Professors at Duke are increasingly incorporating community service projects into their courses, encouraging students to apply the information they learn in the classroom to the real world.
Dr. Dennis Clements, professor of pediatrics, is taking service learning to a new level--traveling later this month with 14 nursing and medical students in his "Exploring Honduras" class on a medical outreach mission to Honduras. The class, part of the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, focuses on the Honduran culture and attitude toward medicine and culminates in a 10-day outreach mission.
While there, the students will focus on preventative care, parasitic diseases and nutritional assessment, and will provide supplies for daily health care. Students said their help is sorely needed in Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the world, where many health problems are caused by a lack of basic utilities such as running water and electricity.
Although one goal of the program is to provide help to the Hondurans, the students themselves will also learn a great deal on their trip. Students in the Honduras course anticipate that the experience will improve not only their medical skills, but also their perspective on health care--both abroad and at home. The students hope to translate the experience into better health care both in Honduras and the U.S. by studying the differences in health care attitudes and values between the two systems.
"The great disparity between [the] United States' health care and Honduras' health care shows how spoiled Americans really are," said Kim Scott, a nursing student. "Poverty makes a big difference on people's attitudes and the way they adapt to problems confronting them."
Although the students seek to provide medical care for the Hondurans, they also want to respect the Hondurans' knowledge of health care.
"These people deal with their health care problems every day and know how to handle many issues, so we don't want them to think of us as superior to the health care they already have," said nursing student Amna Mohammed. We just want to serve as a supplement to the system already in place. In many ways, they'll be the teachers and we the learners."
Mohammed added that going to Honduras as a volunteer will force her to step outside her comfort zone, but in doing so, it will help her to better appreciate the level of health care enjoyed in America.
"It puts everything in perspective," she said.
Michelle Renaud, assistant professor at the School of Nursing and ABSN program director, expressed great pride in the group of students selected to go to Honduras this year and emphasized the work they put into the program. She added that such dedicated students will benefit from this program and receive "good experience to carry into their medical career."
Although the program is financed by the School of Nursing and backed by the Hefler International Project, a non-profit group that helps to fund service projects, the students also fundraised a large portion of the trips' cost. In spite of external funding opportunities, however, students in the class continue to dedicate themselves to the Honduran cause and solicit donations for the distribution of medical supplies and care.
The students embark on their trip Mar. 24 and return Apr. 3.
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