As a nurse beyond the border, you’re involved in sustainable projects in the community and promote social justice through advocacy and education, as well as local and international projects.
Our detailed guide explores what nursing beyond borders means. We also delve deeper into how these nurses make a global impact and some challenges they face.
Doctors Without Borders is a famous medical non-governmental organization that provides medical care to people affected by war or conflict. However, did you know that there are nurses without borders? With the global shortage of nurses at 5.9 million, nurses beyond borders provide an excellent avenue for nursing professionals to provide care in most developing countries.
What does nursing beyond borders entail?
Nursing beyond borders involves delivering preventative healthcare and education to children and the community globally. The mission of these nurses is to prevent disease before it starts. Being a nurse beyond borders exposes you to different work settings. Typical work settings include clinics, underserved schools, camps, partnered orphanages and more.
When you join the Nursing Beyond Borders charity organization, you can go on individual or team medical mission trips. Team missions have 8-12 nurses assigned to work in particular settings, while individual missions involve two to four nurses to follow up on treatment visits and day-to-day nursing duties.
What inspires nurses to gain experience in the field?
Nurses who are looking to gain on-the-job training are often inspired by their desire to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable people and communities. A nurse practitioner placement, such as those offered in the Texas Woman’s University Master of Science in Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner program, allows students to gain valuable experience in the field. With their experience and exposure to different environments, they’re aware of the disparities that exist in healthcare quality and access. They’re driven by the commitment to help reduce these gaps.
The core values of nursing, which include empathy and a dedication to reducing suffering, also drive nurses working beyond borders to be compassionate and extend their skills to those who can’t access adequate healthcare.
Another driving factor for most nurses is cultural and global awareness. Exposure to global issues in healthcare allows nurses to have a different perspective. They realize that healthcare challenges aren’t limited to their current surroundings and that there are other issues that they need to address globally.
Interacting with inspirational figures, colleagues or mentors involved in humanitarian work also motivates nurses to be compassionate and care for underserved individuals and communities.
How nurses beyond borders impact global health
Nursing is a profession centered around care, compassion and commitment to healing. While some nurses dedicate their time and effort to local clinics and hospitals, others venture out and make a global impact. As a nurse beyond borders, your role isn’t limited to the application of your clinical skills. You also get to build sustainable solutions that address healthcare disparities.
Here’s more on how nurses beyond borders make a global impact
Through addressing healthcare disparities
Access to healthcare is a huge challenge globally. Most regions face a nursing shortage, which means individuals living there cannot access adequate medical care. A nurse beyond borders understands these challenges and works to bridge the gap.
These nurses work with communities that have little to no access to medical care to ensure everyone receives quality care. They bring their nursing skills and expertise to areas that need healthcare support. Nurses beyond borders are uniquely positioned to access people and communities to advocate for health equality.
Additionally, these nurses are responsible for disease prevention. They address any infectious diseases – like malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and others – before there’s an outbreak. These nurses also address other community health issues like poor nutrition, substance abuse, teen pregnancy and smoking. Nurses beyond borders undertake preventative measures by educating individuals and communities. They also offer treatment options in case of an outbreak to prevent the further spread of the disease.
Part of addressing healthcare disparities involves improving child and maternal health. These nurses focus on reducing infant and maternal mortality, ensuring women enjoy safe deliveries and promoting immunizations. All these efforts contribute to better health outcomes.
Nurses beyond borders also train local healthcare workers to help reduce healthcare disparities. For example, a nurse may work in an understaffed nursing unit and teach local nurses how to feed, bathe and care for newborn babies to reduce high mortality rates. That empowers the local staff and community to become self-reliant in delivering healthcare services, creating a sustainable impact on healthcare infrastructure.
Being a nurse beyond borders may, at times, mean being at the forefront of humanitarian efforts. That includes being present during emergencies, conflicts or natural disasters to provide care and support. As part of the rapid response team, they help save hundreds of lives.
By building sustainable health solutions
Being a nurse beyond borders isn’t only limited to immediate care provision. It also extends to building sustainable healthcare solutions in underdeveloped areas. They make a lasting impact on healthcare access and systems.
