The Nurse’s Role in Global Health, Study Abroad in Ireland, Professor Kennon & Professor Davis, Summer 2018
This course was very unique, as it was a study abroad course. The course lasted around two months, and we stayed in Ireland for about two weeks; therefore, the class began before our trip and ended a few weeks afterward. Having the class start before we left for Ireland was really nice because it allowed me to learn a lot more about Ireland’s health care system and global health through the assignments we had to complete. This gave me an idea of what to expect when we arrived in Ireland. In our limited time in Ireland, we went to many meetings with different hospitals, nursing schools, and other medical facilities, as well as the Board of Nursing and Midwifery. I learned so much about how health care and nursing school differs in Ireland from what I am used to the United States. It was also interesting to see how Ireland compared to the United States in aspects aside from health care. While we were in Ireland, we had daily journals, which was really nice because it allowed me to record what we did and what I learned each day. At the end of our trip, we had to write a conclusion essay to go along with our journals, concluding everything we learned and relating it to the topic of the course: global health. After returning from Ireland, the insight I gained while we were there was very beneficial in completing the remainder of our assignments. Because I was in the honors section of this course, majority of our assignments had extra work to be completed. Two of our bigger assignments and the topics I chose included: an article review on HIV/AIDS and a research paper on child mortality. I have attached my research paper as my artifact. Overall, taking this course helped me to better understand and be more aware of global health issues and how, as a future nurse, I can impact positive change in these areas. I also really enjoyed visiting Ireland!