News

Dear Nursing students,

The international skype project  is an exciting opportunity to speak with a student peer in Europe, to practice your English and to gain insight in another healthcare system. This can all be achieved from your couch at home.

All it really takes are two Skype interviews and a small debriefing.

Students will be paired internationally from similar study fields, 1:1 or 1:2.
ZHAW Nursing Student’s feedback from last year’s project:

• Good experience
• It’s a good way to improve your spontaneous English speaking skills, especially with people you don’t know already
• The meeting itself took almost an hour, but the time went by so fast and it didn’t seem like work, it was more like an interesting chat, very comfortable. I would do it again, definitely!
• It was interesting to learn something about the profession in another country – which role has a nurse, how do they interact with other disciplines – and also about the health system
• I enjoyed speaking to another nursing student from another European country
• It widens one’s horizon. It was exiting learning about other health care systems and the challenges they face.

Benefit:

Improve English proficiency (EN) through interview

Enhancing intercultural communication skills

Awareness of (intercultural) differences with regard to studying healthcare & wellbeing (study)

Gain insight into healthcare & wellbeing in international perspective (system)

 Timeline:
- Deadline Registration 12 January 2020 by sending an email with your interest and preferred email address to international-nursing.gesundheit@zhaw.ch

- Matching list ready 31 March 2020

- Start of project: Monday 13 April 2020 (week 16), start to organize 2 skype meetings, prepare first meeting

- Calendar week 16-19/2020: students setup and have two Skype meetings
- Calendar week 20/2020: self-debriefing and finalize the evaluation form
- Deadline: Sunday 17 May 2020, send completed evaluation form to international-nursing.gesundheit@zhaw.ch

Prepare 1st Meeting (30 min, check questions, check material about health system, possible topics to discuss, take notes on evaluation form)

1st Skype meeting (around 45 – 60 min)

Getting acquainted: get to know one another and interview the peer regarding country of origin, cultural aspects, study fields, study motivation etc.. The student will also make a clear appointment for the next contact moment. Furthermore, the peers agree upon (at least) one subjects to be discussed for the second Skype meeting. This topic has to be prepared by the peers for this next meeting.

Any means to support this meeting can be used such as pictures from you their school, YouTube films from their country, etc..

Check in between the skype meetings (30 min, check information on further questions for the second skype meeting)

2nd Skype meeting (around 45 – 60 min)

Discuss the mutual healthcare and (or) wellbeing systems. The student will explain their home system and obtain insight in the system of their peer, compare and discuss overlap and differences. Discuss the topic the peers have prepared for this meeting.

Any means to support this interview can be used. E.g. sharing pictures connected to the content. Evaluate what you have learned from one another and from this project.

Evaluation (30 min, short debriefing, take notes on the evaluation form)

We would really like a few interested students to join this very successful project.

Take the opportunity and register by sending an email.

Kind regards,

Susan Schärli-Lim and Liz Stärk