title: A Bolivian medical mission experience.
abstract: Volunteering to participate in a medical mission is an excellent way for nurses to get back to the basics of nursing and be reminded of why they became nurses in the first place. One perioperative nurse's experience on a medical mission to Cochabamba, Bolivia, through the organization Solidarity Bridge is described in this article. Missioners had to adjust to very basic working conditions, including reusing disposable items and using only minimal monitoring equipment. Members of the surgical team performed 39 surgical procedures during the one-week mission trip, and many felt that they gained more from the experience than they gave.
authors.affiliation: Nursing, Ohio University, Chillicothe, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Souers
mesh_terms: D001838:Bolivia; D006801:Humans; D008493:Medical Missions; D009873:Operating Rooms / Q000592:standards; D013527:Perioperative Nursing; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000451:nursing* / Q000592:standards; D014481:United States; D014838:Volunteers