CAPSTONE INTERNSHIP PROJECT

DAILY REFLECTION

at
Pruettavech Home Care
(พฤฒเวชโฮมแคร์ ศูนย์ดูแลผูส้ ู งอายุสมเด็จพระปิ่ นเกล้า)

during
25th – 29th December 2017

by
Supichaya Nobnom (Pizza)
5861155
Introduction:

My capstone project was based on doing both internship and community services at the

same time, with the concept of seeking new knowledges and displaying community service

skills. I spent my time of school holiday between 25th to 29th December 2017 at Pruettavech

Home Care. During the time at this home care, I performed altogether 48 hours and 30 minutes

of helping the elderlies and picking up experiences from observing many first aid processes.

History of Company:

Pruettavech Home Care, also known as a nursing home, was built in 2017. Prior, this

building was used for an emergency department of Somdech Phra Pinklao Hospital. The hospital

later decided to renovate the building into a nursing home with the purpose of wanting to provide

high-quality care services for the elderlies. With this reason, efficient nurses produced from the

hospital would be transferred to look after the elderlies.

Not only provides care services, Pruettavech Home Care also allows the elderlies to

participate in many activities. This includes exercising in every morning, joining parties in

special occasions, and making merit. Thus, this home care is considered to be a branch of

Somdech Phra Pinklao Hospital that gives both care and joy to the elderlies.

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Journal Entries:

Day 1

25th December 2017

8.00 am – 7.30 pm

The first thing I did this morning was introducing myself to the nurses in Pruettavech Home

Care. Ms. Ariya Chumma, a nurse who has been working in Somdech Phra Pinklao Hospital for

more than 10 years, then guided me around and briefed me some basic information about each

elderly. She told me that there are varieties of elderly here. Each of them has different type of

illnesses and also unique characteristics. So, it is important that I spend a lot of time understanding

each of them. After that, Ms. Ariya showed me the schedule of what each nurse has to do in every

day and assigned me to clean the rim of all the beds. I did as what she said and once I finished, I

went to measure each elderly’s blood pressure, body temperature, pulse, and oxygen saturation in

blood with another nurse. All of the measurements noted are later transferred onto elderly’s

individual folder in order to keep track of the record for the hospital. Before eating lunch, the

elderlies normally have to gather at the living room and get some exercises. But the nurses were

all busy, preparing themselves for the Christmas and New Year party, so they skipped the exercises

for one day. Thus, I got to have some free time to talk to each elderly individually. At lunch, the

hospital food arrived and I helped to distribute the food trays to different person according to the

name tag on each tray. I recognized that not all of them got the same type of food and this is due

to their health ability. There were four elderlies in total who had to take blenderized diet (B.D.)

through elastic tubes and about two who ordered for porridges in every meal. I waited until all of

them finished eating to collect the trays.

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 None of the nurses at this home care got to have a proper lunch break. They had to stay at

this place all throughout the time they are on duty. So, they had already bought their lunch since

the morning. This was also what I had to do.

Later in the afternoon, I helped the nurses to organize the night party by start moving the

tables and chairs to the area outside. While most of them were very busy, I was assigned to go and

check whether or not the elderlies needed helps inside the building. Then, at 1.30 pm the nurses

came in with buckets and small cloths for the elderlies’ complete bed baths in the afternoon.

However, not all of the elderlies had to take a bed bath. The ones that were able to walk preferred

to take an actual bath, so there was another nurse who was responsible for only taking bath for

elderlies in the bathroom. For the first day, I followed Ms. Korbkarn Gonglarm. She taught me

some basics knowledges about bed bath but did not allow me to do anything yet. I observed what

she did for each elderly and I saw how she treated them differently based on their illnesses. For

patients with stroke and Parkinson’s disease, Ms. Korbkarn Gonglarm had to be very careful.

Pillows were also needed to place in between their legs otherwise it would be hard for her to clean

their virilia because their legs kept moving toward each other. The afternoon jobs were all done

for today, so I spent the rest of my time arranging the party with the nurses until 7.30 pm in which

was the time when the party nearly ended.

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Day 2

26th December 2017

8.00 am – 6.00 pm

Today, I came just before breakfast trays were distributed. However, the nurses were busy

with one of the elderlies because he was having breathing problem. The job of giving out breakfast

was therefore left for me and another nurse to do. Then, a similar routine was repeated. I went to

measure each elderly’s blood pressure, body temperature, pulse, and oxygen saturation in blood

with Ms. Korbkarn Gonglarm, and transferred those measurements onto the folders. Just before

the time for exercise, the hospital came to pick up three of the elderlies, which are Mr. Bunnag,

Mr. Bunsong, and Mr. Lumwun for a monthly health check-up. At 10.30 am, I rearranged the

chairs in the living room into a circle while the nurses were bringing out some elderlies to do the

morning exercise. I joined them. By the time the activity was done, it was already lunch time. I

distributed their lunch tray and went to eat my lunch quickly.

In the afternoon, I helped to do the complete bed baths for each elderly by filling the

buckets with warm water and cleaning their faces with clean cloths. After all the bed baths, I

cleaned up buckets to make sure that there were no fat stains left on them. I then followed Ms.

