R-CHIAN JOSE D.

GERMANO 09-28-19

2NUR-4 | RLE 3 SIR WARREN PAN

OBSTETRIC (OB) WARD – UST Hospital

COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING & OB-GYNE NURSING: A PARALLEL BOND

Identify the concepts and principles of CHN that you have observed in your clinical area of assignment.
Give specific situation/s that exhibit/s the identified concepts and principles.

4 weeks. 8 days. 60 hours are all it takes for us to take the gist of what it is like to be an OB Ward
nurse. Assigned at the University of Santo Tomas Hospital Clinical Division, I was given the opportunity
to assess and care different patients with different cases regarding obstetrics and gynaecology along with
my 8 other RLE group mates. It was really an amazing experience for me and somehow the principles that
can be seen and observed in this clinical area resembles those that can be observe in Community Health
Nursing and one of these is the principle of professional growth and development. In here, both areas serve
as a breeding ground for nurses to be able to enrich their skills, develop their characters, improve their
knowledge, and enhance their nurse-patient relationship. Different notions, same goals, both areas are
thriving to improve the health of its patients. We can see the expression of this principle in the OB nurses
wherein some were seniors and there were some who were at the younger generation but both take all the
learnings and wisdom they get from being able to interact with their patients and used all these learnings to
help them revamp and enhance their ingenuity and competence thus makes them professionally prepared,
which is another principle of CHN.

The principle of recognized needs of individuals that provides the basis for the CHN practice can
also be recognize in the OB area in a way that even though both areas cater to different cluster or type of
patients, they made sure that whatever is the need of an individual related to the concept of Community
Health or Obstetrics, they can act on their needs and work on it thus advocating health promotion and care.
In the OB ward, the principle of recognized needs can be seen on nurses giving the right services and the
appropriate assistance as direct results of recognizing their patient’s needs.

Another principle would be the periodic and continuous evaluation. Periodic and continuous
evaluation provide the means for assessing the degree to which OB Nursing goals and objectives are being
attained. This can be seen in the ward when nurses do their rounds and check their patients on a periodic
basis in order to be updated. They do this to monitor their patients and to see if improvement is happening
in their patients’ health.
 Nurses play a crucial role in the health sector and as members of the health team, nurses are
essential in promoting health, prolonging life, and preventing diseases. Nurses both in the hospital and in
the community are the frontlines of administering and evaluating treatments of their patients. In the
community setting, nurses coordinate and work with the other health care providers in health centers like
midwives, dentists, doctors, and barangay health workers while in the hospital, they work with medical
technologists, pharmacists, doctors and other hospital personnel and staffs. In the OB ward, we saw how
nurses and doctors work together for the betterment of their patients’ health. Each area has its own
dimension and uniqueness but somehow the goal of being a helping hand and being an aid to people whose
well-being is compromised interconnects the two areas, CHN and OB-GYNE Nursing.

Describe the health facility that you are currently assigned to in terms of the services it provides and
its classification.

Located at the clinical division of the UST hospital where patients of different socio-economic
status, contrasting health concerns, diverse generations, age group, and ethnicity come to get catered with
regards to their health concerns. The OB-GYNE ward in the clinical division is a service facility that has
more affordable and cheaper services compared to the St. Catalina ward of the private division. The ward
is a rooming-in unit that accommodates parturient and post-partum mothers, normal or operative and their
infants. Basically, the services that the facility offers are Maternal and Newborn care, minimally invasive
surgery, hysterectomy, laparoscopy along with others. The healthcare that is provided in the said facility is
both secondary and tertiary healthcare. As I was exposed to the OB-GYNE ward and got the opportunity
to handle patients’ chart forms, I became aware that even though it is a clinical division or a charity-type
of ward, they still provide advance and modern medical services for their patients and still maximize the
potential of the nurses, doctors, and other members of the healthcare team that highlights their capabilities
to serve the people.

Describe the roles and functions of the nurse in your clinical area of assignment.

They say that as doctors are the brain of the healthcare system, Nurses are the hearts that provides
beat to every patient in the healthcare system. Every member of the health team plays a significant role in
which if one is disengaged, the equilibrium will be disrupted. Different classifications, same goals. OB-
GYNE nurses work with pregnant mothers and newborns and while a significant part of the work of OB-
GYNE nurses revolves around pregnancy and childbirth, they also work with women with reproductive
cancers, hormone disorders, or other obstetrical and gynecological problems. OB-GYNE nurses perform a
variety of screenings and diagnostic tests on women and based on what I have observed during our rotation
at the OB-GYNE ward is that OB-GYNE nurses also do patient assessment wherein they are typically
responsible for an initial patient assessment so in a way, they serve as ‘the face’ of the practice. They also
do direct patient care wherein they help in preparing for and carrying out gynecological tests and pregnancy
and delivery-related screenings and procedures. OB-GYNE nurses also are the ones who administer
prescribed medications such as Oral, SC, and IV routes. This function is already familiar with most of us.
In terms of medical procedures or invasive processes, the OB-GYNE nurses also assist Obstetricians and
Gynecologists in various procedures related to delivery, postpartum, C-section, episiotomy, Newborn care,
and others. This is also common to us since nurses and doctors work hand in hand when it comes to not just
the everyday care and treatment of the patients but also the medical procedures done at them. They also do
patient education in which I have observed personally during my health assessment interview with one of
the patients there. The main objective in this respect is to educate patients about what to expect during and
after delivering a baby or undergoing a medical procedure. This is vital since it can affect the patients
physically but also mentally. Another function of OB-GYNE nurses that I have observed is that they also
do recordkeeping and administrative duties. Recordkeeping is very common to all nurses and nurses will
typically make several entries into the patients’ charts on every shift. This is indispensable because patients’
record are essential when it comes to continuity of care, proper treatment, and on health promotion itself.
These are just some of the functions of OB-GYNE nurses that I have observed during our rotation.

Back then, the general misconception that existed was about the idea that the profession of nursing
revolves around sponge baths, bedpans, and just an ‘assistant’ of doctors. In today’s time, people has a
deeper understanding of the nature and complexity of the field of nursing and somehow they got to
understand the breadth of expertise and knowledge that nurses bring to the table. My view back then on
nursing was just a speck compared to my view now. Nursing demands us to be attentive, to be more
compassionate and empathic, and to be selfless and caring. In spite of all we go through, to do what nobody
else would do and can do is to be a nurse.