09 October, 2006

Is that Blood?

Nomad Son is presently doing a two-week internship at the children’s surgery and intensive care ward at the university hospital. The eighth and tenth (his class) grades at his high school have this time off to participate in a “social” internship: any profession that deals with sick or handicapped people or special needs education.

They’ve allowed Nomad Son into the operating rooms, as well as helping (a leettle) in the intensive care ward. I find it amazing that it is possible for him to not only look at these medical procedures, but also carry out very minor (e.g. feeding, cleaning) activities with the nursing staff.

He came to see me in my office the other day during one of his coffee breaks. I noticed a dark stain on his sleeve. I asked him whether it was blood. He looked down to the sleave, considered it's origins, and then said, “No, it’s Nutella.” One of the young patients, who’s mentally-challenged, smeared his Nutella toast over his body rather than eating it. Nomad Son had to clean up the patient, thus the smear of dark substance on his scrubs.

He’s really lucked into a good position at the hospital: two of his friends in the same hospital are in the adult internal medicine ward and they are emptying out urine bags and handing out breakfast trays. Not so chic.

In some ways I wonder whether any sixteen year olds would be allowed to do internships in North American hospitals. What do you think? Would the administration staff’s concerns about insurance issues overweigh the benefits of potentially interesting the students choice of professions in the future? Maybe I’m wrong here.

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