complicated case. Aside from the nurse helping her with pelvic exams she had complete authority in every other patient interaction.

The environment at the clinic was absolutely fantastic and I could tell that many of the patients had developed relationships with the staff over the years. The majority of the patients that we saw that day were pregnant women and the Mrs. Low went on to tell me that her favourite part of her job was all of the education she was able to do with mother’s and young women. Not all of the patients that we saw were pregnant but many of the procedures that Mrs. Low preformed were repetitive but she was always adjusting small things for each individual patient. Aside from the pelvic exams I was also able to see several IUD placements, different birth control consultations, discussing the management of menstrual cycles as well as the treatment and education for different STIs. There was also a special case where the mother and unborn child were under close observation because the umbilical chord only had one artery instead of two. Mrs. Low explained to me that this can lead to birth defects and other complications. Eventually, so long as the mother wanted to, they would perform genetic testing to see if there were any chromosomal abnormalities.

If there was one thing that I could take away from this experience today its that everyone needs healthcare. There was such a wide variety of women that came into the clinic today ranging from different ages, socioeconomic backgrounds and knowledge of their own bodies. In the end the most important thing is that each patient leaves knowing all of their options as well as understanding the pros and cons of each decision so that they can make their own educated decisions. There are a lot of changes happening now in healthcare but you take away a women’s ability of choice there is a whole domino affect of consequences that will occur.