Their experiences were very different, but they all brought back fond memories of their internships abroad. Seven third-year nursing students at the Ifsi (Nursing Training Institute) in Chartres carried out an internship abroad, for five or nine weeks, to discover worlds sometimes very far from what they live. and will live in their professional career in France.
The School of Nurses and Caregivers (Ifsi) in Chartres is organizing a job dating this Friday
Some have traveled to Argentina, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Belgium. Apart from Belgium, where the situation of hospitals and medical and care practices are very similar to those in France, they have touched other worlds.
Like Yuli, who left for Argentina, a little at the last minute, since her wish had initially been for Peru. But the tense political situation in the country got the better of this project. Still, the experience in Argentina was no less rich.
“Over there, the staff have the feeling that in Europe we have much better knowledge than theirs. However, this is not quite the case. They benefit from good knowledge but do not have the means to apply it”, she noted, in particular because of the glaring lack of means faced by health personnel and structures. “The materials are used for several patients and only for those who have been able to pay,” she recalls. “It’s very disturbing at first, but you get used to it. » Many European students are welcomed for internships in this country.
These students with a heterogeneous background who want to become nurses, caregivers or paramedics in Chartres
Same observation of practical difficulties in Madagascar, with, in addition, logistical problems, in particular water, electricity and Internet cuts, which do not facilitate the work of local health professionals. “When we see in what conditions they work, it makes us put the conditions in France into perspective,” said Romane and Lola.
In Sri Lanka, access to healthcare is free for everyone, except long-term care. But the reception conditions for patients and medical staff are more like the French dispensaries of yesteryear, with large rooms full of patients, where doctors move from one patient to another. “Over there, the students are sometimes about thirty to follow the doctors to learn the trade”, noted Sabrina and Marie who were marked by “the lack of hygiene and safety protocols in the care, even if we imagined that would be worse”.
Emma and Claire-Marie were confronted, in Belgium, with the same problems as in France. For example strikes in emergencies or services that close for lack of sufficient personnel.
On a voluntary basis
“These internships abroad are done on a voluntary basis,” confirmed Florence Reuiller, coordinator of international internships and Erasmus programs (European region action scheme for the mobility of university students).
Their experience is compiled into a graded report that also counts towards passing their final exam at the end of the year. But it is above all, according to the participants and the supervising team, a great experience and a good business card for the future. “They are stepping out of their comfort zone doing this. And that counts for the future”, affirmed Florence Reuiller.
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