Responding to COVID-19: Online Global Health Programs
At Nursing Heart we prioritize being able to offer personalized programs for individual groups. Keeping up with this usual model of operation, we have been designing personalized Online Global Health programs with five of our university partners.
Since travel has been restricted and communities are closed off to the outside world, our Global health exchange has been put on hold. In the meantime, we have been working hard to deliver a quality virtual experience for nursing students.
These programs variously focus on community health assessments, health education, health disparities in marginalized communities, and a “deep dive” into the health and nursing education systems in Guatemala.
The programs generally offer webinars, video patient scenarios, virtual community assessments, case studies and interviews with local community leaders. Proceeds from these programs will allow us to continue to financially support partners, communities and leaders for lending their time and expertise to student groups.
For more information or to offer an online Global Health Program with your institution, please contact us at info@nursingheart.org.
Global Health Experiences
Nurses, nurse practitioner candidates and undergraduates gain important practical skills and receive critical cultural education and perspective on the importance of the care they provide every day in their home communities.
Through Nursing Heart programs, students gain patient experience in acute care, women’s health, child wellness, diabetes and hypertension and more. At the same time, they develop crucial skills in inter-cultural relationships and the social dynamics at play in the provision of health care anywhere in the world.
CLINICAL JORNADAS for Advanced Practice Nurses or Nurse Practitioners in Training (“NP Groups”)
Careful developmental preparation is made for advanced practice nurses to come to underserved communities to share their expertise and grow in diagnostic skill. Working under Guatemalan doctors, practitioners have a pharmacy at their disposal to offer to patients in need. These clinical training opportunities usually include a simultaneous cervical cancer screening clinic. Cervical cancer remains the number one killer of women of maternal age in Guatemala.
UNDERGRADUATE NURSING
BSN and other undergraduate nursing students have the opportunity to gain exposure to the processes used by NGOs to deliver health care in Guatemala. Non-licensed students observe and participate in clinics with those delivering the care. Often “Wellness Checks” will be arranged in culturally indigenous primary school communities and participants have an opportunity to impact and learn about these communities. Students return home excited about the possibility of helping internationally in their nursing careers.
This video documents a school wellness clinic conducted with community partners Centro Educativo Síndrome de Amor in San Miguel Dueñas. Thanks to Asociación VIDA for allowing us to link to their video production on this page.