Korbkarn Gonglarm to see the process of feeding water through the tubes for patients with stroke.

I spent the rest of the time talking to an elderly, Ms. Vipa Limpiwech. She talked about her

teenager’s life and the reason why she is here. Before I went back home, I served the dinner trays

to different elderlies and gave out medicine to some of them.

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Day 3

27th December 2017

8.00 am – 6.00 pm

This morning I learned how to arrange the medicine for each elderly. The process was to

look at the list of medicine and place them into the small boxes. Then, I did the measurements with

Ms. Korbkarn Gonglarm. The same thing was done, I went to do the exercise leading and

distributed the lunch trays to each of them again.

After lunch, the nurse informed me that they will be urinary catheterization so it was a

great opportunity for me to see the procedure of it. I went to observe from far away, while the

nurse who was responsible for this job did it. First, she put on the sterile gloves. Then, she slowly

took off the old catheter and cleaned the elderly’s urinary meatus, using cotton balls. The new

lubricated tip of the catheter was eventually inserted into the urinary meatus until the urine can

flow normally. Because I was observing the process of urinary catheterization, I was quite late to

go and help with the bed baths. Instead, I went to clean the buckets and cloths with Ms. Songsri

Junumpun. I also did the water-filling into the jugs for every elderly up to 1000 mL and did some

fun activities with an elderly name is Pranee. At dinner, I went to see Ms. Paradee Tanomwong

giving insulin injection through an elderly’s stomach and at the same time helped her to change

diaper for another elderly.

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Day 4

28th December 2017

8.00 am – 6.00 pm

For this morning, I got a chance to join the meeting of transferring nurse’s duty. At the

beginning, the nurses from prior duty reported their nurse note to the rest of people. They presented

all the problems and flaws observed from the night duty. Then they discussed on the solution and

how the morning’s duty nurses would solve them. I realized that not only doctors, but nurses also

had to deal with a lot of problems. In this case, this elderly suffered from many diseases including

cancer and high blood pressure. But sadly, her family could not afford to buy materials for the

nurses because of their financial problems. This became a big issue in which they had to discussed

for quite a long time. I did not stay until the end of the meeting because one of nurses asked me to

do the cleaning for them. Once I finished, I did the measurements and exercise with Ms. Korbkarn

Gonglarm and some of other nurses. I recorded the new measurements of each elderly’s blood

pressure, body temperature, pulse, and oxygen saturation in blood into their folders and went to

distribute the lunch trays.

When I came back, I got to talked to one of the elderlies’ family for a while before I was

called to go and help with bed-bathing again. There were a lot of elderlies requested for bed -

bathing today since it was cold outside and they did not want to take a shower. It took quite a long

time so I only had a short period of time to do some fun activities with the elderlies before I went

back home.

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Day 5

29th December 2017

8.00 am – 6.00 pm

The last day was not any different from any other days. I joined the meeting of transferring

nurse’s duty in the morning with the manager of Pruettavech Home Care and the rest of the nurses.

For today, the meeting mainly focused on the issue of inserting in the rubber tube for blenderized

diet. After the meeting, I followed Mr. Ubon Karnnit to see the process of cleaning a wound on

one of the elderly’s stomach. I then did the measurements of each elderly’s blood pressure, body

temperature, pulse, and oxygen saturation in blood and morning exercise with Ms. Korbkarn

Gonglarm. The morning exercise today was kind of special because the manager wanted all of the

nurses to perform a show, entertaining the elderlies before new year. We did a small show of

dancing and singing. At the end, I got a chance to thank all of the nurses as well as the elderlies

for allowing to be a part of their family during this one week.

At lunch, I helped to distribute food trays and fed two of the elderlies. Since it was my last

day there, the manager said I could just spent my time with the elderlies. I went to sit in the living

room with the elderlies. We exchanged a lot of our life experiences and took a lot of photos before

I left.

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Results:

Throughout my five days of performing internship, I have gained many beneficial

experiences. It was a valuable opportunity that I got to learn basic care services for the elderlies,

and at the same time observed the nurses’ jobs in every single day. I particularly enjoyed the

moments I spent talking to the elderlies during these five days. We exchanged a lot of stories and

shared laughs. It was very satisfying to see each of the elderlies enjoying their time because I felt

like I helped to fulfil happiness for them. By the time it was the last day of my internship, I have

already become attach. Most importantly, I felt like I was one of the members in this nursing home

due to the fact that the nurses were all friendly and welcomed to teach me new knowledges. Thus,

I think this internship granted many experiences to me in term of both becoming more mature and

learning how to demonstrate community services to the others.

ESLOs Reflection:

During my internship, I have performed four main ESLOs in the category of being

Altruistic Global Citizens:

1. Display civic responsibility 


2. Demonstrate cultural sensitivity and respect for differences 


3. Show concern and responsibility for the well-being of the community 


4. Use technology for community service 


All of these were displayed while I spent my time with the elderlies, especially when I had to

entertain them. I learned to use technology for showing the elderlies funny videos. Also, I

respected elderlies who have psychiatric disorders. I did not mind helping and talking to them,

yet I demonstrated cultural sensitivity for differences.