Today started our first of three days doing our community health rotation. I had the pleasure of meeting a Lovisenberg nursing student and joining her community health rotation! Her and another nursing student are participating in home health. We walked to the nursing facility every morning to get report and their assignment, and then walked or biked to their patient’s apartments or homes. It is really neat how they can travel from home to home in close neighborhoods on foot! They each have smartphones from the facility that they carry on them in order to chart, review meds, and write notes in real time. They use these phones as well to go over the patient’s data with them in an easy-to-read manner. This directly aligns with the public health core competency 3A2: ” Communicates in writing and orally with linguistic and cultural proficiency (e.g., using age-appropriate materials, incorporating images)”. The students spent a lot of time talking to the patients about their care and  reviewing their progress. The charts on the phone include graphs and scatter plots of their data. In addition, it tells them all the tasks the patients require and about how much time it will take. It is a great use of technology!

During lunch we started talking about the Sustainable Development Goal of gender equality. Similar to the US, Norway’s nursing population is primarily women. Men are encouraged to join the nursing workforce by receiving more “points” towards their application if they are male. The opposite is true with women in engineering- you get more points for being a female when applying to be an engineer. Despite the push for equality, women make less money than men. The Norwegian students explained that there is approximately 1 day per year that women “work for free” compared to men.

Though there is also a wage gap in Norway, they surpasses in terms of women in politics. There is currently a woman seated as prime minister (and she is the second woman!) There is also a push for increase women in parliament, and people are supporting policies that would mandate a requirement for certain number of women in the workplace.

This experience relates to my future as an advanced nurse practitioner in learning about the different home environments that newborns can be sent home to. There were definitely some safety issues in the home I saw to be addressed for newborn populations. I think that it is important to have home environments baby-proofed before infants are sent home. In houses in Norway, there were a lot of antique glass wear, old furniture, power cords, and vintage rugs. Even though I saw a lot of older patients today, it would be interesting to see what a home looks like young, new family.

It was a great first community clinical day! I really enjoyed being able to see the inside of Norwegian homes and how home health care works.

Walking around the neighborhood where we did home visits

Guro (Norway), Christina (US), and Emilie (Norway) in front of the nursing center

Me and Christina in front of the nursing center

United Nations (n.d.). Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/

The Council on Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice (2014, June 26). Core competencies for public health professionals. Retrieved from http://www.phf.org/resourcestools/Documents/Core_Competencies_for_Public_Health_Professionals_2014June.pdf

I chose to enroll in the Norway experience because I have found a passion in directly learning about cultures different than my own. One idea that truly resonates with me is being hands-on in my learning experiences. As Dr. Morrison-Beedy writes in one of her posts:  “You have heard these words in the classroom and discussed them, but now it’s time to put them into action. Your ability to effectively interact with people of different cultures, integrating respect and responsiveness, will take you far in this experience and those that follow” (1). We have been lectured on topics such as culture competency, unbiased versus biased behavior in healthcare, and so on. For me personally, I can study and read all about these topics, but it requires visceral experiences to fully learn, understand, and then incorporate into my practice these ideas we are taught on paper. I am excited and prepared to have these experiences in my repertoire to care for future patients in the best manner possible.  I strive to become a well-rounded practitioner in not only my skill set, but also my overall understanding of unique human cultures and behaviors.

Image retrieved from: Winters, M-F. (2014). Cultural Competence – Part 4: You Have To Do The Work. The Inclusion Solution. Accessed 7 May 2019. http://www.theinclusionsolution.me/cultural-competence-part-4-you-have-to-do-the-work/

I believe my past experiences abroad will help me mentally, physically, and emotionally prepare for this trip. Having been outside of the United States a few times, I can personally attest to many of the advice points Dr. Morrison-Beedy describes. I also have an extremely go-with-the-flow attitude in matters I know I cannot control. I understand that it is very easy to get upset about delays, changes in plans, etc., but if there is nothing you can do to solve the problem, why waste brain power on it? Travel (and life) can be simplified by keeping calm and collected, realizing that there are many different ways to find the experience you are looking for. In addition, do not discount the numerous avenues in which you can learn from experiences. Every interaction or situation may not be the most enjoyable, but understanding and recognizing the information you can learn from can make any situation/experience meaningful.

Top of the Duomo in Florence- My first time out of the U.S. during a study abroad in high school to various cities in Italy (2013)

John Lennon Wall in Prague, Czech Republic- my second study abroad trip (2016)

I am looking forward to immersing myself in Norway!

(1) Morrison-Beedy, D. (2019, February 4). The top 10 things to pack (in your brain) for global education experiences. Retrieved from https://u.osu.edu/osuglobaltransformations/