Clinical Cultural Immersion: The Peru Experience

Overview of Clinical and Cultural Immersion:  Arequipa, Peru

The Arequipa, Peru Group consists of eight junior students and two seniors.  The Peru Experience is their (10 students) clinical practicum.  The students and faculty, Dr. Carol Heinrich, Adult Nurse Practitioner, will be in Arequipa, Peru for three weeks.  The students will provide health care to the residents with a focus on adults/elderly and child health from a community health perspective.  The students will provide health assessment, direct care, and health education for the people in Arequipa, while living in a Guest House in the community. 

This clinical and cultural immersion is in partnership with Father Alex Busuttil and the people of Arequipa.  We expect that students will live, learn and serve in Peru each spring semester.  This cultural and clinical immersion focuses on the UNCW goals:

• Embrace and enhance diversity throughout the universities’ constituencies, culture, curriculum, and outreach activities
• Create an educational environment that prepares our students to be global citizens. 

These goals articulate the SON goals:

• Promote a high quality academic environment that ensures graduates are educated to provide quality health care to diverse populations on local, regional, state, national, and international levels
• Integrate opportunities that enhance global understanding for all students and faculty.

Because of the increased population of Spanish speaking people in this region, the immersion experience is timely and should facilitate the students in working with clients domestically, as well as abroad.  Hopefully, our graduates will provide more culturally sensitive care in working with diverse clients because of this experience.  Our ultimate goal is to promote the development of culturally competent professional nurses.

Click here to return to the main Clinical Cultural Immersion page!

Please check the website each Monday and Wednesday for newly posted written and pictorial accounts of the students' experiences.