VCC students learning and teaching at IUBAT

This summer, Christine Jhoan Eugenio and other senior students from the Vancouver Community College BSN program completed preceptorships at IUBAT. In the photos, Christine is shown with her classmates, Anastasia Vlasova and Josh Gardiner. Christine writes, "My colleagues and I did a presentation on HIV/AIDS for the junior nursing students.  The presentation mainly focused on the stigma attached to HIV and the importance of providing compassionate care to ALL patients.  We used the Bangladesh Nursing and Midwifery Council Code of Ethics to discuss the professional responsibility of nurses, especially to vulnerable populations such as HIV+ patients.  A puzzle activity called How to provide care to HIV+ patients helped the students understand nurses' responsibility to provide competent, ethical care. In a group activity, we asked the students to develop a teaching strategy (a skit, a comic, or a poster) to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS and reduce stigma. By developing values such as compassionate nursing care, IUBAT graduates will be able to practice in ways that foster positive images of nursing in Bangladesh.  The students' comments showed that they enjoyed and learned from our presentation.  One wrote, "It was the best presentation that I had ever seen. I really liked how you involved us and made it so very interesting.  The puzzle and drama helped to make us creative and knowledgeable."  ­ I am glad that I was able to share my nursing knowledge to influence other future nurses.  It was great working with and learning from the IUBAT students. I was impressed by their enthusiasm and creativity and I appreciate how they welcomed us in their classroom and treated us as their peers.

 

 

Canada Bangladesh learning exchange

Helen Jiang, (seated in photo) is a recent BSN graduate from Vancouver Community College who completed a preceptorship at IUBAT last month with support from an Irving K. Barber BC Scholarship. Helen writes: “My Bangladesh preceptorship allowed me to re-examine who I really am and my core values. The experience also provided an opportunity to strengthen my empathy, leadership and adult-teaching skills. As a senior student, I was blindly trusted by the IUBAT students. Their trust, their leadership, their willingness to learn, and their notion of moving forward as a team motivated me as a role model. Unexpectedly, this Bangladesh trip also assisted me to integrate my own immigrant experience in my interactions with the local students. In short, my Bangladesh learning experience helped me to really understand nursing and caring.”

Rotary Club of Olds supports BHP

The Rotary Club of Olds, Alberta, Canada recently donated $4000 to the Bangladesh Health Project. In this photo, Club President Greg MacIntyre (right) and Publicity Director Mary Turner (2^nd from left) are shown with the contribution. We are very grateful for this support from the Rotary members, as well as businesses and the Olds community at large, We have a strong Rotary connection in Bangladesh: Dr. Alimullah Miyan, Vice-Chancellor of IUBAT, has held senior positions in national and local Rotary organizations; local Rotary clubs support the annual polio immunization campaign held on the IUBAT campus. In future, we hope to develop further projects in cooperation with Rotary International. The Rotary Club of Olds describes itself as “FUN . . . with a Purpose.” Rest assured we will make purposeful use of this generous donation. Thank you.  

 

Learning global health theory in context

Jen Preston travelled to IUBAT with her husband and daughter in early 2012 to complete her final year practicum for a BSN through Selkirk College/ University of Victoria. She writes, “It is incredible that so many topics I looked into here have tied together: food security, gender issues, breastfeeding, culture, politics and economics. This has been an excellent learning experience. I am finding that while we focus on one seemingly small assignment, endless questions surround each issue. The time that we are here seems to speed up as if we are going to run out of time and not be able to research everything that we observe. I have started to make a list of everything I am interested in, so after this practicum I can continue to explore these issues.”

IUBAT students as nursing leaders

Visiting faculty member Susan McNeill of Vancouver Community College Nursing Department writes: “Today I checked in on our practicum and internship students at ICDDR,B and left feeling proud and inspired. They are taking on leadership roles and tactfully modelling quality care with compassion. Shahed Chowdhury (BSN 2012, wearing blue in this photo) is a teaching assistant at IUBAT who is dedicated to staying in Bangladesh and changing the perception and quality of nursing. Although the number of grads may be small, they have the potential to ‘punch above their weight’ and make a real difference.”

 

Audit for BHP completed

Accountability is an important principle for our project. Recently one of our founding directors, John Richards (on the left in this photo with volunteer Amaan Banwait) donated several thousand dollars to pay for the first audit of the Bangladesh Health Project. This audit of project finances from 2008-2010 was completed by Chartered Accountant Mahmoud Virani of Vancouver. (IUBAT is also fully audited in Bangladesh.) Virani’s audit report has been approved by the Mid-Main Community Health Centre Board of Directors. Copies of the auditor’s report are available upon request and will be posted on our website shortly. We are grateful for John’s on-going and generous support. With very few exceptions, such as our auditing and book-keeping services in Canada, virtually all donated funds are spent in Bangladesh.

Opportunities to help develop Bangladesh nursing

We are working with our teaching hospital and college partners on academic program development and quality improvement. (The photo is from a recent workshop at IUBAT on nurse education.) One of our project goals is to create a BSN program for learners who have English as a second language, which meets international standards. In future, this curriculum might be shared with global partners through a Creative Commons arrangement. We need help to develop and format our digitally-based materials for this approach. Another area for volunteer support is quality assurance and accreditation. Such programs are fairly new to Bangladesh, but IUBAT is at the forefront of their development. This foundational work could also have international benefit. Please contact us if you are interested in these opportunities.