Peak into the Pediatric Unit!

So the pediatric unit at the Hospital de Santo Espirito de Angra do Heroismo is very small and quiet. The equipment is very dated and needs updating. Unit beds are all hand cranked, there are no private bathrooms or rooms, and there is very little privacy between beds. Here are a few photos that I took of the unit.

Medicine cart that is kept unlocked at all times. Medications that are patient specific are kept in small envelopes with the patients name. All medication records and patient records in general are hand written. Flipping through the various patients notebooks, I found the medication pages exceptionally difficult to read. From what I am told, a new hospital is to open next summer and will have an electronic medication dispenser much like the machines at UNC Hospital. Patient records will also be stored electronically for nurses and physicians etc. to access.

Much like the Children's Hospital at UNC, the corridor and rooms are painted and decorated with pictures. There were 5 rooms on the unit. The first 3 rooms contained 2 beds each. The last 2 rooms held 3 cribs each... accommodating a total of 12 patients total. During my care on the unit there was a maximum of 5 patient.

There are no private rooms on the Pediatric Unit, however each room is decorated for a specific age group. This specific room was designed for young children. Other rooms held larger beds and had cartoon characters such as The Simpsons painted on the windows. Something that I found interesting is that the nurses station is a room between the 3rd and 4th patient room so that they can look into patients rooms... while in theory this is wonderful because nurses are able to keep an eye on their patients, patients get very little privacy from one another.