SON Student Opportunities: Focus Thailand

The office of Global Health Affairs held a virtual information session during which a presentation was given on the general information on the global opportunities available for Penn Nursing students. In addition to the general overview, this session focused on Thailand (N5350). The presentation hour included a question & answer session with Jessica Abene, BSN ’23 and Olivia Koch, BSN ’23, who participated in the 2021 program.

This course provides an intensive historical, sociopolitical, and cultural perspective of health and health care delivery in Thailand. Classroom, clinical and field experiences are designed to provide students with a broad view of Thailand’s history and culture. From this sociopolitical, cultural and historical context, we investigate how the health of a country is measured, how health systems are constructed to address the major health concerns, and who provides health-related services. This course combines seminar discussions about the state of health care in the United States and Thailand with a 2-week field experience in Thailand during semester break. Although the course changes a bit each year, some of the experiences you might expect to have in Thailand include visits to the Ministry of Public Health, urban and rural health care facilities (hospitals, clinics, community agencies) in both the public and private sphere, opportunities to explore major cultural and religious sites, and time to explore nursing and nursing education with Thai nurses, nursing faculty and nursing students. We also discuss Thai Traditional Medicine, an indigenous healing system that is protected and promoted by the Thai government, and is used by many Thais in the context of their daily lives.