TWU, Mexican Nursing Students Exchange Culture, Knowledge

Five students from the Texas Woman's University College of Nursing - Houston Center, two registered nurses and one TWU professor spent five weeks in Mexico this past summer as part of a student exchange program with Universidad PanAmericana in Mexico. In addition, during the June 10 through July 12 exchange, four nursing students from Universidad PanAmerican studied in Houston.

While abroad, TWU students Nicole Tompert, Amy Velasquez, Denise Goertz, Lauren Vassigh and Michelle Ferguson, nurses Constance Jennings and Debra Trimble and assistant professor Ruth Grubesic, Dr.P.H., studied nursing, the Spanish language and gained cultural insights. While in Houston, the four Mexican nursing students - Monserrat Puntunet Bates, Karina Davila Diaz, Aida Castillo Ferrari and Florence Fernandez Reynaud - received U.S. nursing instruction and orientation.

The TWU delegation spent the first three weeks of their visit in hospital clinicals at CIMIGEN Hospital, about a one-hour drive from Universidad PanAmericana. CIMIGEN provides maternal/child health care services to an indigenous community.

Each student received instruction in all of the services offered, as they rotated through the hospital setting, including contraceptive services, antenatal care, labor and delivery, surgery, postnatal care and the well-baby clinic. Clinical days were comprised of six hours of hospital duty, a two-hour break, and two hours of Spanish-language class in the late afternoon back at the university.

Private families provided housing to the students at a minimal cost, which included meals and laundry. Students ate breakfast and dinner with their families and lunch at the university.

The American students spent the last two weeks in Toshi, a small community located two hours northwest of Mexico City. There they provided health care to the local community at the clinic and during in-home visits. Additionally, children were seen in a school setting and health education was provided.

"They found out that the main illnesses in Toshi were related to parasites and upper-respiratory infections," Grubesic said. "In rural Mexico, inadequate sanitation and hygiene are the cause of many of these illnesses."

The Mexican exchange students spent time in the clinical units at Methodist and Memorial Hermann hospitals observing various procedures while rotating among surgery, pediatrics, cardiovascular and medical/surgical nursing units.

They also had the opportunity to collaborate on classroom projects with TWU nursing students, learn about nursing similarities and differences between the United States and Mexico, and about multicultural health care related issues. The Mexican nursing students presented a paper at the end of their visit on fetal alcohol syndrome to TWU faculty and members of the Texas Medical Center community.

The TWU exchange students received five hours of nursing credit from the Universidad PanAmericana and two credit hours for Spanish language, transferable to TWU for multicultural credits, women's studies or independent course study. TWU granted the Mexican students four credit hours for independent study on multicultural nursing.

This is the second of a five-year exchange student agreement between TWU and Universidad PanAmericana.

Those TWU nursing students interested in joining 2003 summer exchange session in Mexico should contact Grubesic at (713) 794-2136.

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URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/10_01_02/page_19.html