Travel letter from student exchange

Transcription

1 Travel letter from student exchange Student exchange in Bangkok, Thailand Name: Kamilla Leider Otte Phone number: Home institution (Denmark): University College Zealand, Campus Næstved Class number (Denmark): sn12v Host institution/university (Thailand): Ramathibodi School of Nursing, Mahidol University Hospital/Place of clinical placement (Thailand): Ramathibodi Hospital Speciality: Community Health Care and Home Care Unit Exchange period: 1 week of language learning before starting the practical matters in Ramathibodi from 18/ to 29/ Before going abroad Reasons for studying in Thailand When I decided that I wanted to study abroad, my first demand was that it should be a very different culture than my own. Furthermore I would like it to be a place that I have never visited before, the reason for this was, that that way I would have no prejudices about the country, or the people living there. After that I had a look at the countries that my school have collaborations with, I looked into many countries but narrowed my choices down to Australia and Thailand; after this I did some more research. I decided that Australia s health care system would resemble the Danish Health Care system too much, so I decided to rule this country out. As I had never been in Thailand before, this met my demands that I would experience a new country, furthermore the culture would be very different than Denmark, after this I read about Thailand and I decided that this was the place to go. How did you prepare for your stay abroad? First of all I attended the information meeting provided by VIA University. In this meeting we were given important information on both the stay, the documentation, vaccinations, economy and visa. 1

2 Furthermore there were two students who had returned home from the exchange program in Thailand, they also gave us good and important information, they gave us a lot of information on the professional aspect of the exchange, but also a lot of the personal experiences such as accommodations and travel etc. Besides the information meeting I have a coworker who I work with in Denmark, she has also been to Ramathibodi Hospital as an exchange student. I got a lot of information from her that I could use well, she was at a surgical unit, but even if we were at different units at Ramathibodi I could use a lot of the information she provided. Economy When travelling abroad you can take your SU with you. Furthermore you have to pay 1200 UDS (approximately 7000 DKK) in tuition fee, these can be refunded from SU-styrelsen (you will have to apply for this). You can apply for scholarships from different places; I got from The Danish Nurses Organization as well as from Nordea Fonden. Despite that fact that you can get your SU with you, remember to make a savings, you will spend a lot of money if you would like to experience the country and islands of Thailand. I ended up using around DKK all in all. Travel I booked my flight from Thai Airways; I booked the ticket almost six months before departure. Some of the girls from the other schools in Denmark who also were to study at Ramathibodi Hospital, booked their ticked for themselves, otherwise it would be a good idea to book your tickets together. Not only so that you can get to know each other but also for the convenience. Of course you will travel around in Thailand during your exchange period. Before leaving Denmark I had made a list of things that I would like to experience, but I did not book anything, you will meet many new people and therefore it is a good idea to wait with booking trips until you come to Thailand (unless you like to travel alone). Immunizations I looked into what kind of immunizations would be important to me, I did this by visiting the statens serum institute as well as rejsedoktor.dk. After I had looked in to these things I ordered an appointment with my nurse at the doctors office, we talked about the vaccines and which would 2

3 be good for me. After these talks we decided that I should have the Hepatitis A and B, Tuberculosis, Japanese Encephalitis, Difteri and Tetanus. All of these vaccines were around 3500 DKK, it is a good idea to start with the vaccines early, some of the vaccines you have to get twice, and there can be a month in-between these. When I returned to Denmark I had to be checked for MRSA, you cannot work at a hospital before having been checked for this. Professional outcome How did you work with learning goals? It is different working with learning goals in Thailand, as we are not learning the same things In Thailand the nurses have elements from a nurse, doctor, dentist etc. For example the Thai nurse and doing physical examination where they have to listen to hearth and lungs, therefore they have some work elements of a doctor. Furthermore the nurses perform physical examination of school children where they also have to check the dental status, here they also have the work element of a dentist. In order to work with learning goals we performed many of these examinations under observation of our preceptors. For example the physical examinations, both for the children and in the community, and after performing these examinations we would discuss these examinations. We would evaluate both on the good and bad things, and talk about what to do different the next time. Furthermore we would talk about the difference in the Thai and Danish nurse system and give recommendations both for the Danish students but also for the Thai nurses. In order to evaluate on what we learned in the Community Health Course we would write a weekly individual evaluation, and in the end we finished the course by writing a group paper on a patient situation, this was a very good way to evaluate. In order to evaluate the Home Care Unit we were each assigned a patient that we were to give an individual presentation on, in this presentation we were also able to evaluate on the nursing techniques used. How did you find the contact to supervisors/preceptors? The preceptor was very good at making you feel like a part of the group. During the practical weeks we got to know one another very well, and we were able to exchange knowledge. Furthermore my preceptor were very interested in learning/ hearing about our nursing system in Denmark, we also taught her/ told her about thing in Denmark that they did not do in Thailand, she 3

