Stepping out of your comfort zone

Elective placements enable nursing students to engage in an area of interest outside the essential standards required for pre-registration nursing (Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), 2010). Elective placements in developing countries are increasingly being used to help enrich cultural sensitivity and develop awareness of global nursing (Jacob, 2019).

I opted to spend my 4-week elective placement at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in the capital city of Lusaka, Zambia. While there, I split my time between the admission ward, intensive care, malnutrition and haematology in the paediatric hospital. UTH is divided into five different hospitals, which are all located on the same site, making for a large area to explore. Many patients and families travel long distances from villages across Zambia for the expertise of the UTH specialist healthcare teams.

Early on at UTH, I learned the importance of making the most of any experiences offered. On the admissions ward, I was provided with the opportunity to observe several post-mortem examinations. This allowed me to greatly improve my anatomy knowledge.