Erasmus Diaries Maeve Byrne
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Hello, my name is Maeve Byrne and I'm 19 years old. I'm currently studying Nursing and Midwifery at Bray Institute of further education. My hobbies are going on hikes and walks, going shopping, going out with friends and cooking and baking. I come from a big family of five and have three nephews and one niece. I'm the youngest of five and I have one brother and three sisters. I live with my mom and my two older sisters, Bebhinn and Eimear. My plans for next year are to go to university to study general nursing in Scotland or Ireland, I have received a conditional place in Stirling University and offered a full place in Dundee University next year for general nursing. After university I hope to specialise in the neonatal unit which is a further 6 months of training and then travel around the world as a nurse and settle in Australia.
I have prepared for going to Spain by going to my Spanish classes and learning a little bit of Spanish. I researched places in Malaga to go and see and I researched the covid 19 restrictions so I knew what was currently happening there regarding covid. I also looked up the easter parades and the reasoning for them . I also prepared for Spain by having all my forms done and my passport and EHIC card in date. |
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We were all in the same building in Malaga on a street called Calle Constancia and most rooms were shared between two people bar two rooms which had three people in them. I shared my room with Sadhbh from veterinary care, we didn’t know each other at all when going but within a few days we were comfortable sharing our space together. Our room was divided by a bookshelf and we shared a kitchen and a bathroom, we didn’t have any communal space for us all to sit in together so most of the time we all hung out in one persons room.
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This was something I think we all would have liked was to have a dinning room or living area that we could all hang out in that wasn’t our bedrooms, it also would have been beneficial if you needed alone time or to call someone d=from home you would have the privacy to do so, I didn’t struggle sharing my space as I grew up in a busy household but near the end i think everyone would have enjoyed a day alone or to have their own room but we all made it work and took time to ourselves when possible. Our apartment building was very near a local shop and pharmacy and was only a 10-13 minute walk from the city center and around a 20 minute walk to the Malagueta beach, I loved being so near to the city center as it made it easy to go and go for dinner and be able to come home easily and safely. Our street was mainly very quiet bar a few people above us being noisy and owning a dog that barked during the night and early in the morning bur most of the time I slept through it. The apartment were cleaned weekly by a cleaner and when we arrived were spotless with fresh sheets etc, in the basement normally there was fresh sheets and towels that we had access too and if needed there was a washing machine and a dryer thar was hard to get sometimes as everyone was trying to use it and other people that were staying in the building needed it.
My work experience started late as I had a positive PCR and wasn’t able to start as soon as everyone else, I didnt have enough viral load to be contagious or a risk to anyone so I was still able to partake in everything so from the Wednesday to the following Tuesday of the first week I spent my time getting to know Malaga and trying new foods and going to new places. We got the number 3 bus which stopped right behind our apartment block and was around a 40 minute journey then a 10-15 minute walk from the stop to the home and coming back home was the same route.
When I did start work experience on Wednesday the 13th it was a huge difference to nursing homes and hospitals here and had me and the other nursing girls quite shocked. The hygiene and infection prevention was practically non existent and the beds didn’t not raise up and their was no sliding sheets or hoists to move immobile patients, manual handling was forgotten and we were made move patients by picking them up or dragging them which was something that we were very uncomfortable doing as we have been trained in patient moving and handling. The gloves of the carers’ were not changed half as frequently as they should have been and we were not offered PPE gear when exposed to bodily fluids, feeding, washing patients and changing soiled sheets. When washing patients sponges were reused again and again and the same sponge used to wipe patients buttocks was also used on face and the rest of the body, the sponges weren’t disposable and there was no wipes used on patients that were incontinent, only the wash sponge. catheter bags were emptied into the toilet and sinks and their was no sluice room or laundry baskets segregated by colour or alginate bags for soiled linens, something that is a standard precaution in Ireland so not having them in Spain was a big shock to us. Patients were tied to chairs using medical belts so they could not get up and walk around was very distressing for us as some patients were not a danger to themselves or others by walking around but simply seen as a nuisance to the nurses there. One patient who had a tumour on her face had her hands tied by sleeves so that she couldn’t touch her face, not only could she not have any use of her hands but her hands were like fists in the top of our her sleeves all day long, this can cause seer muscle loss and can lead to permanent damage of the muscles if left like that all day long for a long period of time. She was deeply distressed and this was very visible when looking at the resident.
When I did start work experience on Wednesday the 13th it was a huge difference to nursing homes and hospitals here and had me and the other nursing girls quite shocked. The hygiene and infection prevention was practically non existent and the beds didn’t not raise up and their was no sliding sheets or hoists to move immobile patients, manual handling was forgotten and we were made move patients by picking them up or dragging them which was something that we were very uncomfortable doing as we have been trained in patient moving and handling. The gloves of the carers’ were not changed half as frequently as they should have been and we were not offered PPE gear when exposed to bodily fluids, feeding, washing patients and changing soiled sheets. When washing patients sponges were reused again and again and the same sponge used to wipe patients buttocks was also used on face and the rest of the body, the sponges weren’t disposable and there was no wipes used on patients that were incontinent, only the wash sponge. catheter bags were emptied into the toilet and sinks and their was no sluice room or laundry baskets segregated by colour or alginate bags for soiled linens, something that is a standard precaution in Ireland so not having them in Spain was a big shock to us. Patients were tied to chairs using medical belts so they could not get up and walk around was very distressing for us as some patients were not a danger to themselves or others by walking around but simply seen as a nuisance to the nurses there. One patient who had a tumour on her face had her hands tied by sleeves so that she couldn’t touch her face, not only could she not have any use of her hands but her hands were like fists in the top of our her sleeves all day long, this can cause seer muscle loss and can lead to permanent damage of the muscles if left like that all day long for a long period of time. She was deeply distressed and this was very visible when looking at the resident.
There was 3 girls from Belgium in their second year of university, they all spoke Flemish and one girl was from Madrid and spoke fluent Spanish and one girl had very good English, the girl who spoke Spanish would translate back in Flemish and then the girl who spoke English would translate so that I could be aware of what was happening, one of the days the girl from Madrid caught staff giving off about me and the Belgian girls behind our backs the staff member had called us useless and unhelpful and if we want to help we should pick up mops and clean. The day this was said that morning Hannah-Mai, Leanne and Sarah were sick, so It was really tough knowing the staff were bitching and I had no friends from home to face it with. It hurt knowing staff were talking badly as me and all the girls had used translate on our phones to ask did they need help with patients or what could we do to help, 9 times out of 10 they would tell us nothing or go into the dinning room/ communal area and help feed patients or wait for a patient to need something, one of the days Hannah-Mai and I stood in the dinning room for 3 hours as the nurses said they didn’t want our help downstairs with morning care. I feel bad being so honest about my experience in the home but some of the incidents I seen and the other girls left us deeply distressed and anxious over residents safety and care, from the outside and an initial look on the inside everything looks perfect its when you see the staff treatment towards patients and the health and safety and infection prevention and control measures you would see all the red flags, we were disappointed with the outcome of the home but none the less grateful for the experience and learned a lot of don'ts and do’s with patient care.