While we were in Grenada we had the opportunity to shadow nurses at St. George's Hospital. I was placed on the Women's Surgical Floor with another girl in my study abroad group. We shadowed the nurses as they took vitals, passed out medications, took patients' health history during admission, and charted their assessments on paper.

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Having only ever worked in American hospitals, my shadowing experience really opened my eyes to another way hospitals can be run. My floor that I was on only had two nurses for 24 patients and there were no CNAs on the floor to assist the nurses. Instead of the nurses being assigned specific patients, they were assigned specific tasks for all of the patients. The floor was set up with beds on separated by a curtain instead of in a private room and because the pediatric floor only went up to age 5, there were young girls on the unit, as well. 

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Despite the nurse ratio being 12:1 and there not being advanced technology, such as bedside monitors and automatic blood pressure cuffs, the nurses were able to spend ample time with their patients and provide excellent patient care. The nurses were constantly busy but they took their time with all of their patients and did not rush to finish their assignments in a timely manner.