Bush Nursing

Tookie · Jan 22, 2003

Grace even though l work in a rural area cant really say l have a lot of experience with bush nursing - but maybe one day - may - Althought we do have a number of commnity packages wherby the organisation l work for takes services out to the rural areas, - But not the true bush

sandgroper · Jan 24, 2003

My health service covers a large area of the south coast of Western Australia. Included are two remote area nursing posts where our emergency dept provides leave relief.

I recently worked at the most remote one for three weeks. This is a small coastal village of about 300 residents (65% over 60years) with an economy based on agriculture and fishing.

Nearest hospital is 180km away and nearest Dr 100km. Nurses working here are to be covered by the new Nurse Practitioners Act allowing us to prescribe meds and order certain investigative tests. While its good to have this autonomy, I did miss the team work of the hospital ED.

Anyway, a good introduction to RAN and I'll go back there again this year

fergus51 · Jan 24, 2003

:roll :roll I thought this was going to be a crude thread from the title!

Grace Oz · Jan 24, 2003

Do you mean like;

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"!!?? LOL :chuckle :roll

Cheers,

Grace :cool: :devil: :kiss

Tookie · Jan 24, 2003

Sandgroper

What a fantastic opportunity - l wish l could be so adventurous - well done

Would love to hear more

Tookie

renerian, BSN, RN · Jan 24, 2003

I did home health in the states for 11 years. Some rural. Some people with no water. Lots of knowledge deficeits. Sounds similar to your bush nursing.

Is bush nursing out in the sticks and no dr. is near or practices near by?

renerian

fergus51 · Jan 24, 2003

Exactly Grace:) I thought I would fit right in as an OB nurse....

It is an interesting thread though. We usually call it outpost nursing.

Grace Oz · Jan 24, 2003

Originally posted by renerian
I did home health in the states for 11 years. Some rural. Some people with no water. Lots of knowledge deficeits. Sounds similar to your bush nursing.

Is bush nursing out in the sticks and no dr. is near or practices near by?

renerian

Yes, Renerian, it's ususlly out in the "sticks".

Not always a Dr available. We have the world famous ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE here in Australia. It's a medical service that flies to the outback delivering clinics & health care to the remote outback communities & stations. ( A station is a HUGE property, runs cattle, sheep etc.Out in the outback) The RFDS covers thousands of kilometres each week visiting the various stations & clinics. Bush nursing here in Oz can take many forms, sometimes it might be that the nurse is actually located at a rural post on a permanent basis or working with the Flying Dr or regular visits to a particular clinic. Most folks who do Rural & remote nursing, love it.

Cheers,

Grace

frannybee · Feb 2, 2003

I did a prac placement with the RFDS Mt Isa and at the Casualty Dept of Mt Isa Base Hospital in my final year of training. Nursing-wise, the RFDS jobs seem to be the hardest to get due to the huge demands made and the experience required. I loved loved loved it and will try for a job with the RFDS in about a million years when I have enough experience and confidence.

Mt Isa Base was amazing - the best wound-care training a girl could get, as the students got to do the dressing clinic every weekday morning. With the huge Aboriginal population, many of whom were diabetic, I learned a heck of a lot.

Scariest bit was when we had a lad brought into Cas who'd had 2 tonnes of sheet metal dropped on his foot. Somehow he'd had his heel chopped off and his tib was poking out the bottom of his foot. His toes were completely crushed and pedal pulses were long gone. He was having blood and fluids pushed into him as fast as we could get them up....my job was drawing up the morphine he was having every 5 mins, whilst trying to keep dressing pads up to the other student who was trying to stop the bleeding from his foot.

He was 28, had been married 3 weeks and his wife was pregnant. He lived, but his foot didn't.

researchrabbit · Feb 2, 2003

Originally posted by fergus51
:roll :roll I thought this was going to be a crude thread from the title!

And I thought Pres. Bush was getting private nursing!!

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2010

Great thread

I worked as a nursing assistant YEARS ago in a smallish hospital, and we had this young, married girl admitted. She was about 8.5 months pregnant. Anyway she came from an extremely religious organisation (can't remember which one), and because she was so nervous and seemed so naive, me and the RN were asking her questions to help relieve her anxiety and to just generally get her admitting info, etc. Well when we asked her what she knew about childbirth, she described it as 'having a bowel motion! (she didn't say pooh or anything, too polite). We asked what she meant exactly, and after much questioning, found out that she thought the baby would be born out of her orifice! She had no idea about what her lady parts was for, or re her sexual organs. I remember me and this nurse just looking at each other in amazement! Then we went and got the plastic anatomy models of childbirth and books, and sat down to explain it to her. She had not been told anything because she had been brought up very sheltered and no-one talked of these things. She was absolutely horrified at what she was going to go through. Now on reflection, I feel sorry for her, though at least we educated her to some degree.

I told a friend studying nursing this story and she said: "I would have told her the baby will come out the same way it got in there!'

You have to laugh sometimes I tell you!

Cheers