IU Health Tipton Hosts Korean Nursing Students

IU Health Tipton Hospital recently hosted nursing students from Korea. The Korean students are senior level nursing students, and each year they come for two weeks to visit Indiana University Kokomo (IUK). 

The nursing faculty takes a special interest in making their trip meaningful. Each year the students visit the IU Health Tipton Hospital clinical group and teams up with the IUK students to compare and contrast how our nurse’s training is similar or different from their training in Korea. This cultural experience is meaningful to both the Korean students as well as the IU Health Tipton staff. 

Our staff is so supportive to answer questions, include the students and really make the Korean students and instructors feel welcome. 

The students team up with an IUK clinical student for the morning. The student shows them how they care for the patient in our western culture. In Korea, the family takes care of hygienic needs and feeding the patient. They take care of ambulating the patient. 

The Korean students learned about fall risks, gait belts and nonskid footwear to prevent falls. They learned about chair alarms, bed alarms and hourly rounding to prevent falls. We showed them our med carts and the Pyxis machine that gives us access to meds on the floor. 

They were in awe about programming our Alaris pumps to assist us in safe delivery of meds to our patient. The patients enjoyed talking to the students and the interactions were very meaningful. The students love to communicate in the English language, and they are so pleased that others want to interact with them. 

The Korean students value relationships and giving presents to solidify these relationships. The pictures made the Korean students feel they were a part of the group, and IU Health Tipton gave them each a bear that has the logo of IU Health Tipton on the T-shirt. 

They loved the present, and we took a picture of them with their bears. It was personal and a way for them to remember their IU Health Tipton experience. The medical/surgical unit also bought their lunch in The Gathering Place. The students and instructor were so appreciative of our efforts to make them feel welcome.