We began our Wednesday at 9 o’clock in the morning, taking some taxis to Birmingham Children’s Hospital for our visit. Some of our group went to go get coffee while we were waiting to meet up with the hospital staff who were going to be giving us the tour, while the rest of us stayed and looked around the hospital.
When we first entered the hospital, we were brought to a learning room where we were introduced to the staff members who would be showing us around. After a short information session about who they were and what their hospital roles were, we split up into two groups for a tour of the hospital. We were able to see so many different parts of the hospital, but what was most exciting to me was being able to see the pediatric oncology unit. When I was in preschool, I had a friend named Julia, who was just the absolute sweetest person in the world. Julia suffered from pediatric liver cancer, but always had a smile on her face. She always had these crochet hats from her nurses, and she talked about them so fondly. Ever since she passed, I’ve wanted to become a nurse. Being able to see first hand how the pediatric oncology unit works was so amazing. Just knowing that children and families affected by cancer have such lovely people taking care of them brought me so much joy. Even despite having cancer, there were still smiling faces all around the unit.
The nurses giving us our tour reminded us how resilient children tend to be. They often make more successful recoveries than adults. Something I learned that I definitely want to be able to have in the United States one day is the amount of effort that government, schools, and hospitals put in together to give children a well rounded education, regardless of their health statuses. We got the chance to see the James Brindley Academy, which is the school that runs in the children’s hospital. The staff at James Brindley were so sweet, and explained to us that it is very important for children to maintain their education while they are in the hospital, especially if they have a long stay. We learned about both in person and remote learning offered by the academy. The government can create an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) for children with specialized needs due to their health status. EHCPs are legally binding documents that the schools and teachers must follow and accommodate, or else they risk losing their licenses.
Knowing about EHCPs will definitely help with out research, which is focused on mental health resources implemented in schools here in the United Kingdom, more specifically England, and how they are similar or different to the resources school back over in the United States.
Another super cool part of the hospital we got to experience was the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). We got to see one of the zones, where there were ten cardiac beds, and even learned that surgery can be performed right from the PICU! There were two other zones, one for PICU patients that were not necessarily cardiac-related patients, and the other for children who have a longer stay in the intensive care unit.
One major difference between healthcare in the United States compared to here in England that I learned about today had to do with maternity leave. The United Kingdom government allows not just the birthing parent, but both parents with up to six months of paid parental leave following the birth of their child. If the parents do not want to split up their parental leave, one parent can take the entire year to take care of the child. In the United States, parental leave is often an unpaid, 12 week period, where parents can take a break from work to focus on caring for their baby, but it is widely regarded as not enough time, especially when they are not getting any money during this time.
After we left the hospital, we met with a charity called WAITS, which stands for Women Acting in Today’s Society. WAITS works to empower women and support them. The main part of our lecture with WAITS focused on recognizing and understanding the signs of domestic violence, as well as combating false beliefs and negative stigma surrounding those who speak up against domestic abuse.
For our final activity of the day, we got to spend about half an hour shopping in the Bull Ring. We met at the Chaophraya Thai restaurant at 6, and had some sodas on the rooftop balcony while we had the opportunity to hear from recent Birmingham City University graduates. One of them studied midwifery at BCU, while the other 2 went there to study secondary education. All three of these graduates told us a bit about their journeys through school and why they love their jobs. Hearing them share the same passion about their jobs made me so excited to start clinicals next semester!