Being able to study abroad is definitely a once in a lifetime experience and I am forever grateful that this has been my second study abroad experience! Studying nursing abroad is also a once in a lifetime experience. There is so much to learn and it was so fun to compare the U.S. healthcare system to that of Costa Rica! I think that some people believe that study abroad programs are like a vacation, when in reality they are a lot of work. You get all these different kinds of experiences, but most importantly you get to explore, learn and find a new identity within yourself. You have to push yourself to new limits, allow yourself to be uncomfortable, be independent in another country and so much more. Yet if anyone were to ask me if a study abroad program is worth it, I would without a doubt say it is 100% worth the money!

For my community class, we have to have 90 hours worth of clinical in a community during the semester. Students who stay in the U.S. have to complete this by doing volunteer work in a community health setting. On this program on the other hand, we had to fit these 90 hours into 10 days. Being able to say that I completed this and the assignments abroad is probably one of the hardest yet most rewarding things I have ever done. One of the assignments we had to do was a community needs assessment. This assignment was huge, and we had to do a lot of research on the community our clinical sites were in. We collected information and data through government websites, interviews with those living in the community, health screenings, etc. From that data, we had to find out the demographics, socioeconomic/social findings in the community, community groups and characteristics, health status information, community strengths and most importantly community needs. The biggest challenge with this assignment was that the government document we mainly used for the research was completely in Spanish. My group had to work hard to translate almost 48 pages worth of characters, findings, tables, graphs, etc. in order to get a full understanding of how it feels to live in the community. Although this was very hard and time consuming, I thoroughly enjoyed putting my research skills to the test and getting to learn everything about a small community in Costa Rica!

Not only did we complete a community needs assessment, but we had to come up with a project we had to complete within our clinical sites based off of the biggest need of our community. Based on our findings, the district of Purral had a severe violence issue. It was to the point that mothers do not work as they must walk their kids to school everyday because it is unsafe to walk alone during the day (and especially at night). Since we were only there for ten days, there wasn’t a lot we could do about the violence. We talked to community members and asked them what they would like to see done about the issue, and we recommended the possibility of coming up with a neighborhood watch program. There are a lot of people in Purral without a job, so if this program could get funded by the government there would be even more jobs for those unemployed. This program would be great and would tackle two problems at once. Like I said, this could not be done in ten days, but we did create an educational poster for the children at the daycare we were located at (our clinical site). Throughout our time at the daycare, we noticed that the children brush their teeth after breakfast, snack, and lunch. These toothbrushes were all in the same container, uncovered with bristles touching each other, and most of them looked the same. I used my translation app to ask one of the children there how he knew which toothbrush was his and he told me that he doesn’t, he just grabs one and brushes his teeth. This set sirens off in my groups’ nursing brains as we know that sharing things like a toothbrush is a way to spread germs. Our poster talked about the proper steps in how to brush one’s teeth, when to change/get a new toothbrush, and why you should keep your toothbrush away from others (to prevent getting sick). We got to show this poster to the kids and ask them questions about their teeth brushing habits. For the most part, they all knew how to brush correctly. They just didn’t know when they should replace their old brush for a new one and why they needed to keep their toothbrushes separate from their peers. It is hard for me to put into words what it felt like to do this research, assess the needs, come up with a project and implement change for this community. It was highly rewarding to say the least. I’m so thankful we got this experience and I’m glad that we got to implement change within this community!

This program was a lot of work, but we also got breaks and went on a few excursions. We got to visit a volcano, hike miles to see a beautiful waterfall and see what a coffee plantation looks like. The coffee plantation was absolutely gorgeous and I loved learning about how coffee beans are picked, dried and packaged. We also got to go to Punta Leona Resort for a weekend and we spent some time on the beach! Since we were in Spanish classes, going to hospitals for visits, working at our clinical sites and doing research for these projects, these excursions were a blessing because it allowed us to get a break from the hard work. Costa Rica is such a beautiful country, but there are also small communities like Purral that aren’t so pretty and need help. It was a great experience, and I can’t wait to visit the country again!

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Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: Nursing in Communities Clinical in Costa Rica