Travelling & Nursing in Iloilo 🇵🇭

With this final blog post, I will dive into my outlook and overall reflection of my elective placement in Iloilo. I have gained so much more knowledge culturally, environmentally, medically and academically whilst in the Philippines. It has taught me a different way of life and the differences between the UK and East Asia. At first being in the medical environment was a shock. It was a lot different to my expectations because even though I was informed by colleagues from the Philippines of the differences (in the UK) it’s hard to imagine something you’ve never seen. Other time I felt more comfortable in the environment I learnt how involved the families of patients are and the importance of a nurses job. I felt with my student colleagues we were able to talk about our experiences easily which allowed more traumatic scenes I witness in the emergency department sink in better for my own mental health.  It’s hard to change your own mind space; you’ve grown up in a certain place your w...

It’s finally time to speak about the elective placements I was able to complete whilst in Iloilo. I completed 4 weeks in total. My first 2 weeks were based at the state university hospital in internal medicine. This ward was separated into three sections; infectious, non infectious and chemotherapy. This hospital is state run and is a teaching hospital collaborating with university’s in the Philippines. My week 3 & 4 I moved to a government run medical centre where I spent 2 weeks in the emergency department. This department was not seperated as such but involved pediatric and adult cases. I spent most of my time in the trauma wing and outside in triage, I found this benefited my learning extremely by seeing the admission process to compare with UKs process.  Before I travelled to the Philippines I had the opportunity to speak with the UK coordinator regarding queries and questions I had and discuss where I would like to be placed. I chose two different hospitals as I want...

Settling in; well that was a whirl wind.  After 20 + hours of traveling from London Heathrow (I’ve never been on a long haul flight or travelled alone). I managed 2 busses (one broke down rescued by a uber) 3 flights with 1 being delayed due to a typhoon, I finally made it to Iloilo international airport. The work the world team were waiting for me outside, I was transported to the house it was around 10pm the Sunday 2nd July and given a fresh meal and the delicious mango the Philippines are famous for!  That evening I met my roommates, two lovely girls practising physiotherapy. I was placed in a 6 bed dorm but at the time their was only 3 of us which made it very spacious. As someone who had never lived in a dorm or even stayed in a hostel it was a strange experience at first but got easier as the days went on. By the end of my time in the house there was 5 of us, I became the veteran of the room!  I won’t lie, the first few days were HARD! Travelling alone can make you ...

Preparations for my travel to Iloilo started around Christmas of 2022, it began with securing my place. Due to university policies I had to achieve a 2.2 or above in my first year of nursing school, as well as show commitment and have good attendance levels. I also had to have written approval to go on my trip. This allowed me to pay for my deposit to secure my place through work the world (the organisation I used). The deposit for a space was £300 which was then taken off my final bill. I thought the application process was quite straight forward, once I was approved and had reserved my spot. I had access to a portal where I could start filling in all my personal details, flight details, emergency contacts, objectives and goals for my placement. I was also able to indicate what kind of placement I would like and what I’d already experienced in the UK.  Work the world is the organisation I used to study aboard, it was highly recommended by my university and after reading through th...

I thought I would start this blog with a introduction; my name is Jess Ransome. I am a undergraduate adult nursing student studying at Bournemouth University's pilot campus in Yeovil. A pilot campus is a little different to the unusual ‘university experience’. This is because we all commute to university as it isn’t a liveable campus like most university’s. For mature students it’s a haven. We can study, socialise and engage in clinical sessions without the pressures of a overwhelming environment of crowds of students from mutiple courses. Fellow students who have families, can pursue their dream career without moving away, pilot campuses are a safe space especially for someone like me who didn’t think she’d ever go to university. I chose Bournemouth university for the location, the reputation (many colleagues I have worked with in the past went to Bournemouth, including other students) and the option of a alternative campus.  Anyway! Enough of the soppy stuff!  As I said I’m ...