Journeys to Jamaica

Abstract

Nurse practitioner and doctor of nursing practice students gain cultural awareness and primary care experience on biannual medical mission trips to Jamaica. Faith-based Molloy College's partnership with professional medical volunteers enables students to apply clinical skills, express compassion, and gain interprofessional experience. Volunteers provide care and education for the high prevalence of noncommunicable conditions found in Jamaica. The program enjoys a positive relationship with Jamaica's Ministry of Health; a research study will assess impact on students and patients.

What Is the State of Compassion Education? A Systematic Review of Compassion Training in Health Care

“…Service learning that provided students with the opportunity to develop compassionate attitudes toward medically underserved populations included programs in which pharmacy students were integrated into rural government-run clinics and a community hospital in Kanye, Botswana 58 ; medical students worked with underserved rural patients in Nicaragua 63 or in rural primary health care centers in Nepal 60 ; medical students provided health care to the homeless 61 ; nursing and midwifery students delivered care to pilgrims in Lourdes, France 59 ; nursing students delivered care to refugees in Medellín, Colombia 64 ; or nursing students and nurses were involved in international immersion programs in Central America, Jamaica, 65 Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe. 62 During these programs, learners provided hands-on health care while living with people in the host community.…”

“…After duplicates were removed, the titles and abstracts of 5,275 records were screened using the inclusion criteria, and 1,002 full-text articles of potential relevance were retrieved. Of these, 838 articles were excluded and 164 were retained, including 108 peer-reviewed publications, 41–148 describing 103 education interventions (Table 1 and Supplemental Digital Appendix 3 at http://links.lww.com/ACADMED/B91), and 56 abstracts reported as conference proceedings (see Supplemental Digital Appendix 4 at http://links.lww.com/ACADMED/B91). This systematic review focused on the education interventions described in the 108 peer-reviewed publications.…”

“…Second, the search was restricted to publications in English, which may have limited the generalizability of this review. Most of the included studies in this review were conducted in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, although several service learning interventions were conducted in other countries, including Botswana, 58 Nicaragua, 63 Nepal, 60 Colombia, 64 and Central America, Jamaica, 65 Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe. 62 Third, studies that focused on related but distinct concepts, such as sympathy, empathy, pity, compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and burnout, were excluded from this review as these concepts differ from compassion.…”

“…58,59,[61][62][63] Learners reported being better able to internalize the concept of compassion and developing self-awareness about how patients' suffering impacted them emotionally. 60,64,65 Community-based service learning that aimed to improve learners' expressions of core values, particularly cultural competence and social responsibility, included programs in which dental students participated in an AIDS task force, a family center Health-A-Rama, and a Hand-in-Hand Festival for mentally and physically challenged children 66 ; physical therapy students attended service learning clinics 68 ; and nursing students contributed to a psychiatric clinical clerkship 67 and provided comprehensive services to victims of domestic violence. 69 Learners reported that the programs cultivated their virtues of wisdom, righteousness, propriety, and compassion [66][67][68][69] and increased their responsiveness to patients' needs.…”

Time in Between

“…STIHMs support the college's Dominican tradition of community, service, spirituality, and study. Through immersion, STIHMs increase students' cultural aware-ness and awareness of social determinants of health in other countries (Whelan et al, 2018). Members of PRN Relief International-Physicians, Residents, and Nurses-work closely with communities worldwide that lack access to comprehensive services.…”