{"id":37169,"date":"2016-08-22T16:18:24","date_gmt":"2016-08-22T20:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/busm\/?page_id=37169"},"modified":"2016-08-22T16:18:24","modified_gmt":"2016-08-22T20:18:24","slug":"the-other-side-of-the-bed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/research-impact\/centers-institutes\/center-for-military-and-post-deployment-health-2\/the-other-side-of-the-bed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Other Side of the Bed"},"content":{"rendered":"

BUSM Students Gain Skills and Perspective from \u201cThe Other Side of the Bed\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This summer, Boston University medical students had the opportunity to walk a mile, or in this case an eight-hour shift, in someone else\u2019s shoes through a program aimed at fostering positive relationships between nurses and future physicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Other Side of the Bed\u201d is a seven-week, full-time summer employment program that gives students direct experience caring for veteran patients. Accepted students work as health technicians at the VA Boston Healthcare System\u2019s West Roxbury campus. Students work under the tutelage of a nurse mentor on various units, including medical intensive care, surgical intensive care, and emergency.<\/p>\n

Jean Vilus, a rising second year student assigned to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), said the program offers many benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nurses are the front line of patient care, and I learned a lot about how to interact with patients from them. I also gained an appreciation for how hard a nurse\u2019s job is \u2013 I had no idea what it entailed until I spent my time here,\u201d said Vilus.<\/p>\n

Students Victoria Canelos and Leah Sax appreciated the breadth of skills they learned, from bedside manner to correct positioning to making a bed with a patient in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw just how hard nurses work,\u201d said Sax. \u201cMost don\u2019t even sit down and eat during an entire shift.\u201d Sax also described the difference between this program and other shadowing experiences she has had as a medical student.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the first time I felt that I was responsible for someone else,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Katherine Keefe worked in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), which she described as \u201ca very different type of healthcare setting with lots of incredibly sick patients who likely won\u2019t get much better.\u201d Keefe said she learned the most from watching nurses interact with difficult patients. She told a story about a nurse who was kicked in the neck by a patient who was going through alcohol withdrawal. The nurse immediately turned to Keefe and said how sorry she was for her patient and what he was going through.<\/p>\n

Another story involved a nurse who was racially discriminated against by a patient\u2019s wife. \u201cAs time went on the wife insisted on having that nurse care for her husband, and eventually she confided in that nurse that she was so scared about her husband dying and leaving her alone,\u201d Keefe recalled. Despite having been treated badly, the nurse cried for the patient and his wife for what they were going through.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing that openness will make me a better healthcare provider,\u201d said Keefe.<\/p>\n

Hyunjee Kwak was grateful for the amount of time she was able to spend with her patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that the compassion I gained from having so much time with patients doesn\u2019t disappear when I\u2019m a stressed out resident trying to get through a checklist of questions at the bedside,\u201d Kwak said.<\/p>\n

Kwak also recalled a memorable experience with a patient with a sense of humor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he found out I was a med student he thought it would be funny to scream in pain when I touched him,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n

Maria Eberle bonded with a patient who was a BU alum. \u201cAfter she learned we were both from BU, she would ring the call bell just to chat or to introduce me to her family members,\u201d said Eberle.<\/p>\n

One of Stephen Chang\u2019s patients gave him a new perspective on his profession and his future. The patient told him, \u201cI\u2019ve had a pretty good life, but you, you\u2019re going to be a doctor. You\u2019re going to save peoples\u2019 lives. What\u2019s better than that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Chang told his classmates, \u201cThat really stopped me because I realized he\u2019s right, what is better than that?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BUSM Students Gain Skills and Perspective from \u201cThe Other Side of the Bed\u201d This summer, Boston University medical students had the opportunity to walk a mile, or in this case an eight-hour shift, in someone else\u2019s shoes through a program aimed at fostering positive relationships between nurses and future physicians. \u201cThe Other Side of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9130,"featured_media":0,"parent":25296,"menu_order":18,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"bu-publication":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37170,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37169\/revisions\/37170"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=37169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}