Students promote nursing

In Bangladesh, nursing is not a widely respected profession. That’s why it is so important to teach our students how to present a positive image of nurses’ contribution to population health and health care. Each spring, students, parents and educators from the community tour IUBAT as they consider options for their university education. Each faculty of IUBAT prepares an orientation event to introduce their program. This is a great opportunity to raise awareness about nursing. In this photo, IUBAT nursing students are staffing the College of Nursing stall, which includes several anatomical models. The torso was recently donated by the U Vermont Chapter of the Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society.

U Vermont BSN students at IUBAT

In January 2011 sixteen nursing students from the University of Vermont visited IUBAT for 3 weeks during their Community Health practicum.  Their supervisor, Dr. Hendrika (Rycki) Maltby, initiated this program several years ago to help students understand cultural barriers to health care in developing countries. This is the second visit hosted by IUBAT.   The students visited a rural village project for sustainable development and partnered with IUBAT nursing students to conduct community assessments in Dhaka.  One of the most memorable activities was the IUBAT Community Health Assessment Day.  The UVm students joined IUBAT nursing students, doctors from Shikder Hospital and other local health care specialists to provide our annual free health assessment to the local community.  In addition to checkups for families, the students provided health teaching about hygiene, nutrition and vaccination.  This practicum provides a fantastic opportunity for the American and Bengali students to learn from each other.  The photo shows Rachel (UVm) providing an assessment for a young mother and child. We are already planning the 2012 visit!

The health workforce crisis in Bangladesh

According to BRAC researcher Syed Masud Ahmed and his colleagues (Human Resources for Health 2011, 9:3), in 2007 there were around five physicians and two nurses per 10 000 population in Bangladesh, i.e. 2.5 times more doctor than nurses. “The current nurse-doctor ratio …  is far short of the international standard of around three nurses per doctor. Interestingly, the equal nurse-doctor ratio in Khulna and very low nurse-doctor ratio in Sylhet is also associated with better health indicators in Khulna and worse health indicators in Sylhet. The importance of the nursing population for healthier communities … cannot be overemphasized.” They estimate, based on typical low-income countries, that 280 000 nurses are needed in Bangladesh. http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/9/1/3