Farewell Thailand!

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Looking back at this trip, I feel I have met my objectives. My first objective was to use my nursing skills in the Thai culture and gain confidence in the skills. Along with this, I also wanted to learn skills to provide culturally competent skills. I used skills with growing confidence in the Nakornping Hospital Labor Room. These skills were things like the electronic fetal monitoring, newborn care, and blood glucose monitoring. While here, I also learned the importance of being a culturally competent nurse. I learned a lot about how the Thai culture views labor. Laboring women in Thailand are quieter and much less emotional than in America. Also, in Thai culture, newborn babies are not called beautiful because people believe the ghosts will come and take the beautiful babies. Instead, babies are called ugly to protect them and keep them safe from the ghosts. Learning about the culture in respect to healthcare has made me a more culturally competent future nurse.

My second objective was to learn about and experience the Thai culture by fully immersing myself in the culture and building relationships. I learned so many things on this trip. I learned about the significance of many different landmarks in Thailand such as Doi Tung. Doi Tung is a royal palace and gardens created by the Royal Family to help the Thai people in this community rise up from drug trade and drug addiction and find meaningful, legal work in creating and maintaining the beautiful grounds. It was inspiring to see how the Royal family truly cares for its people and wants to create a better Thailand. Through my experiences in the community, I learned that many people in Thailand seek first Thai traditional medicine such as the Thai massage and herbs. Thai traditional medicine is very prevalent in the Thai culture, and if an ailment can be treated with the traditional medicine, many people will choose that route over more western medicine. Also, in the hospitals, Thai traditional medicine is often used alongside western medicine. This means that the hospitals provide both traditional and western medicine to their patients, which is very interesting. Lastly, I learned about the importance of the healthcare volunteer in Thailand. Healthcare volunteers are people from the community who have volunteered to be trained to help care for their neighbors. They do frequent home visits to check up on members of the community with diseases such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus. They also go to homes to check the environment for risks for things such as mosquitos that could carry malaria or dengue fever. The healthcare volunteer is so important because there are not enough community nurses to provide all the care that is needed in the Thai communities. It is incredible to me that so many people are willing to volunteer to care for the other people in their community, and I would love to see something like this happen in the U.S. I have also built lasting friendships with the Thai buddies and Thai professors that I met on this trip. My buddies have become such good friends, and it was so hard to say goodbye to them. I believe that we will continue our relationships even after this trip is over.

This experience has truly been once in a lifetime. I have learned so much and gotten to experience so many things that I never could have imagined. I am amazed at the beauty of this country, and the kind, welcoming people that reside here. I will carry the friendships and memories made in my heart for the rest of my life.

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