Nurse anesthesia student Lauren Muse shares a moment with one of the young friends she made during her week-long medical mission trip to the region of Guaimaca, Honduras, in June. As part of an international relief group’s medical mission trip to the region of Guaimaca, Honduras, in June, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing nurse anesthesia student Lauren Muse, BSN, RN, SRNA, was able to gain unique, first-hand operating room experience in Central America’s second-poorest country.One of four anesthesia providers on a team representing the Baptist Medical and Dental Mission International, Muse worked hand-in-hand with one anesthesiologist and two certified registered nurse anesthetists to provide much-needed health care services in this central Honduran area, about two hours from the capital city of Tegucigalpa.
Working under the supervision of those professionals, Muse was assigned to one of four operating rooms and assisted in 20 to 25 procedures during the week-long trip.
For Muse, each workday began at 5 a.m. with the surgery schedule starting at 7:30 a.m. and lasting until 3 p.m. or so each afternoon. After that, the group delivered rice, beans and water to nearby villages.
“It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life,” Muse said. “I met so many wonderful people in Honduras and made lifelong friendships. Everybody was just really thankful for our efforts. The amount of gratitude they showed was incredible.
“It really meant a lot to go somewhere and be able to do something for people who truly appreciated it.”
Muse expressed her appreciation to Sow a Few Seeds, a nonprofit organization that provided her financial assistance for the trip, to a group from Walker Baptist Medical Center in Jasper, Alabama, that initially invited her to go, and to Associate Professor and Nurse Anesthesia Specialty Track Coordinator Susan McMullan, PhD, CRNA, for her support.
She also wanted to thank all those at the UAB School of Nursing who helped her be ready to meet the challenge the mission trip presented.
“All my professors have been outstanding at teaching us clinical information and how to think critically when you are doing anesthesia,” Muse said. “They did a wonderful job of preparing me for this trip.”
