Over the course of the clinical experience this semester I was lucky enough to have many great learning experiences. The patients that really stuck out to me was not the most demanding patient on the floor or the sickest patient on the floor, but just an overall very pleasant person to be around. Sadly, the thing that was keeping the patient in the hospital was the fact that they lived in a very rural part of Vermont with not many people or things around them. In order for them to go home the patient needed to make sure that they were physically strong enough to do things for themselves. This patient was very physically weak and had a hard time supporting their body weight. If they were sent home, they could end up hurting themselves again or potentially even more. When talking to the patient they revealed that they did not want to come to the hospital right away because the closest one to them was more than an hour away and didn’t want to go unless it was completely urgent. With being from an area that is so close to so many different health care providers this was a strange idea to me. I was fortunate enough if something was wrong or needed to be checked out there wasn’t too much of an issue. Unlike in parts of rural Vermont where the nearest person might not be for 30 minutes, let alone the nearest health care provider. This patient made me realize the importance of making sure there are ways to decrease the lack of health care in places all over our country. Public health nurses are trying to make sure that this issue is tackled. From doing things like pop up clinics to at home check-ups, public health nurses help to bridge the gap and make sure that people like the patient I had, are remaining safe and healthy!