Nurses have an influence and can provide training, transfer skills, and share their knowledge to ensure that local healthcare providers can serve their communities effectively. Additionally, they can empower the community by engaging with residents and leaders to develop sustainable healthcare systems and practices. These systems can serve the local community long after the nurses leave.
Nurses beyond borders are now embracing technology and using it to provide healthcare services to underserved and remote regions. With telehealth initiatives, nurses can offer medical consultations virtually, even in distant areas. They can also educate patients and monitor their progress through these initiatives.
Building a sustainable health solution also means being an advocate for change. Nurses beyond borders get to advocate for policy changes at local and international levels. They are involved in conversations about health outcomes and equitable healthcare access to influence policies and reduce healthcare disparities.
By moving to a model of sustainable healthcare, Nursing Beyond Borders ensures there is increased access to healthcare, advocates for healthy lifestyles and reduces the number of people being diagnosed with chronic diseases.
By nurturing global unity
Nurses beyond borders not only provide healthcare services but also act as goodwill ambassadors. They work to unite people from different backgrounds through various health initiatives in the community.
Someone traveling as a nurse will be engaging with people from a diverse range of cultures and languages. Being able to interact with them and respect their culture and language fosters understanding and helps bridge cultural divides.
Furthermore, nurses beyond borders form cross-border partnerships with NGOs, local healthcare providers and other international agencies. All these partnerships create a support network and foster cooperation beyond national borders.
Creating awareness is another way nurses nurture global unity. Having traveled and worked in foreign countries, nurses beyond borders can raise awareness about global health issues and some of the challenges people in marginalized communities face every day. Nurses, through their experiences, can urge the global community to take action.
Being a nurse is mainly driven by compassion and empathy. By sharing their stories and daily experiences, nurses beyond borders inspire others to participate in global healthcare initiatives. Their experiences motivate others to consider contributing to the cause or volunteering to address healthcare disparities globally.
Nurses also gain invaluable insights from local people and communities. That gives them a broader perspective on healthcare and allows them to develop effective healthcare initiatives.
Exploring humanitarian missions in action
Nurses beyond borders also engage in humanitarian missions. Here’s how these nurses can address diverse healthcare challenges globally through these humanitarian missions.
Collaboration with NGOs
Nurses beyond borders partner with NGOs or non-governmental organizations to facilitate humanitarian missions. These partnerships help provide a structured framework to ensure the smooth delivery of healthcare services through coordinated efforts. By combining resources and expertise, nurses work as part of a team. Coordination improves the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian missions.
Collaborating with NGOs also enables planning and logistics, as these organizations have vast experience in planning and organizing missions. They help obtain necessary permits and accommodations for the nurses and organize transportation to challenging areas.
Working with NGOs makes it easier for nurses as these organizations have access to funding, equipment, medical supplies and other items that are essential in the provision of healthcare in remote areas. Nurses can focus on providing quality care with the support of NGOs.
Navigating a new remote area as a nurse can be challenging, especially if they need help understanding the language or culture. Luckily, most NGOs partner with the local community and are knowledgeable about the community’s cultural norms and understand the language. These local partnerships make work easier for nurses, who don’t have to start from scratch.
Medical camps and outreach programs
Nurses beyond borders participate in medical camps and outreach programs as part of humanitarian missions. These initiatives allow nurses to deliver healthcare services to underserved communities directly and can influence the community’s health and well-being.
Part of organizing medical camps involves setting up mobile clinics. These clinics have qualified medical personnel like doctors and nurses, as well as essential supplies. That allows nurses to provide medical care and educate the community conveniently.
Medical camps also enable the nurses to provide preventative care, especially in relation to acute conditions. They also offer health screenings and vaccinations and educate individuals and the community on nutrition and hygiene.
Nurses also conduct outreach programs to encourage the community to participate and engage in their efforts. They work closely with local volunteers and community leaders to promote healthcare initiatives and foster sustainability.
