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#Reinforced certainty about nursing as a career, more positive outlook #Medical volunteer experience, interaction with local nurses #The value of practical experience and self-reflection
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Korea Gap YearParticipant Lee Ju-heestrongly recommends 👏👏👏
Medical volunteer work in Phnom Penh, Cambodia treating children that anyone can join |
🤔 Concerns before going on the medical volunteer trip
Before leaving for the medical volunteer work, I felt like I''d lost my dreams and my passion. After clinical practice in the nursing department, I felt confused by the gap with reality and decided to take a leave of absence and volunteer. But when it actually came time to leave, I started worrying, "What if I get lost?", "What if I don''t get along with my roommates?"
🇰🇭 Cambodia medical volunteer experience
During four weeks of medical volunteering in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I initially joined the injection team in the obstetrics and gynecology ward, handling drug mixing, intramuscular injections, and intravenous injections. Later in the ICU I practiced many simple BST (blood sugar tests) and IV (intravenous) procedures. It was a special experience I couldn''t have in Korea.
While working, I felt communication with patients was difficult, so I learned some Khmer from the local staff and offered simple greetings. Everyone loved it; one patient even said a Korean lives next door and praised Koreans, saying they really like Koreans.
One day, I gave a patient a buttock injection and they said, "I didn''t even realize you were giving me the injection. Thank you for doing it so painlessly." Hearing that made me feel very proud. I also felt proud when the local staff thanked me for working with them.
🤝 Interaction with roommates and self-reflection
After volunteering, we''d return to the accommodation and share our day with roommates, and even help each other write our Gap Year missions. The mission to write down my strengths was so difficult I barely managed to come up with anything. But friends left comments on the blog saying, "Your strength is that you listen well and can hear others'' stories." I''m usually quiet and just find it comfortable to listen, but thanks to my friends I had an opportunity to reconsider strengths I didn''t know I had.
✨ Changes and growth after volunteering
Normally, when something didn''t go well I would tell myself, ''Maybe I''m only capable of this much,'' and set limits on myself. But after the Cambodia medical volunteer work, seeing myself change little by little, I began to have expectations that I can grow further. I also gained confidence in the profession of nursing. After becoming a nurse, I want to go back to Cambodia to meet the staff and patients again.
Capturing the growth journeys
of our participants.
