Before I returned from Peace Corps, I had a conversation, or a slight breakdown, to my Peace Corps sisters about being afraid of going back to bedside nursing. Working primarily in community health and health education, I feared that I had lost some clinical and critical thinking skills. Remember, I had only been in the clinical setting as a professional nurse for a little over a year before I started my service in Rwanda. While my health center allowed me to practice some clinical procedures, especially in the labor room, I spent most of my time programming and educating. Once I returned stateside I was apprehensive about applying as a staff nurse. I very much wanted to go back to the Intensive Care setting, but I knew I had been away from that atmosphere for over a year. So, I applied to New Graduate Programs. Most hospitals were like, “You’ve been out of nursing school for two years, you’re too old for a new graduate program.”
Anyway, even almost three years after my post-service, I am continuously processing how I gained SO MUCH MORE than I could have ever given or “lost” during service. Actually, it led me to process how all of my international travels and experiences have contributed to making me a better nurse. Some of you may know that I grew up traveling internationally because my father lived overseas for a great portion of my life and I spent summers and holidays with him. Therefore, when I began to travel as an adult, international travel wasn’t new to me; however, it’s importance didn’t set in until I reached college. During my undergraduate studies at THE ILLUSTRIOUS Prairie View A&M University, I was afforded opportunities to travel to Ghana and China. Some of my post-undergrad travels include: Rwanda, Uganda, Guam, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. How have these experiences made me a better nurse? The ability to connect to people. All of these places have taught me how to connect, how to respond, and how to adhere to different customs and cultures. No, I’m not fluent in all these foreign languages. However, I’ve studied enough Chinese to initiate a conversation. I know enough Tagalog to address people with respectful terms. I still keep in touch with my family and friends in Rwanda, so they keep my Kinyarwanda fresh. I know few Swahili words to chime in. I know enough German and French to not die. And, uuuuuh, Japanese and Korean go as far as, “Thank you,” but that Google translator is like Jesus, ALWAYS on time. We once had a patient on our unit that hated EVERYBODY. Y’all, she yelled and cursed everyone. I saw she was assigned to me one day and immediately thought, “Oh shit, here we go,” because you all know I’m not for all that disrespect, especially not towards nurses. However, I overheard her speaking with her family one day and noticed it was Chinese. The next time I entered her room I said, “Ni Hao, ma? (How are you?)” Her face LIT UP! I mean complete 180. I didn’t even know who this lady was anymore. However, we made a connection. She was interested in knowing about my time in China, she opened up to me about what she wished to be included in her care, and how much she wanted her family to know. My coworkers were baffled at how, all of a sudden, this patient loved me so much. America likes to boast about being a “melting pot,” but still has such a high intolerance and impatient attitude towards Non-Western European cultures. Internationally, I learned how to slow down and consider how a person’s cultural background plays into their medical care. Some cultures are okay with their families knowing everything, some don’t wish to have visitors in a time of perceived weakness. Many cultures process and accept death differently. Some prefer female patients to have only female caregivers. Some cultures prefer not to make eye contact. I know that my West African patients are going to be completely different from my East African patients. On Guam, even though a U.S. Territory, I learned that patients from islands have totally different healthcare concerns (that’s another post). When I get hand-off report and the off-going nurse says, “Their appetite is poor.” I’m like, “Is it? Or are they just not accustomed to eating this food. We should probably have the nutritionist go over what their family members can bring from home.” Let’s switch from the patient side to the colleague side. My international experiences have allowed me to move and work fluidly with my coworkers from different ethnic backgrounds. They are very much like patients, when they learn that you know and understand a little bit of their culture and customs they respect you more. They’re more likely to lend a hand, oh, and bring you food! PAUSE: Sometimes it’s evident that some people, patients, coworkers, randoms, are just stunned that a Black Woman would have these experiences, not to mention a Black Woman my age. But that’s neither here nor there and not for this post. So, nurses, I encourage you to travel internationally. Not just for vacation, but to serve. Serve a people different than you (Really, you can do this right here in the States and learn so much, but this post is about international travel). Serve with the intention of not imposing your beliefs and traditions, but with the intention of learning from those you are serving. Go work in unfavorable conditions with limited resources. Get your nose accustomed to different smells, and realize deodorant is a luxury and it only stinks to you because it’s not what you’re used to. I digress. Funny, when I started doing Crossfit in 2018, people would ask me, "How can you get so low in an overhead squat?" I'm like, "Y'all, I used the bathroom in this position for a year, I can stay down here for like 10 minutes." Any who, become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Nursing is the most trusted profession, and trust is what it boils down to. When patients feel as if they can connect with us, or that we are taking the time to connect with them, they trust us more. Now, don’t get me wrong, most days we are run ragged, I mean beat down, where we might only know a patient by room number. Sometimes patients are too sick for considerations that aren’t life or death. However, it only takes one small thing to foster a better sense of trust between patients, families, and caregivers. While I was worried about what I may have been losing during service, what I gained is incalculable. My international service and experiences make me a very unique nurse. All of them have made me into a better and more prudent nurse (because a Prairie Nurse is a Prudent Nurse). More importantly it made me into a more relatable and better human. Travel internationally, it’ll make you better…and really, who doesn’t want to be better? Until Next Time, Live in Love…
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