Health sciences students go global
OUR STUDENTS | This year, the Institute for Global Studies launched its Global Clinical Internships, sending 79 undergraduate students around the world to gain hands-on healthcare experience at sites in India, Peru, Australia, Hungary, Vietnam and the British Virgin Islands.
In rural Faridibad, India, associate nursing professor Carolee Polek led a group of sophomore and junior nursing students to intern at a community hospital. The students were placed on units throughout the hospital and worked with patients of all ages and backgrounds. A student on the General Medicine floor once simultaneously cared for an hours-old newborn baby, the baby’s mother and a 108-year-old woman.
The physicians and nurses at the hospital embraced the students, inviting them to assist with patient care, scrub in on surgeries and ask questions about procedures. Physicians taught the students to interpret X-rays and craniotomy imaging. And the education was reciprocal. Hospital clinicians were eager to learn about differences between American and Indian nursing education from the UD students, and about clinical procedures used in American hospitals from Polek.
Students were struck by public health concerns and spent much of the time learning about community resources and environmental issues, such as water and air quality. Outside of the hospital, the cohort traveled through the Golden Triangle, visited the Taj Mahal, witnessed a Hindu blessing ceremony on the Ganges River and rode elephants and camels.
“The experience helped me to learn to be more flexible,” said Emily Market, HS16. “By getting out of our comfort zones and being forced to roll with the punches, we learned about how much we could handle, and the importance of being open to other cultures.”
Nursing professor Amy Johnson worked to develop the Global Clinical Internship Program and says these experiences will distinguish UD students as they work toward professional employment and future education.
Article by Sarah LaFave, HS11