Students, faculty travel to Dublin to explore Irish health care, country

Fourteen Durham Tech students and three faculty members crossed the pond last month for a study and travel abroad program to Dublin, Ireland. The group learned about the Irish health care system and visited a number of important cultural and sightseeing stops.

During the weeklong travel program, the students and faculty spoke with health care professionals and visited various cultural and health-related sites. They also toured the city and Dublin castle and visited EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum and Trinity College. In their free time on the last day of the program, several in the group journeyed to different areas of the country to explore castles, picturesque cliffs, and famous historical sites.

The group reunited the last week of March in the Teaching-Learning Center on Main Campus to participate in a panel discussion, where they recounted the program’s highlights and answered questions from the audience.

Heather Flores, a Durham Tech student and a veteran, said the schooling process for nurses in Ireland was something she learned about while abroad. Flores is studying to become a licensed practical nurse.

“It’s very strict,” she said. “You start clinicals the first day you are there.”

Students studying nursing in Ireland are required to wear the same uniform color and badges that reflect their current level of schooling, according to Vickie Hickman, a Practical Nursing Instructor and one of the two program leaders.

“From the very beginning, doctors knew they were students, and respiratory therapists knew,” Hickman said. “(Students) had their own patient load, and … everyone knew, just by looking at your badge, what you were allowed to do and not allowed to do. So you weren’t pushed beyond that level. As someone who teaches clinicals, it is a whole different world.”

Before the Durham Tech travel program, there was a nurses’ strike in Dublin. However, just because the nurses participated in the strike didn’t mean they stopped working, the group said. The nurses would just strike on their days off or their lunch breaks.

“The patients were more important,” Flores said. “The strike was important, too, but they waited until the patients were taken care of.”

Erin Popov, Clinical Coordinator and Instructor for Dental Laboratory Technology, said she paid particular attention to the difference between the Irish and the American dental care systems.

“You don’t wander around here and see denture clinics. (Over there), a dental tech who owns his own business … doesn’t necessarily have to have a dentist present,” she said. “He had the ability to work on dentures by himself. Back here, there’s denturism, and there are only (a few) states in the U.S. that even allow that. And some of them even still have to have a dentist present.”

While some of the Durham Tech students are striving for a career in health care, others are pursuing different career paths. Hickman said the trip was full of educational experiences for the entire group.

“I think whether it was necessarily related to the health course or the fact that they just want to go to Ireland (at) a reasonable price, I think everyone got something out of it, one way or another,” she said.

Before the students left, they researched about the country’s health care system and the culture overall during the required pre-departure class meetings. The students had to then prepare a short presentation on a topic of interest.

“I knew the culture with the pubs. I knew it was going to be a city,” said Brittney Love, another student. “What I didn’t expect was how diverse it was there. They are very diverse as far as their food and culture go. They are very welcoming to people of different countries.”

Meeting the Irish people was one of the highlights for Hickman.

“(They were) friendly and helpful,” she said. “There were multiple times when I was on a street, and they could see on my face that I had no idea where I was going. And they would just stop and say, ‘Hi, where are you trying to get to?’”

Another aspect that shocked Flores and Hickman were how many bakeries they were.

“The pastries were phenomenal,” Hickman said. “I can’t imagine France being any better than what we had there.”

Flores also commented on how the donuts were decorated, having themes such as Cookie Monster and Power Rangers.

One audience member asked if was difficult to go on this program during the middle of the semester. While some students agreed the timing was tricky, they all concurred it was worth the experience.

Student Ann Atienza, for example, told the crowd that, on top of returning on a Friday night and returning to school the following Monday, she had to work that Saturday. Still, she said she wouldn’t take the travel abroad experience back for the world.

“As busy as I was, I regret nothing,” she said. “I’m really thankful for this experience and this opportunity. I learned a lot from it.”

Heidi White, Director of International Student Services and Study Abroad developed the travel program with the help of the Council on International Educational Exchange, or CIEE. For more information on travel abroad opportunities with Durham Tech, contact studyabroad@durhamtech.edu or visit durhamtech.edu/studyabroad.