Four Japanese nursing students and a faculty member saw nursing education from a different perspective at the UNMC campus.
From Sept. 30 to Oct. 4, the UNMC College of Nursing hosted a visiting cohort from Hamamatsu University School of Medicine in Hamamatsu, Japan. The visit stemmed from a partnership formed in 2019 between the Japanese university and UNMC.
Through the partnership, the UNMC College of Nursing formed the Visiting Nursing Student Immersion Experience, a five-day program encompassing educational, clinical and cultural components. The experience provides students with valuable insights into nursing practices while fostering cultural exchange between the two institutions.
The Hamamatsu group included students Chiori Oishi, Minami Ohkubo, Tomoyo Shimokawa and Himeka Harada and professor Yoshifumi Kido.
While at UNMC, the students:
- Attended senior nursing classes.
- Toured the Davis Global Center and learned about iEXCEL
- Learned about the nurse practitioner role in community clinics from UNMC College of Nursing faculty members Mark Darby and Cheryl Darby-Carlberg, DNP.
- Observed clinical care with nursing students at Nebraska Medicine.
- Participated in the obstetrics rotation simulations with UNMC College of Medicine students.
- Participated in nursing community health course clinicals.
“Visiting the hospitals…we saw different communication to the patient in the United States (compared to Japan),” said Oishi, adding the group saw that nurses have more of a bedside role in the United States.
The Hamamatsu students said the week also showed them the differences in nursing education between the United States and Japan.
“Students have more opportunities to talk together, to be more of a group,” Harada said.
Elizabeth Beam, PhD, UNMC College of Nursing assistant professor and director of Global Health, said the chance for students from the United States and Japan to collaborate and exchange ideas is one of the core thoughts behind the partnership. “The HUSM students were amazed by the different teaching styles, small group learning, and nursing roles they saw here,” she said. “Our college of nursing students also had a chance to talk with them about what nursing and nursing training looks like in Japan. While the heart of a nurse globally is similar, the education, licensing and practice components can be very different in other countries.”