My Health Career is excited to present a guest article by Emerging Nurse Leader Natalie Sharp about her placement in North Vietnam….

“I have just completed my Bachelor of Nursing at The University of Notre Dame in Perth, WA. Throughout high school I had always been interested in pursuing a career within the health industry and the opportunity to study nursing was presented to me. Since then, I have never looked back on my decision to embark upon a career as a nurse and am now proud to officially call myself ‘Nurse Natalie’. I have been supported throughout my studies and the start of my career by the Australian College of Nursing through their Emerging Nurse Leader program. This is assisting me to develop my leadership skills so that I may have a profound impact on my nursing generation.

Nursing is a career that presents itself with many opportunities to discover, educate and travel. I was able to experience all of these opportunities very early in my career when I embarked on a volunteer clinical placement, with nine classmates and two lecturers, to North Vietnam in 2012.

Preparation for our trip involved raising money for medical supplies and equipment to be used at the village health clinics, gathering items for the school visits and preparing ourselves by learning about the Vietnamese culture and language.

Our first few days were spent in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. Here we visited Bach Mai Hospital where it quickly became apparent to us that we were going to have our hands full in the following days! We were then bussed to a rural town called Mai Chau, a beautiful town surrounded by mountains and rice fields. Upon our arrival we were given an introduction to the local hospital, where we would be working for the next two days. The hospital surprised me a lot. It was spacious, the open corridors were refreshing and some of the resources they had available to them was encouraging. One of the highlights was standing in an operating theatre, in our flip flops and casual clothes, two metres away from where a baby was being delivered! Seeing new life come into the world is always a special thing and this experience was no exception. It was also humbling to meet the director of the hospital and I listened intently as they spoke to us about how thankful they were for our visit and support.

From Mai Chau we trekked for two hours through the Vietnamese wilderness to a remote village called Hang Kia. That afternoon we visited the local primary school. Here, I was able to use my amateur ukulele skills to lead the children in singing songs about hand washing; a useful and fun way to incorporate basic hygiene principals into our educational sessions. The kids seemed to think that I was a musical superstar – questionable musical skills aside, the kids loved it! We then split them up into groups, gave them all a hand washing and tooth brushing demonstration and then sent them home with a brand new toothbrush, tube of toothpaste and a bar of soap. It was like Christmas had come early for them – I’ll never forget the smiles on their faces.

The following days were spent in the Han Kia village health clinic, which was extremely busy. We then trekked to the remote village of Van. Here, we ran the village health clinic for three days.

Over the two villages we saw over 600 patients in five days. That’s what I call hands on learning at its best! No placement in Australia would ever give us the experience of triaging, assessing, diagnosing and treating that many patients. The nursing skills we had learnt in our university labs were finally being used on real life patients. My assessment skills over this time improved exponentially and my communication skills were well practiced; I was able to creatively share my knowledge about basic hygiene principles, as well as provide vital supplies needed for them to maintain these hygiene needs. I returned to Australia with a greater appreciation for the health services offered; services that we often take for granted.

If you are a high school student interested in a career in health but are not sure what path to take, I strongly encourage you to take up the challenge of becoming a nurse. It’s a dynamic career where you can really make a difference, and your skills are universal. What more could you ask for! If you are a student nurse thinking about completing an overseas placement, then go for it. You will never regret it. And lastly, if you’re an educator, or someone who wants to make a difference, then I ask you to support overseas clinical placements for students. I will certainly never forget this experience, and am thankful for the opportunity it afforded me in enriching my nursing skills.”