Accessing Healthcare in Monsoon Season: Nursing Faculty/Student Experiences in India
Background: Barriers to accessing healthcare are recognized globally. Flooding, the most common global natural disaster is one such barrier to accessing healthcare (Torti, 2013). American nursing students who recognize differences in global healthcare services better understand healthcare issues unique to culturally diverse populations (Pretorius, 2007). Thus, nursing programs have intentionally included transcultural care in their curriculums. Ryan et al. (2000) add that nursing faculty and students who teach and learn cultural skills by immersion experiences in “their world [country]” have a “long-term impact” in their professional nursing role, international perspective, personal [life], and intellectual development (p. 402).
Brief description of the undertaking: Each year (2012-2014), during the month of August, a country-specific course provided an opportunity for nursing students to participate in a short-term study abroad nursing experience. The purpose was to develop an understanding of theoretically based transcultural healthcare practices. Seminar format to prepare students for in-country experiences was utilized and offered a means to stimulate discussion regarding health related issues specific to India. These seminars and online classroom exercises assisted nursing students in formulating personal perspectives and individual cultural values that promote professional nursing worldwide. Students participated as members of healthcare teams in a variety of access-to-care settings, including an urban hospital, rural mobile medical clinics, safety-net clinics for prostitutes, non-profit children’s outreach, and homes for the destitute/dying through the Mother Teresa Centers. Pre/post-trip evaluations by students offered insights to future faculty led transcultural courses and experiences.
Outcomes Achieved: As a result of these learning experiences, students gained culturally sensitive clinical skills that are now embedded into their nursing practice. One student shared, “It deepened my respect for other cultures and practices” while another noted, “This experience helped me gain skills in providing global healthcare” (Titus, 2013). Additionally a student stated, “I was able to learn about global health by physically seeing the way other people live, and how it determines their perception and access to health care” (Service Learning Post-Trip Evaluation, 2014). Students have since participated in scholarly activities, including intramural presentations and a manuscript to a professional student nursing journal on these lived experiences. This transcultural health course and scholarly activities fueled interest in students advancing their nursing education.
Conclusions: The knowledge gained through an immersion experience in India on meanings of access-to-care has imparted a personal and professional growth experience our nursing students would not have received in a traditional American classroom. Recognition of global healthcare services and how access to these services often drastically changes during monsoon season is best learned through immersion experiences. Schools of nursing that offer transcultural learning experiences provide intentional opportunities for both faculty and students to further develop culturally congruent nursing practice and incredible opportunities to serve vulnerable populations in “their world, not mine” (Ryan, 2000).