MSMV Group 30, Level III RHU-Centro, Peablanca Ms. JCC, R.N.

March 01, 02 & 03, 2010 LEARNING FEEDBACK DIARY Objectives: To hone us further into becoming more competent and caring nurses in the near future, in whatever particular nursing field we endeavor -to be able to appreciate the principles behind rural health nursing; -to reorient ourselves to the rural setting; -to apply the knowledge weve learned about rural health nursing and deliberate on how we can be able to extend our nursing care to the populace -to practice the necessary attitudes that a rural health nurse must have As students, we often take our rural health unit duties for granted. To be painfully honest, we envy our other colleagues who always have their hospital exposures. I myself thought that it is blatantly unjust that they were in their allwhite regalia, caring for real patients, and practicing the skills of a well-seasoned student nurse; while we are stuck here, majoring in vital signs taking. Discontented as it may seem, sometimes, being exposed in communities, RHUs and schools over and over again makes me wonder whether our Rotation Plan was really being rotated. It all seems just the same to me. I thought I have already learned everything I can from my simple, plain, boring community and RHU duties. But then again, I was proven wrong. Learning, as substantiated to me through our duty, is a continuous, lifelong process. One cannot just stop learning, because as long as the worlds vast dynamic knowledge wasnt still contained in a single vessel enclosed by the cranium (which was always the case), every single nanosecond would be an opportunity to learn. Learning is also dependent upon the learner and not entirely on the educator or the setting. It is our choice whether we allow ourselves to learn from the situations, the people and places, we are exposed to. And rural health nursing also presents the same opportunities for acquiring and practicing nursing skills as in the hospital. Thats because we are in the most primary of the primary health care, we are in the community itself, we are first on the line to receive patients and the potential for practicing nursing skills is greatest. We attend to our clients in unhurried phasing, unlike the hectic hospital loads where we divide ourselves to pay attention to several patients at a time. And even at times, because of the toxic schedule, we only act mechanically to our roles; take vital signs, administer medications, asses, and document, that we fail to do something that every nurse should, to care for our patients. So much for that, those were really not part of any nursing syllabus, but sometimes, the most important things werent taught to us. The things I learned at RHU-Centro that were academically important were already taught to us back when we were in our sophomore years. But I felt that the repetition was really necessary considering the fact that I actually had trouble remembering those topics even though it had only been a year since we had our Maternal and Child Health Nursing. I was also glad to reminisce how to do cord care when we had a house call for a newborn with bleeding umbilicus. The return demonstration was also a good way to practice our medication administration skills but I really wish that we could find another test subjects rather than just ourselves.

In conclusion, I really appreciated my stay here at RHU-Centro of Peablanca, although Im not really looking forward to coming back again. I think, twofold of an exposure here is already enough for me to comprehend what I could learn from this place. But this whole occurrence along with Maam Johanna; like some others I had gone through will forever be imprinted in my mind, along with the jovial recollections of my learning experience.