Learning Objectives

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Learning Objectives:

Professional:

I will compare three ways health care and hospital protocol differs between the United States and Thailand to increase my cultural flexibility and gain tools for adapting to unfamiliar clinical situations by the end of my time in Chiang Mai.

1. Community oriented view of health care- people in the community at large see health care as more of a community right. We saw the community center that was very involved in caring for the impoverished population by offering free health care. The United States has very few of these facilities and they are not very accessible to the poorer populations.

2. More autonomous nurse role- the nurses had more clinical skills they were able to utilize as they were given more autonomous roles in patient care. For example, nurses in Thailand were able to change ventilator settings whereas in the United States, respiratory therapists would do that.

3. Teamwork- it was amazing to see the teamwork the nurses had in caring for the patients. One nurse would give all the injections, another gives all the oral medications, etc. Nurses in the United States are more independent and only get involved with one another’s patients if asked.

Cultural:

I will analyze the theological differences between belief systems and spiritual rituals by writing a journal entry describing these differences to expand my knowledge of the Thai culture and community by the end of my clinical experience.

I noted many differences between Christianity and Buddhism in my time in Thailand. One of the main differences being that Buddhists believe in reincarnation. This was an interesting belief system that expanded my knowledge of Thai culture because the Thai culture is based on good deeds. Every day at morning ceremony, one of the students would go up to the front and talk about a good deed they had done the day before. It was interesting to realize that the Buddhist religion is based on earning a better role in society after death and that is achieved by doing good deeds and serving others. The spiritual rituals of Buddhism were very different as well as I witnessed many of the Thai people kneeling in front of statues of Buddha and putting money and other gifts on the statues to dedicate to his honor. It was very interesting to see the dedication in which these people carried out the spiritual rituals.

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