4 was very observant about these thing and she implemented them in the Thai nursing system. In Home Care unit the system was a bit different as opposed to in Community Health. In community Health Care we were three girls who had the same preceptor throughout the period, in Home Care Unit I had one preceptor assigned to me. As mentioned above I had one preceptor assigned to me in Home Care Unit, but I only met her a few times, when I was not with my preceptor I was with other nurses in Home care, this was I got to see different nursing techniques which was very nice. Furthermore every nurse made you feel like a part of the group, which was very nice. In home care unit we had many complex patients and therefore the preceptors would tell us about the disease and we would observe with the patients. How did you find the contact to the patients? When I were in Community Health Course we had an area to operate in, in my care it was the Salaya, Moo 5 area, every day we would do the one hour drive from Ramathibodi Hospital to Salaya, in this area there were a Health Care Center that we would work from. When we had the morning conference here we would go in to the community and visit the patients. In order to speak with and to make sure the patients were home, there were some volunteers workers who would speak with the patient the day before our arrival, these volunteers had their base in the Health Care Center in Salaya. It can be difficult to communicate with patients in Thailand, I was in many fairly poor areas, and people who live there cannot speak English very well. But if you keep an open mind and greet them in Thai, you already have their respect and attention. I also used a lot of body language, for example to ask if they have any pain etc. Last but not least my teacher was very attentive to us, she helped a lot with the translation. It was a bit different being in Home Care Unit, whilst being here in community health care I visited many poor people, and in Home Care I visited many people who had money. The difference in the economical status meant that they also had a different educational status; therefore many of the patients spoke English very well, better than some of the nurses actually. This was very nice because it meant that you had a chance to truly show your nursing techniques and to show that you can work independent, it is very had to show these thing when you cannot communicate with the patients. For example, my exam patient s father had lived in the Unites States for a few years, therefore he could explain about his daughter s disease as the preceptors had a difficult time doing this. 4

5 Cultural outcome Your experiences regarding the culture of health care and the health care system? As I mentioned earlier, the Thai nursing system differ a great deal from the Danish nursing system. A Thai nurse needs to have a lot of knowledge, not only on nursing techniques but also elements from other occupational groups. Many of the things a Thai nurse needs to know and needs to be able to perform as a basis nurse, we in Denmark have to get another education or courses to perform, for example in Denmark you have to have an extra education to be a midwife, this is a part of being a basis nurse in Thailand. There were many habits that you needed to forget whilst being in Thailand, Thailand and Denmark has very different opinion/ views regarding hygienically matters. Of course one of the biggest difference between out countries is how the health care system operates. The Thai nurses had a hard time understanding how we are able to maintain our health care system in Denmark, despite that fact that we pay a great deal of taxes through our income. In Thailand many people do not have the means to go see a doctor more than once a year. They do not have doctor houses, so if they have to go see a doctor at a public hospital it can be an all day trip, therefor many people do not do this, and this is very different from my reality. Social outcome How did you interact with your colleagues at the hospital and at the university? We have learned some about the Thai customs, so therefore we tried to interact with the nurses in a respectful Thai manner. It was a bit different from the Danish system, but after a few days you got used to greeting the nurses in the Thai manner, and call the teachers by Ajan as they do in Thailand. Did you interact with the local population? I did interact with the local population; the Thai people are very fascinated by foreigner so they are very happy to talk to you. In this way we also had a good opportunity to practice the Thai language. Which important experiences did you gain during your exchange? 5

6 The overall mentality of the Thai people as well as their culture has been a great experience. It has also been good to see and feel the difference of the Thai and Danish Health Care systems; I now really appreciate the Danish Health Care system. I have gotten a great deal of respect for the Thai nurses and the nursing system that they have to operate in. Anything else you think other students need to know about studying in Thailand? It can be difficult studying in Thailand, mostly because of the language barrier. Besides these barriers I would not trade this experience for anything in the world. It is very healthy to see how the health care system works in another country (especially a country that is very different compared to Denmark). Furthermore you make friendship, both across the countries as well as the different nursing schools in Denmark. So if you have the opportunity to study abroad, do it, it is worth every penny. 6