Nursing students have little time to admire Himalayas
Published on 10 November, 2009
Nursing and midwifery students visiting Nepal's Pokhara city in late November and December will have little time to admire the natural beauty, the scenic lakes and the Himalayan mountain views...
Dr Kerry Reid-Searl ready to fly the flag in Nepal
They will be too busy with hands-on duties, experiencing a range of wards within Manipal Teaching Hospital.
Then there's the chance for eye-opening visits to Jhampaling Tibetan Old Age Home, Khairani Health Post, Green Pasteur Leprosy Hospital & Rehabilitation Centre, Namaste orphanage, Armola Village Health Camp, the GONESHA organisation for Maternal & Child Health in Urban Slums or the Naolo Gumti organisation for Drug Addicts & HIV/AIDS.
Tours will help students understand the situation and functions of non-government organisations, by interacting with members, beneficiaries, teaching faculty and students.
On other days there will be outreach nursing, rural community clinic support, Nepali traditional medicine, alternative medicine, paediatrics and maternity as well as health promotion in schools.
The students have already been busy fundraising and collecting donated medical gear and health promotion equipment, to make their trip a success.
They will be working alongside Nepalese doctors and nurses, with help from a local guide and under the supervision of CQUniversity academics Annie Eaton (midwifery), Dr Kerry Reid-Searl and Dr Trudy Dwyer.
Dr Reid-Searl said this latest project was a follow-up to last year's successful visit to Thailand, where CQUniversity nursing staff and students made a great contribution in both city and remote areas.
"On the 3-week-long Nepal visit there will be one weekend off but the rest will be work, work, work ... they are as excited as can be," she said.
"They will gain an understanding about different nursing and health settings."
The touring group is made up of the 3 academics, 7 midwifery students and 17 nursing students.
The nursing students are from Mackay, Bundaberg, Noosa and Rockhampton and include both 'internal' and 'flex' mode students across their first, second and third years of study. The midwifery students are from Brisbane, Buderim, Townsville and Charleville.
Annie Eaton said the midwifery program is unique in that it has 'rural/remote' (76 hours) and 'culturally diverse' (40 hours) clinical experiences built in.
"Previous students have been to Katherine, Thursday Island, Kingaroy, Cherbourg, Goondiwindi, Emerald and New Zealand, so this trip to a resource-poor culturally diverse country will broaden their experiences even further and is included as a choice as part of their program," she said.