Students at the School of Nursing once again had the opportunity to venture off campus during the Summer 2023 relaunch of the study abroad program. After several years of hiatus due to COVID-19, a total of 16 students — 11 from nursing and six from other UT colleges and schools — were taught by professors Nancy Guillet, DNP, MD, MSN, RN, and Ana Todd, PhD, RN, in Costa Rica.
The School of Nursing is one of only a few in the U.S. that offer study abroad for nursing students. Engaging Global Health in Costa Rica provided students with an immersion experience to explore socio-cultural issues, health care systems, health determinants and health outcomes in Costa Rica while practicing Spanish language skills and receiving credit for required courses in the nursing program. While in Costa Rica, students took two courses: Global Health, and Spanish for Health Care Professionals.
This program is designed for students with an interest in global health and/or Latin America. Costa Rica provides its citizens with universal health care coverage and offers some of the highest quality health care in Latin America. Students participated in excursions to unique health and community-based organizations, as well as enjoyed Costa Rica's natural beauty, hospitality and culture.
The course focuses on current issues, to show the students what Costa Rican organizations are doing.
“The students get to see things differently and see what’s going on in the world, which gives them a new perspective,” Guillet said. “It really is a worldview because we are so focused on our own world and it’s eye-opening to see people who have less resources in developing countries and how they live with so little.”
Todd explained that the program’s goal is to expand students’ horizons and help them consider other options and what can they do as future health care professionals. The hope is that students will take what they have learned in Costa Rica and advocate for change.
“We hope they look at everything from a different lens, and they put on a different lens and shift their paradigm.” Todd said. “Any education abroad experience is transformative,” she admitted, but the students’ evident growth, their increased open-mindedness and their new appreciation of what nurses can do and nurses’ impact on the world are all key.
Guillet also said that what students take away depends on what they put into their experience. “We want to facilitate a door that opens beyond the 40 acres, the city, state and country and open a window of opportunity to see how much they can do and be a part of changing the world,” she said.
“It’s not about the education, it’s about the growth and transformation,” Todd said; “They will one day be global citizens and see how we’re all connected, and this is probably the most important way to be engaged in a culture that’s different from theirs” and perhaps appreciate it.
In addition to the relaunch of the Costa Rica study abroad program, the President Award for Global Learning took 13 UT Austin undergraduate students, including two nursing students, along with Associate Professor Julie Zuñiga, PhD, MSN, RN, to Kenya in July 2023 as part of the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) consortium.
The purpose of the trip was to connect with the School of Nursing’s AMPATH partners from Moi University and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital to work on wound care prevention and treatment projects. This trip was key in the School’s continued relationship with AMPATH and Moi University. The School is currently working on two new manuscripts with a team of students, junior faculty and senior faculty.
There were four student teams, each including a student from Moi University School of Nursing. Two teams had prototypes to prevent wounds with locally sourced devices to help with turning. One team created educational material in English and Swahili, and the final team conducted a qualitative study on the barriers and facilitators to wound care prevention and treatment in the hospital. Students presented their projects to key stake holder for feedback and further development. They also learned about current training and treatment and observed wound care treatment done by nurses for patients with severe wounds.
“This trip was unique because it was interdisciplinary and brought professions together that don’t normally work together, but the projects are made stronger by the expanded perspective,” Zuñiga said. “Our nursing students were able to take leadership roles with their peers, as they had the most experience and knowledge about patient care.”