Howest International Week April 2018
In April 2018, 2 mental health and 3 adult pre-registration nursing students, as well as Tricia Leadbetter and Andrew Southgate, Senior Lecturers in Adult Nursing, visited the Howest International week in Bruges, Belgium.
This was the first time students had attended the event. A wide variety of activities were arranged, which included joining taught group discussion sessions with Belgian students, attending lecturers and a chance to participate in Simulated Activities facilitated by Turkish and Israeli academics.
Tricia and Andrew were invited to deliver presentations. Tricia facilitated an interactive session exploring differences in acute and community care in the U.K. Andrew presented preliminary findings from his Cultural Competence research an d tips for academics when planning an international exchange. Tricia and Andrew were also part of an “expert panel” facilitated discussion related to Person Centred Care along with colleagues from Holland and Austria. Finally, they also facilitated groups of Belgian, English, Scottish and Finnish students to explore intercultural care dilemmas using a variety of frameworks. The students from CCCU actively engaged in all the sessions and presented some of their conclusions from the case studies with other students.
Whist we there we learnt about some of the differences in the Austrian under and post graduate nursing programmes, the socio-economic drivers in Austria related to health and validation requirements for Austria Registered Nurses. Colleagues from Israel presented findings from research exploring cultural competence in nurses and students. The presentation also highlighted the ethnic diversity within Israel and the different healthcare needs of these ethnic groups. Academics from Finland highlighted the work that is being done in the country to help migrants integrate into the country by educating them in a range of topics such as laws, how to access healthcare and healthy lifestyle behaviours. This also included a significant input from mental health professionals due to the trauma the sample had encountered in their home country and their migrant journey. There was also a presentation on Co Creation of knowledge with people who had experienced illness and healthcare services in Holland.
The CCCU students had the opportunity to spend time with Belgian and Finnish students during the sessions. In addition, some of the Belgian students invited them out for dinner one evening to show them around Brugge. This provided some excellent opportunities to learn about culture, nurse education and healthcare in Finland and Belgium.