Janis N. Rice, M.S.N., RN, CS, associate professor in the Department of Acute Nursing Care, (left), with Lyda Arévalo-Flechas, Ph.D., M.S.N., RN, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Acute Nursing Care, during one of the early School of Nursing study abroad experiences.
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Recovering from a devastating natural disaster, such as the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, can go on for years, especially when a quake strikes a Third-World country that has few resources.

That is why a group of 10 nursing students, led by UT Health Science Center San Antonio faculty member Lyda Arévalo-Flechas, Ph.D., M.S.N., RN, will be traveling in June to Viña Vieja, a rural community in Peru that was struck by a magnitude-7.9 earthquake in August 2007. The nursing team will provide screenings, health education and nursing care for 120 families, with the ultimate goal of helping to reopen the community health clinic for a traveling Peruvian physician.

The study abroad course is an international elective offered by the School of Nursing during the summer called “Primary Health Care in the Global Community: An International Health Care Experience.” The purpose of the three-credit elective is to give undergraduate nursing students an intense and challenging clinically based, service-learning experience in a different culture that broadens their world view and gives them the opportunity to help others.

Two sections of the elective offered each summer
School of Nursing faculty members typically facilitate separate study abroad experiences in two locations each summer. In addition to the nursing team visiting Peru in June, Janis N. Rice, M.S.N., RN, CS, associate professor in the Department of Acute Nursing Care, will lead a group of five nursing students to Uspantan, Guatemala, in July.

“Our study abroad program involves a close partnership with nationally recognized organizations such as Partners of The Americas and HELPS International,” said Dr. Arévalo-Flechas, who grew up in Colombia. She is a clinical assistant professor and the John A. Hartford Foundation’s Claire M. Fagin Fellow in the Department of Acute Nursing Care. Partners of The Americas is providing the platform for the activities in Peru, while HELPS International will support the other elective section traveling to Guatemala.

“We provide the nurses for an interprofessional team,” explained Rice, who developed the summer international elective course in 2006. “That usually involves setting up the clinics or hospitals and managing the patients that come for care. We do the screenings and triage the patients so they get the care they need, and we also assist in the operating room and provide nursing care after the procedures. What’s different about this course is that the students are actively involved in providing care. They are not just observers.”

Lyda Arévalo-Flechas, Ph.D., M.S.N., RN, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Acute Nursing Care, (pink scrubs) led nursing students to Cochabamba, Bolivia, last summer where they helped teach first-response emergency procedures to police officers, firefighters, nurses and doctors.

A student's perspective
Blanca Alicia Allen, who participated in last year’s Guatemalan elective, said, “We worked as a team, which consisted of four RNs and five student nurses. We worked 15- to 18-hour days. We set up our own post-operative unit with about 20 beds. During the next six days we provided post-op care for about 80 patients.

“What impacted me the most was experiencing their culture and seeing how little they have, but that they don’t care much about material things,” Allen said. “They don’t care about the stock market, the hottest new trends or changing their status on Facebook. They care about their faith, their wellness and their families. Although I’ve always worked hard for everything I have, I never really thought about the things I take for granted. But after this trip, I am absolutely grateful for everything and everyone I have in my life.”

Bolivian experience
In summer 2009, Dr. Arévalo-Flechas and six students visited Cochabamba, Bolivia, where they found a welcoming indigenous people who rely primarily on herbal remedies. Unfortunately, they do not have adequate clean water to bathe regularly, causing health concerns.

The nursing team taught preventive health practices and assisted in instructing first-response emergency procedures to police officers, firefighters, nurses and doctors. “We participated in CPR instruction, administration of first aid and demonstration of how to safely transport injured patients to the hospital,” Dr. Arévalo-Flechas explained. “The EMT instructors relied on us for translation, hands-on demonstrations and simulation of injuries from motor-vehicle accidents. By the time we were ready to leave, it was very gratifying to begin to see that patients were being brought to the emergency department with correctly placed cervical collars and wounds bandaged to control bleeding.”

Changing lives
Kassie Hunt, RN, who participated in the international elective as a senior Health Science Center nursing student, said, “I definitely learned how to work in a different culture and in different situations. It was eye-opening to see how fortunate we have it here in the U.S.”

Hunt said the patients have many hurdles to overcome to receive health care. “We had a patient who rode the bus every day to the emergency department as an outpatient so that the physician, who used natural medicine, could treat her wound,” she said. “The doctors and nurses are very resourceful,” she added. “It was interesting to see how they prevented pressure ulcers in the hospital — by propping up the patient’s ankles and heels using gloves filled with water.”

Hunt, a recent graduate, said she plans to visit Tanzania sometime this year. “I have a passion for international nursing care,” she said.

Rice noted that the service-learning elective has been a highlight of her career. “I’ve been in military nursing for 28 years, but these trips are some of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had,” she said.

UT Health Science Center study abroad activities, like this nursing elective, undergo a lengthy preparation process that includes both departmental and school curriculum approvals. University study abroad experiences that are sponsored by or that are affiliated with the Health Science Center are offered in partnership with the university’s Office of International Services.

For information about how to apply for the 2011 nursing study abroad program, please contact Rice at (210) 567-5612, or Dr. Arevalo-Flechas at (210) 567-5842.