This blog site is created for UConn Nursing students studying abroad in Puerto Rico in the fall 2009 term. Please visit us often and feel free to leave your comments.
UConn Nursing's 2009 San Juan Study Abroad Blog
Senior nursing students in clinical study8 Comments»
Kathryn wrote @
I have started to check this resource. Looking forward to seeing your pictures and hearing about your work.
Sophia Sopczneski wrote @
I’d like to begin by saying sorry for the delay! However, it’s only appropriate for true “island time” to a bit tardy. So far, my Puerto Rico study away experience has been amazing!…let me get you caught up on what the other girls and I have been up to. We arrived here in Puerto Rico on September 2 and were immediately welcomed into the vibrant culture at the Veterans Administration Hospital shortly after. On our very first day at the hospital a salsa band made up of Puerto Rican Policemen were playing in the main lobby attracting patients and visitors to dance and sing along. I knew at that moment this trip was going to be unlike any clinical experience in Connecticut and was so excited to see what was to come! We spent the first half of the semester on the Psychiatric Unit at the VA Hospital where we were able to see psych patients in an inpatient setting, outpatient setting, and even in a community setting in their own homes! It was great to see the whole spectrum of care provided here to each and every patient in need of mental health care. Our Psychiatric Nursing experience here was great and wouldn’t have been the same without our instructor, Dr. Thurn who did her best to teach us all we needed to know and put everything she had into making our experience the best it could be. We all appreciate all that she did for us!
Now, we’ve moved on to Med/Surg Nursing with our new instructor, Dr. McCoy and have begun to spread throughout different units at the hospital. It’s amazing how many opportunities are available to us in such a large hospital setting! Just last week I was able to observe a partial gastrostomy as a medical student talked me through the entire procedure! We have had many great clinical experiences here and still have many more to come that we can now keep you updated on!
Culturally, I have come a LONG way. Let me just say, Puerto Rico is not what I expected, it’s SO much more! Everyone that I have encountered on this island has been so friendly, it’s so great! No matter where I’m going, I can always expect to be greeted a million times with a “Buenos Dias!” and any time I may put a bite to eat anywhere near my mouth I will hear “Buen Provecho!” I definitely feel welcomed into my new home and hope to take some of the island kindness home with me to CT! We’ve had some amazing cultural experiences while we’ve been here. From traveling up into the mountains for a pig roast to eat and dance to hiking through historical forts, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Puerto Rican culture and I look forward to the time that we have left to continue to experience it!
…so expect to be hearing more from the girls and me in the very near future! And I have some great photos to upload to the blog as soon as I can figure out how!
Dr. Thomas Lawrence Long wrote @
These life changing experiences are what a long term study abroad is all about. Glad to hear that things are working out so well.
Kathryn wrote @
You made the entire experience so alive. I too have been to a pig roast but not in PR
I am so glad that the clinical experiences are working out so well.
Thank you for taking the time to share.
In closing, I have been busy interviewing the students who are considering PR for Fall 2010.
Kelley Rodgers wrote @
So, although our trip is quickly coming to an end and this is my first blog post, I figured it’s better late than never. These past few months have been nothing short of amazing! Sophia was so great and updated everyone on some of the great things that we have been doing. Our Thanksgiving break is ending, and it’s back to class tomorrow. We are doing some Case Presentations tomorrow, so that should be good.
As you saw in the other blog entry, we did psych nursing for the first 7 weeks, and now we’re on to medical-surgical nursing. On Tuesdays, we have clinical on a general medical floor or an oncology medical floor. Then on Fridays, we all split up and go to a different part of the hospital. We either go to the O.R., the Spinal Cord Injury Unit, the Surgical ICU/ Post-open Heart Unit, the Medical ICU, or a general surgery floor. Everyone here has been so helpful and willing to teach us. Because the V.A. is a teaching hospital, there are constantly different staff members coming up to us and inviting us to watch an interesting procedure or to help with something.
I was worried about my Spanish skills (or lack there of), but it has worked out perfectly. Everyone at the hospital helps as much as they can, and most people are bilingual. Even if they can not speak perfect English, they generally understand it very well. We’ve also learned some Spanish as well, which is definitely a plus!
Classes are working out so well! It’s nice because it’s such a small group for class (7 including the Professor). It’s much more conducive to learning than a big lecture. Then after class, we sometimes go over the notes and work out any problems that we are having.
Over the past 3 months, we have grown to become quite a close knit group. After all, we are together pretty much all the time. We eat together, go to class, clinical, the beach, and pretty much everywhere else! This has been such an amazing experience, and I am SO glad that I decided to do it. I’ve learned so much about not only Puerto Rico and Nursing, but also about myself. Being separated from our everyday lives, has really given us a chance to take a step away and learn about ourselves.
Us UCONN girls will be back in a few short weeks, but until then we’ll be studying hard and enjoying the sun 
Sophia Sopczneski wrote @
We made it! And here I am…sitting in my freezing cold room in CT with my space heater on high, exhausted after a long 12 hour shift at work! I cannot even believe my study away experience is over! This semester is quite honestly the only semester that I wish could have gone on forever! Normally I look forward to Thanksgiving break; however, this semester I was dreading it because it meant only a couple more weeks left! I do have to say, I appreciate my Puerto Rico experience and I will never forget anything that I learned while away.
From my clinical and cultural experiences I have realized the importance of culture in one’s life and also nursing practice. Culture makes us who we are, and the beautiful thing about it is that we are all different. I will remember every experience in which a Puerto Rican individual warmly invited me into their world – lifestyle, tasty food preferences, expectations of care, friendship, and all. I now realize the importance of acknowledging an individual patient’s culture and embracing it, treating the patient appropriately for their ways of life.
Its funny how when I was in Puerto Rico I found the Spanish language to be an obstacle, as most of the conversations were conducted in Spanish where I could only pick out a few keys words or phrases. However, now that I’m at home I love listening to Spanish speaking patients express themselves as its not as common and it brings me right back to PR!
Now that my experience is over, I hope to always remember the valuable life skills that I’ve learned, cherish the bonds that I’ve made with people living on the island and my new sisters from UConn, and also decided it’s probably a good idea to continue to enhance my Spanish! Well…hasta luego!
I look forward to following your growth and learning while you are in Puerto Rico.