Travel letter from student exchange Student exchange in Australia Name: Tanja Pedersen E-mail: 153455@viauc.dk Phone number: Who did you travel with, if any: Heidi Rahbek (VIA Holstebro), Jonna Hedegaard Christensen (VIA Holstebro), Tine Abrahamsen (University college of southern Denmark), Cilla Hansen (University College Lillebælt), Kickan Roed (University College Nordjylland) - The first two are the girls from my class, who I did travel with before starting the study at the hospital. Home institution (Denmark): VIA, University College Holstebro Class number (Denmark): SHF2011 Host institution/university (Australia): Sydney Local Health District Hospital/Place of clinical placement (Australia): RPA Royal Prince Alfred Sydney Speciality: Ward 10 west 2, trauma and orthopaedic Exchange period: 12 August - 1 November 2013 Before going abroad Why did you decide to study in Australia? o When we started studying as nurses back in Denmark, we had the exchange coordinator who told us about exchange and the opportunity to do that. I did don t had any doubt about it, I wanted to go. On our school we have a teacher or several teachers who is writing a PhD about mamma cancer. One of the teachers has been in Australia to do some study and I found it interesting to hear about the things she did experiences and that was one of the reasons. Why did you choose Australia? o I wanted to travel a bit through the exchange and found Australia as an appealing country. And there were 2 other girls from my class who also wanted to go to Australia, and I found it as a good idea to travel with these girls. How did you prepare for your stay abroad? o I have 2 friends from the school that had been on the exchange to Tasmania, so a talked a lot to them. Also I spent a lot of time with the students from my class who was going on the trip with me. Also we had a Facebook group with all the girls who also was going to Australia so there we did share information and helped each other through the paperwork and the visa applications. 1
o I did also talk with friends who had been in Australia to get information. But that was mostly about the trip we had the first 3 weeks. Economy: I knew before sending the application to the school about the exchange that I would be expensive. So therefore I started early saving money for the trip. The trip has cost around 60.000 kr. But most of the money was not spent on the actual exchange but more on all the stuff and trip we have been on. So the more things you go see and expiries are the things that are going to cost you the most. I also did apply for many different kinds of scholarships in Denmark, to get the opportunity to supplement my own savings. I was lucky to get 2 scholarships one from DSR on 2500 kr. and one from a place in Holstebro on 3000 kr. But the 2 girls I was traveling with and I did an agreement before we started applying that we would share it all so I had to share the one I got from Holstebro. Therefor the amount of money I got was 3500 kr. And that was a good help. I also rented my apartment to a friend to get in money from there. Travel: We went to Australia 3 weeks before study start. We had a list of things we wanted to see now we were going to Australia. We had a big list and few days, but we managed it all and it was the best. Also we travelled around in the holiday we had halfway through the practice. We also did plan our study days near one of the public Holliday, so we all could go on a road trip to Melbourne. So as you can hear we have been a lot of places and that is what we spent the most of the money Immunizations: Before you get the last approval from the manager in Sydney you have to fill a lot of paper, and do a lot of vaccinations. It is going to take a long time to do, but hang in, it is all worth it. It was my GP doctor back in Denmark who did all the bloods, but we also did go to Copenhagen for completing the medical examinations paper for getting our visa. The paper you have to send to the manager can be quite difficult, and we did use each other a lot to call and get help from. It took about 5 month to have it all completed. So get started as soon as you can. If you have any questions or problems please feel free to call and write and I will try to help you 2
Other preparations: Experiences and outcomes Professional outcome: How did you work with learning goals? o As a help to work with the learning we had the portfolio, which we got sent to us from Denmark. Here in there where some skills we had to do and get a certain grad. Also we have 5 and 10 weeks meetings with the educator on the ward. All most 2-3 times a week there was in-service. In-service is education to the ward staff at the hospital about different subject. The educator from the ward comes every day and tell about the in-service and ask if you want to go and hear it. I did go the most of the time because I think it was a good learning experience. o I did not write any portfolio, but we have been very good to use each other when we got home from work, and we would sit down all of us Danish student living together and talk about the day and reflect together. That was a good ending of a day s work. How did you find the contact to supervisors/preceptors? o On the ward there is an educator, but the educator is not only educator for the students but also for the staff. All October did go by with him haven to take care of the staff because the hospital had accreditation the last week of October, so the staff had to do a lot of SKILLS?? The educator didn t come to me that much if I didn t asked for it. But the RN (registered nurse) at the wards was really good and they took care of me and did teach me a lot. But the educator did always have time if I wanted time, and he came every morning to ask how I was. And to check up on whom of the RN s I worked with. How did you find the contact to the patients? o The contact with the patients was great. I think they found it interesting to talk and hear about Denmark, and especially what I thought about Australia. I do think they could feel that I was a student and I took my time to talk with them without rushing to the next patient. The patient could also say what to see and what not to see. They are sweet and loving, but you have to get use to patient calling you: love, darling and sweetheart. That took some time for me to find out that it was normal. Also you have to learn to respond when patient say sister, they still use the word sister for the nurse, but you will figure that out pretty quick. 3
Cultural outcome: Your experiences regarding the culture of the health care system? o In Australia they are still a bit behind compared to Denmark and the technology we have in Denmark. They use computer but not like we do in Denmark. Here they use paper instead. But the use of paper as bedside chart and the notes also gave problems. You could see that sometimes patient didn t have their medication on time because nurses couldn t read the doctors handwriting or maybe the medication chart was sent down to pharmacy. I found it very difficult in the beginning, but after a while you figure it all out. o One very good thing is the double check on certain kind of medication which gives them less medication mistakes. Your experiences regarding the culture of health care? o Nurses down here are very instrumental but they often forget the hygiene. That means that they would walk into a single room with infection without taken cloves or scrubs on. And they should be more careful with that because they don t have the same uniform rules as we have in Denmark. Here the nurses own their uniform, and they clean it themselves. They don t have changing room at the hospital so they travel with busses or other transports in their uniform to and from work. They also go out and do shopping after work in the uniform. Social outcome: How did you interact with your colleagues at the hospital and at the university? o I found it weird in the beginning to start. The num and the educator who was supposed to be there and welcome me were both away the first 4 weeks. The ward knew I was coming so there was one of the staff members who did take care of me and showed me around a bit. But as the days go by the staff found out that I was going to be on the ward for a long time and they started asking me thing and I tried to answer all the questions about Denmark and Europe. As the time got by I found out why they didn t talk too much with me in the beginning. On the ward I am on they have new students every 4 Th week both a new set on morning shift and a set on afternoon shift. So after a few weeks you really get to know them and they know you and they are the best to help if you have questions about what to see in Sydney Did you interact with the local population? o As we were living in a nurse and midwife accommodation we had a social life with the other nurses and midwife living there. We did spend the most of our evenings seeing TV and movies and getting together. We also did go out with them and that is how we got to know their friends and so on. We had a good 4
group and therefore we also did a lot of things together around in Sydney. So no doubt about it we are going back to Denmark with new friends from Denmark and new friends from all over the world. Which important experiences did you gain during your exchange? o Trough out this exchange I have learned a lot professional but also personal. I have crossed limits and learned to be more independent. I have been practicing on my English and learned about another system of nursing. I now know that I can work with my nursing outside Denmark. Anything else you think other students need to know about studying in Australia? It takes some work to get through all the papers and cost money to do the exchange but it is worth it. I have had the best experience in my life. I got friends from all over the world and some new friends back in Denmark. If you thinking about doing just do it. Pack your back and get over there, it is amazing. If you have any questions please feel free to write, call or text me. I would love to answer your questions as good as I can. 5