Plans for student nurse bursary revealed

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

Nursing Times has today reported that all future nursing and midwifery students look set to be offered a combination of a bursary and a loan from September 2012, under latest government plans.

Department of Health civil servants have recommended to ministers that all students should receive a non-means tested bursary of £1,000 together with a means tested bursary, the value of which will depend on where they live. They will also be offered a reduced rate loan.

It would mean a student on a 30-week course outside of London could receive a maximum of £5,915 in support per year of which £3,591 would come from a combination of bursaries and £2,324 from a loan. A student in London could receive a total of £7,391, of which £4,128 would come from bursaries and £3,263 from loans. Meanwhile a student living at home with their parents could receive a total of £4,907, with £3,163 coming from bursaries and £1,744 from loans.

The changes will replace the current mismatch in the student support system in which diploma students receive a non-means tested bursary and degree students receive a means tested bursary.

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Screening for syphilis in Tanzania could save lives.

Thursday, June 30th, 2011
The BBC have reported that hundreds of thousands of babies’ lives could be saved each year if pregnant women were screened for syphilis.
Twins I helped deliver 150x150 Screening for syphilis in Tanzania could save lives.

Congenital syphilis screenings rarely take place

The disease causes 500,000 stillbirths and newborn deaths globally, but the majority of these are in  Africa. This figure was backed up by a study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases. A study of 41,000 women showed that testing and antibiotics could more than halve the number of deaths – something that could be cheap and cost-effective to put in place.

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Why is maternal mortality in Argentina so high?

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Argentina has a maternal mortality rate three times higher than those of its neighbours Chile and Uruguay, and reports earlier this year suggest it is actually rising.
1 day old1 150x150 Why is maternal mortality in Argentina so high?

Abortions are illegal in Argentina

According to the Health Ministry statistics, deaths of healthy, young women from pregnancy-related causes rose from 44 per 100,000 live births in 2008 to 55 per 100,000 live births in 2009. In a country where 98% of women give birth in hospital, these figures are quite shocking.

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Traditional Birth Attendants – do they put African women at risk?

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Throughout African history, traditional birth attendants (TBA’s) have provided maternity care for women despite having no formal training. Unicef figures show 1 in every 126 Tanzanian women dying due to maternity complications, and the story is the same in Ghana. Are women putting their lives at risk unnecessarily?

Alexandra Condron Arusha the first baby I have ever delivered whilst experiencing labour ward during my nursing placement 150x150 Traditional Birth Attendants – do they put African women at risk?

Deliveries in the hospital are safer

For many women, tradition and local customs prevent them attending hospital. For others it is the proximity to medical facilities – there is just no way they could reach a hospital in time to give birth. TBAs provide them with all the care they need, both during and after pregnancy and childbirth and there is no doubt they provide a much needed resource . The problem is that many of these TBAs inherit the job from their mothers or are simply respected older members of the community. In the majority of cases the women are illiterate and have learnt their skills from other TBAs or just through the course of their lives. They may consider themselves to be like private health practitioners, but can they spot complications or cope with problems any better than you or I?

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The top 10…. diseases in Argentina

Monday, June 6th, 2011

We are always asked about the kind of diseases students will witness, or assist in treating whilst they are overseas. This time we’ve chosen to focus on Mendoza and look at the top 10 common and rare diseases.

Nat, our Mendoza Programme Manager spoke to some of the students about what they have seen so far. Kirren, from Birmingham, actually said “my supervisor came and told me to write the name of a syndrome down, because I’m never going to see that again anywhere!”. Beth from Bristol found that the diseases she saw in Mendoza were completely different to what she had ever expected, taking a notebook in her pocket to keep track of the diseases she sees every day. That helps her own statistics as well as giving her practise in more Spanish!

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Back in the office!

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

Well it’s official – I have returned to my desk . My 9 months of maternity leave is over and I am back on the blog! Omar threw me straight in at the deep end and having only been back 2 weeks we have already relaunched our website – check it out www.worktheworld.co.uk. It looks bright, fresh and full of exciting ideas for new placements.

Abura Clinic Staff 2 150x150 Back in the office!

Amy and the Abura staff in Ghana

Looking around there has been lots of changes. The office appears to have doubled in size, with Simon, Amy, Rob and Chris all well ensconced at their desks. Overseas has had the same influx of new faces, with a host of new staff joining the Work the World family in Africa, Asia and South America.

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The Weekly Question – what has been your clinical highlight this week?

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011
Arusha Jasmine Koh 8 150x150 The Weekly Question – what has been your clinical highlight this week?

Newborn in Arusha

Whether it be the treatment of patients, rare and tropical diseases or progressed pathologies, an overseas placement is both fascinating and a great learning environment where students are often exposed to things that they have only read about in the past. Although we have asked this question a couple of times we always get different answers.

James in Arusha examined a patient with a hepatonegaly larger than any that he had seen in Hong Kong. “Another close second would be a multiple casualty car accident that caused 9 deaths.”

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Ghana – the gateway to Africa

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Wow, where do I start? Unlike when I was writing an essay at university, I think I could easily write 10,000 words about my trip to Ghana in record time. As not to bore you all I will summarise my trip below but please do not hesitate to get in touch should you have more any questions.

I took the evening KLM flight to Accra via Amsterdam. As with all great trips I thought I was never going to make it when my first flight was delayed leaving London and I had to run through Amsterdam airport at record spe

Team Ghana 150x150 Ghana the gateway to Africa

Team Ghana

ed to make my on-going flight. I made it though and was then on a nonstop flight to Ghana. This was my first trip to Africa and I was extremely excited, I think everyone is warned that your arrival may be a little intimidating with all the hustle and bustle and the locals keen to get you into their taxi or to book into their hotel but I was pleasantly surprised. I walked through the airport arrivals with ease and Joe, the Programme Manger was the first person to try and get my attention.

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Preparar el paciente para la operación……….ummmm……que???

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Now at first glance you may think “it’s another language, I don’t get it”, but have another look……. it’s not that hard to pick out words, and with just a little bit of initiative most of us would understand that “Preparar el paciente para la operación” simply means “prepare the patient for the operation”. And you thought you couldn’t speak the language!

Making Empanadas 150x150 Preparar el paciente para la operación..........ummmm......que???

Learning how to make Empanadas

Now try another…… “Tiene cancer, que come Usted sabe, es una enfermedad dificil pero se puede tratar”. A bit more tricky, but there are a couple of words that could be guessed……..

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Amanda Green wins the midwifery competition!

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Amanda Green, studying midwifery in Leeds, is the winner of our midwifery competition. Amanda will win a four week placement in Ghana during 2010.

Thanks to everyone that entered – we had some great pieces sent in.  Amanda just pipped you to the post though. Here is her winning entry:

P1000762 150x150 Amanda Green wins the midwifery competition!

Practising mifwifery in Ghana

“Midwifery has always been a dream of mine, and it is only now, at the age of 29; eight years after first applying, that I have reached the right time in my life to ‘live the dream!’   Since my initial application I have given birth, lost my mother and decided that life is for living.  What was the point in my supervisory job at the airport? I wanted a career! After going back to college to study an access course, I gained the recent study required to apply to university! I was a student again!

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