A People to People Nursing Experience in Poland

Abstract

Introductory note by Cynthia Spry, RN, MA, MSN, CNOR, column coordinator: Since 1956, the People to People Citizen Ambassador Programs have offered unique travel opportunities that foster local and global networking and provide opportunities for professionals from around the world to interact and engage in cultural activities, seminars, and humanitarian efforts. Since the 1980s, several AORN leaders have led perioperative nurses on People to People trips to China, Russia, and other countries where they have shared and learned much about perioperative practice and once again confirmed that, despite differences in available resources, perioperative nurses around the world have much in common. Just as perioperative nurses in the United States are proud of their contributions to patient safety, the ongoing movement to evidence-based practice, and their commitment to advancing the profession, nurses in less developed countries are too. This is the second of a two-part column about a People to People experience shared by several AORN members who traveled to Russia and Poland. The experience in Russia was detailed in the July 2009 AORN Journal. This column focuses on the experience in Poland.

Nursing on a Global Scale: Perspectives From Around the World

“…"Developing countries struggle with having enough supplies, equipment, and medication," said Elizabeth Norton, BSN, RN, level III staff nurse, Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (e-mail communication; July 12, 2011), who traveled to Russia and Poland with Knapp and a group of nurses for People to People experiences. 4,5 In Russia, the OR they visited was in an old building and they had "old equipment, thin mattresses, glass IV bottles, a container that held sterile sponges for the day, an older anesthesia machine, [and] open wards," which contrasted with the facility's new, state-of-the art central processing department. In Poland, Norton and her colleagues "saw pictures of a new OR in a private hospital that appeared to have state-of-the-art equipment and looked like an OR we would see in America today.…”