The UP Faculty of Health Sciences hosted US students from Nebraska in January. The students of nursing visited Olomouc for a rich three-week programme including classes, excursions, and internships, prepared jointly by the faculty and University Hospital Olomouc.
During January, six nursing students from UP’s partner institution, the University of Nebraska-Kearney, gathered knowledge and experience in both medical and non-medical disciplines. “Colleagues from the Department of Nursing, the Department of Midwifery, and the Department of Clinical Rehabilitation provided classes for the students in the faculty premises. Many thanks also go to colleagues from Olomouc University Hospital, who organised the programme in the hospital and were willing to take care of the students during their regular work hours,” emphasised Renáta Váverková, the deputy head of the Department of Nursing.
During their busy schedule, the Nebraska students visited the Department of Anaesthesiology, Resuscitation and Intensive Care, the Department of Surgery I, the the Rehabilitation Ward, the Emergency Ward, the Department of Hemato-Oncology, the PICC team at the Department of Cardiac Surgery, the Medical Nutrition Ward, the Department of Internal Medicine I – Cardiology, the Department of Nuclear Medicine, and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The students also appreciated the opportunity to learn about the pneumatic tube mail system. They highly appreciated the approach of the University Hospital Olomouc staff and the quality of the equipment at the workplaces.
“This is my first visit to Europe, and I’m very happy that I could get to know the Czech Republic because my family comes from Wilber, Nebraska, the “Czech capital” of the United States. It was so nice here, everyone took great care of us, everyone was so hospitable. The classes and excursions were very useful for us. I’m in my second year and I haven’t had the opportunity to work with patients yet, so I appreciated the opportunity to see the daily operations of your hospital. I think the Emergency Ward made the biggest impression on me. I was also very impressed with the Physiotherapy and Midwifery departments and with the overall care and approach to patients here,” said student Morgan Bice.
“The implementation of the programme was quite a challenge for us, so I’m very glad that the visit of the foreign students to our faculty went smoothly. I believe that the collaboration between the universities will continue and that we will be able to welcome even more students next year. I would like to thank my colleagues Petra Kašparová and Irena Jedličková for their seamless preparations,” said Váverková.
During their stay, the guests from Nebraska also met students from Ukraine at the UP American Center and debated with them (see more here).
“I believe that this stay will lead to a successful cooperation in education as well as science and research. The first step was to start talks on the possibility of establishing a joint study programme in Healthcare Organisation and Management. I would like to thank my colleagues from the Faculty of Arts, who have been cooperating with the University of Kearney for a long time and helped to facilitate this stay,” said Jiří Vévoda, the dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, in conclusion.