Medical camps are a great way for nurses to address specific health concerns that are common in the region. Nurses use these camps to educate individuals about diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria, and they also offer mother and child healthcare services.
Disaster relief
Nurses engage in humanitarian efforts by responding quickly to any disasters. They provide emergency support and care after conflicts, natural disasters and other crises. Through rapid deployment, nurses beyond borders can respond swiftly and provide immediate medical assistance.
Nurses offer triage and critical care during a disaster. They assess the severity of illnesses and injuries to ensure urgent cases get immediate medical attention. Beyond handling emergency cases, nurses continue supporting those affected to ensure long-term recovery. Some of the efforts to facilitate long-term recovery include rebuilding healthcare infrastructure, providing rehabilitation services, and addressing any public health concerns.
Nurses beyond borders not only provide physical support they also handle people’s emotional needs. Individuals who’ve been through natural disasters and crises experience stress and trauma. That’s where nurses come in to provide psychological help and compassionate care.
Challenges faced by nurses beyond borders
Nurses beyond borders face several challenges when providing medical care in underserved areas. Some of these challenges include:
Disparity in healthcare access
Nurses have to deal with healthcare disparities in specific regions. Some of these disparities include unequal access to healthcare, which can be attributed to geographical barriers, economic limitations, or lack of healthcare facilities.
Factors like inadequate education, poverty and lack of access to quality nutrition also contribute to healthcare disparities. Nurses also face gender disparities, which can interfere with access to health services. Lack of quality healthcare due to limited resources is another difficulty faced by nurses beyond borders.
Nurses must be creative and adapt to ensure patients receive quality care even in challenging conditions. Setting up initiatives to promote gender equality is another way to solve the disparity in healthcare access.
Language and cultural barriers
Nurses working overseas often face language and cultural barriers when interacting with individuals and the community. Sometimes, nurses have to partner with local community interpreters for translation services, especially when educating the community about healthcare services.
Community leaders also explain some local customs and beliefs to ensure nurses adapt their approach when delivering care services. Having that cultural sensitivity also fosters trust and helps ensure that the care provided matches the local culture.
Many nurses take time to learn basic medical terminology in the local language, which ensures nurses can communicate with local people effectively and provide instructions. Through cultural exchange, nurses build a rapport and trust with the local community. That exchange of knowledge can strengthen the nurse-patient relationship.
Lack of healthcare infrastructure
Nurses beyond borders sometimes get assigned to areas that need more healthcare infrastructure. For example, a few regions have limited medical facilities, which makes it challenging for nurses to access the equipment they require to provide adequate care. In other regions, nurses experience a shortage of medical supplies, including medication.
Lack of reliable power is another challenge nurses working overseas experience. This can hinder service delivery, especially if the medical equipment requires electricity. Inadequate transportation and infrastructure can be a major problem, especially in remote areas, as nurses need to get to patients or transport medical supplies.
A few areas experience poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water. Unfortunately, that can expose the community to potential health risks. Staffing shortages are another challenge nurses experience in terms of healthcare infrastructure. Working with limited support staff can be overwhelming for nurses, and they may have to take on more responsibilities than they anticipated.
To overcome these challenges, nurses have to adapt to working with fewer resources. This includes using the available medical supplies and equipment to meet patient needs. Setting up mobile clinics also allows the nurses to access people in remote areas. Collaborating with local leaders can also help strengthen healthcare infrastructure.
Telemedicine is another great way to help bridge the gaps in healthcare access. With it, nurses can provide healthcare consultations remotely and exchange medical information.
Conclusion
Over the years, Nursing Beyond Borders will expand to focus on preventive care to help reduce the disease burden in communities. Experts believe that nurses beyond borders will leverage technology to bridge the gaps in healthcare access, including using telehealth services and mobile health applications to deliver care in remote areas.
Nurses will be more involved in policy and advocacy change at local and regional levels. Influencing policy changes will address healthcare disparities and promote health equity. Engaging in research will also be a priority for the nurses as they seek to understand and reduce healthcare disparities. They will be able to develop evidence-based practices to improve health outcomes.
