D-I-E CHINA

D-I-E China

1.DESCRIBE
I’m doing my internship at one of the best hospitals here in Shanghai. One week my three classmates and I were at the operation department, where we had an opportunity to see breast surgeries. The operation room was full of doctors and nurses. They spoke loudly, laughed their own jokes, but they didn’t take contact to patient at all. I saw tears and fear in the patient’s eyes because nobody didn’t tell her what’s going on. She just lied quiet on the operation table. The patient was awake during the whole operation. I felt very bad inside of me, because I thought why nobody spoke with the patient. They didn’t tell her what they were going to do or didn’t even hold her hand. I think that the breast surgery can be very traumatic for the patient.

2. INTERPRET
In this department, the doctors are doing many breast surgeries during one day. When one patient is ready, next patient is waiting her/his operation behind the operation room’s door- and of course, alone. Alone and no one takes any contact to her/him. I think that the reason for that is that there is too much work and too many other patients. Doctors and nurses seem to be so busy all the time that they ”just do their work”, and that’s it. In China it is more common that the patients are left on their own, but I think in Finland it’s different. In Finland the nurses and doctors give more attention for the patients and they are trying to figure out what might be the patients real feelings and thoughts. The work here is more repetitive. Even though the situation seemed bad for me, I think that people here in China are okay with the lack of attention because there are just too many people here.

3. EVALUATE
I think this experience in the operation room will make me a better nurse in the future. I hope, that all the patients around me can feel safe and in good hands. I felt bad because I saw the fear and tears in the patient’s eyes. She was so scared. I felt that i was the only one who noticed that. It’s hard to say what would I feel if I waw a Chinese person in this case. Maybe I would like to be treated like in Finland. I saw a motto at one department that said ”What ever you do, do it for the patient”. I think it’s also good for everyone who are working as a nurse or a doctor.

D-I-E China

1. DESCRIBE
I think the most confusing and different thing to me in China has been people's lack of privacy. I have noticed this especially in public places (e.g. hospitals, metro, public toilets). I have observed many nursing procedures where the staff hasn't covered patient's private parts from others or they have been leaving patient's private documents and files on the table for everyone to look at. One time I saw an unknown man reading trough other patient's health records at the nursing station. Metro's are not any different from this because I have seen numerous times people reading random people's text messages behind their shoulders. Chinese people also tend to use public toilets without closing the door. I have been photographed so many times at metro and hospital that I have lost count. No one has ever asked me a permission to take photos of me so I have found these situations very uncomfortable.

2. INTERPRET
For me as a Finnish person, the sense of privacy and personal space is very important so I found all these situations very strange. I think Chinese people are somewhat used to the lack of privacy because there are so many people living in Shanghai. Also they just might not care enough to take care of everyone's privacy because of the constant rush and crowds in China. People seem to hurry from place to another constantly and the pace of the nursing procedures is very quick. I have started to think that maybe Chinese people don't value privacy as much as Finnish people. 

3. EVALUATE
I think that these kinds of situations are a part of normal day for Chinese people. They are more used to sharing everything with others because I guess they have no other choice when this country is so overpopulated. Maybe the positive outlook on this could be that at least this could help the Chinese value more the meaning of team work and sharing. On the negative side, everyone deserves to have privacy when needed. I don't think it's okay to leave the curtains open at someone's bedside when the nursing staff is for example cleaning the catheter or turning the patient (who's wearing a gown with an open back and bare bum) when there are 10 other patients and their family members sharing the same room.

Nevertheless, I have really enjoyed doing my internship in China. It has been an extremely eye-opening experience to see Chinese culture. Hopefully I have a chance to visit it again some day in the future.

Letter home: Suvi Lankila, Terhi Laitinen, Laura Mustanoja & Hanna Saukko

.        In what country and University are you studying?

We are studying at the Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Shanghai, China.

In what Study program are you studying at Centria?

Our study program is nursing.

What are the courses like at the host University?

We have three different courses on every Friday: Chinese herbs, spoken Chinese and Taiji. During other weekdays we are training at Renji Hospital.

Describe the study culture / nursing culture?

We haven't noticed any major differences in the study culture in China, because the main reason for us to be here is internship, so we haven't really paid attention to that. We know that the Chinese students usually do long days at school and also invest in self-learning. 

Nursing culture in China is very different to Finnish one. There are lots of patients staying in the same room (even up to 10) so all the nurses, doctors and family members crowd the rooms even more. We have paid attention, that usually nurses or doctors do everything in groups. Aseptics is not as high as in European countries. 

What is your study group like?

We don't have a study group. We usually stay in a group of 4 at the hospital when following the nurses at the wards. Sometimes they ask us to divide ourselves in pairs.

Please describe what the everyday life is like in your host country? What do you like in particular?

       China is a very beautiful country and there is lots of things to see and experience in Shanghai. Food is great, especially when you are brave enough to try new tastes and cuisines. The weather is quite warm already (+28C). It is a shame that our SUMHS campus is so far away from the city centre, because it usually takes about an hour to get from campus to Renji hospital. It is very important to have enough time to travel around because the metro is packed full everyday, especially during the rush hours. Chinese people have no sense or personal space, so they push you into the metro car with force.

What has been challenging? Why?

It's challenging to go to grocery store, because most of the time there is no English translation for the products and food and all the stuff is very different and unknown to us. In the beginning, it took some time to get used to using squatting toilets because in many places they don't have normal sitting toilets. Also the internet is extremely slow and keeps cutting out.

What has been the highlight of your exchange so far?

The highlights of our trips were a hike in the Yellow Mountains in Huangshan and visiting the chocolate factory in Shanghai.