Shorter nursing students study health care delivery in England

June 8, 2012 - England’s Kent Community Health NHS Trust issued the following news release following a visit from Shorter University nursing students.

American student nurses visit Kent to learn about healthcare in England

33 AMERICAN STUDENT NURSES travelled to Kent today (Friday, 8 June) to learn more about the delivery of healthcare in local communities in England.

The group, from Shorter University, Georgia visited Kent as part of a month long trip to look at different healthcare systems, which included Bulgaria and England.

Travelling down from London, where they had taken in the atmosphere from the Jubilee weekend, the group visited Sittingbourne Memorial Hospital and Sheppey Community Hospital, which are run by Kent Community Health NHS Trust.

The students were shown both hospitals and learned about how we provide care to people in the community and their own homes. They toured our Minor Injuries Units, X-ray and Physiotherapy departments, Outpatient clinics and our Inpatient wards.

The educational visit ended with presentations about three specific areas of work that Kent Community Health NHS Trust delivers in the community:

• Intermediate Care Teams, which provide short-term health and social care support and/or rehabilitation to service users in the community.
• Health Visiting, which supports families from pregnancy through to a child's fifth birthday. Health Visitors are instrumental in educating families through an important time of their lives. This is something that is unique to the UK healthcare system.
• How our clinical teams are preparing and ensuring we are able to continue delivering our services during an emergency and big events like the Olympics.

Lindsay Williams, 21, a nursing student at Shorter University, Georgia said:

 “Learning about the differences in our healthcare systems, in particular the role that nurses play in England, has been very interesting. I am so impressed by the variety of services you are able to offer your patients and the fact that the NHS is free at the point of access.”

Olivia White, 21, a nursing student at Shorter University, Georgia said:

 “I really appreciate that staff from the hospitals have taken the time to speak to us – it has been so informative. We have been looking at our healthcare system in comparison to the rest of the world and the NHS has been a large part of that study. Being able to ask questions to the very people who are delivering healthcare has been awesome.”  

Lesley Strong, Deputy Chief Executive/Director of Operations – Adults, Kent Community Health NHS Trust said:

 “It was a real privilege to invite the students to a couple of our community hospitals. I was really pleased to see so much enthusiasm from the students to learn about the differences between our healthcare system and their own. We wish them well for the rest of their trip and we hope they have a safe flight back next week.”

Founded in 1873, Shorter University is a Christian university committed to excellence in education. The Princeton Review annually includes Shorter on its lists of best value and best Southeastern colleges. The university offers traditional bachelor’s degrees in 48 major areas as well as undergraduate degree programs for working adults, the Master of Business Administration, the Master of Education and the Master of Arts in Leadership. General education and calculus courses are offered in an online format, and Shorter offers online programs that lead toward the Associate of Science, the Bachelor of Business Administration, and the Master of Accountancy degrees. For more information, visit www.shorter.edu.

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