The importance of promoting a global view of healthcare in nursing students

26^th World Congress on Nursing Care

May 21-23, 2018 Osaka, Japan

Darcy Hostetter-Lewis

California State University, USA

Keynote: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Objective: To provide nursing students from rural Northern California, United States with the opportunity to travel to Nigeria to provide care for the residents of Ozu Abam, Abia State, Nigeria Methods: In December, 2017 a group of 7 nursing students from California State University, Chico travelled to Ozu Abam, Nigeria with a member of nursing faculty to participate in the inauguration of the Kristina Chesterman Memorial Clinic. Students received cultural and geo-political education throughout the semester preceding the trip and worked together as a group to meet all requirements for travel. The group prepared an evidence based education plan to assist residents of the area with diabetes. The educational plan was reviewed by a nurse practitioner from the region for relevance and accuracy. The group also trained together to respond to a variety of medical conditions including trauma, malaria, sickle cell anemia, and hypertension. Key Findings: The group arrived with a variety of life experiences prior to the trip; some had travelled extensively while others had never left the state of California. Although each individual member of the group was impacted differently, all members of the group were astonished at the extensive differences between life in the United States and life in Nigeria and all professed to have increased their ability to understand all other cultures due to the experience. Conclusions: Enabling nursing students to experience a culture which is vastly different from their own not only provides them with an understanding of that specific group of people, it also helps them understand the vast differences that exist between societies. Seeing another culture first hand enables individuals to understand the etiology of many of the different traditions and belief systems that exist between all groups of people.

Biography :

Darcy J Hostetter-Lewis has received her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from California State University, USA and Master of Science degree in Nursing as a Perinatal Educator from Saint Louis University. She had been teaching for the past 10 years at California State University, Chicago. Further, she pursued her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Presently she is working with the Kristina Chesterman Memorial Clinic continues, with inauguration of the KCMC healthcare and teaching facility.
Email:dhostetter-lewis@csuchico.edu