De nieuwe docent - Sax.nu

INTERNATIONAL
When the nurses arrived in January,
they were finishing the pre-master
course that was partly taught in
Vietnam by visiting lecturers from
Saxion. After a six-month study programme
in Enschede the students are
going to return again to Vietnam for
three months to be trained in their
own hospitals by their clinical supervisors.
After their graduation in April
2010, the new masters in their turn
will be ready to train other nurses to
use the new skills acquired.
Background and experience
The nurses, six female and two male
nurses, between 25 and 34 years of
februari 2009
27
International
Vietnamese Students
enrol in Advanced Nursing
Practice
Eight nurses from Vietnam have just started a Master in Advanced
Nursing Practice at the School of Health at the Enschede campus.
They were selected as part of a project Saxion has been carrying out
together with the Nam Dinh University of Nursing and other nursing
schools in Vietnam to raise the standards of nursing education there.
The nurses are trained to become teachers for the new Vietnamese
bachelor nursing programmes.
Photo: Toma Tudor
age, come from state hospitals in
three different cities in Vietnam: Ho
Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Nam
Dinh. They have specialized in areas
as diverse as renal care, trauma and
emergency care, tropical disease,
intensive care, cardiology and plastic
surgery. “Part of the reason why we
were chosen was to make sure that
the training would include various
fields of care”, says Truong Minh
Hoang Oanh . “To be eligible for the
programme you had to work in a
state hospital and to have had 3,000
hours of clinical experience,” adds
Tran Van Oanh. Actually the experience
of the nurses varies between
three and nine years. Another requirement
was that they should have a
sufficient level of English, so many of
them took English lessons well in
advance of the course.
Reasons for joining
Why did they decide to join the programme?
Four of the students not
only left friends and family behind but
also husband or wife and a young
child, so the motivation to take part
must be strong. Ha Thi Nu Xuan
points out that because the programme
is the first course in Advanced
Nursing Practice ever given in
Vietnam it is a great opportunity.
“Besides it is a scholarship programme
and a great chance to enhance your
knowledge.”They modestly admit that
they hope that the degree will also
make them eligible for promotion.
Gradual change
At the time of the interview they had
not visited Dutch hospitals and other
health care institutions yet, so a comparison
between the Vietnamese and
Dutch setting was difficult to make.
Yet they all agreed that the Dutch
concept of nursing practice cannot be
copied slavishly. “I think because of
cultural differences and also a lack of
infra structure we will adopt whatever
is appropriate step by step,” says
Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan.
Finally the inevitable question
about Holland: What struck them
most when they arrived? “People
are huge, like giants and they all
seem to ride bicycles.”
Hannie Schipper