Today was an exciting day, because today, we arrived in London! While we ended in London, we did start the day off in Birmingham. We began by waking up, packing all of our things, and making our way down to eat breakfast and lock our stuff up for the morning. After we did that, we went to Birmingham City University for our last two lectures.
Our first lecture was on cardiovascular diseases in developing countries. From the year 2000 to the year 2021, there has been an increase in cardiovascular disease globally, and a high incidence of death is linked to inequalities between countries. In Nigeria specifically, a lot of individuals are not reporting their diseases which is why it may seem like the United Kingdom and United States statistics for cardiovascular diseases are so much higher. Life expectancy for cardiovascular diseases is also low in Nigeria and along with this, most people have to get themselves to a hospital because there is no emergency number, whereas, the United Kingdom has 999 and the United States has 911. An important saying that stuck out to me is, “time is muscle.” The longer people delay treatment for cardiovascular diseases, the more damage that occurs to their heart muscle (the heart will form scar tissue and it will not be able to pump as effectively). Overall, the most important way to combat these issues is patient education, especially about lifestyle changes that can be made. As nurses, we will be the professionals educating individuals on how to live healthier and happier lives, so it is important to know the risks of cardiovascular diseases ourselves so that we can tell them to our patients, and encourage them to make positive changes in their lives.
The second lecture we attended was by Adekola Ogundare about the electrocardiogram. Mr. Ogundare said it was very important to learn about the normal rhythms of the heart on the electrocardiogram, so that we can identify what is abnormal as nurses. To begin, we learned about the twelve lead electrocardiogram, which actually only uses ten electrodes. An electrode is the conductive part that makes contact with the skin, while the leads are not tangible and are the wave forms read on the electrocardiogram. We learned that the twelve leads are used to view the heart from different angles; however, only ten electrodes are used because there are six chest electrodes, and then the right leg electrode is neutral (does not read anything) and the other three electrodes record two different angles each, adding up to twelve. We also learned the definition of a sinus rhythm which is the source of a pulse. The source of the pulse is typically the sinoatrial node because it is the heart’s natural pacemaker and can generate the strongest impulses; however, any component of the conducting system can generate an impulse on their own if needed. The only other thing to keep in mind is that as the conducting system goes down the line, the impulse will get weaker which is why the sinoatrial node is the best and preferred for generating impulses.
Once that lecture was over, it was the end of our stay with Birmingham City University, which was very sad. Chinenye has been so wonderful to us, and I think we will all miss her now that we have left. We took our final picture with her, said our goodbyes, and then we were let loose for lunch before we met to go to London. Ella and I ate sushi from a local grocery store before heading back to the hotel to get our stuff.
Once back at the hotel, we met to get on our bus to head to London. The bus ride was three hours long, so I definitely made sure to nap on the way there. The seats were very comfortable and I had a row to myself which allowed me to relax easily. When we finally arrived at our hotel, it was raining but that did not stop our excitement for being in London!
We will end our day with an alumni dinner with other University of Pittsburgh students which will be fun, and then we are going to get some rest before spending the whole day tomorrow exploring all that we can. I am especially excited to see the musical Moulin Rouge as our last activity on the trip before heading home. I can’t believe it is almost over, and I am so grateful for all of the memories I have made so far!