02.07.19

From left the australian students Catriona, Rachel, Ruby and to the right Lotte Løntoft Mathiesen nurse responsible for clinical supervision at Aarhus University Hospital (photo: Cecilie Guldberg).

For the last couple of weeks, four nursing students from Australian Catholic University in Brisbane have been on an exchange stay at Department of Oncology, Department of Renal Diseases, Department of Endocrinology and Internal Medicine and Department of Cardiology at Aarhus University Hospital. This is the first time Aarhus University Hospital has welcomed students from Australia in the new hospital facilities.

At the last day of the exchange stay, the students wished to share their experiences and perspectives on their visit. In particular, the students emphasised aspects that we as Danes may not notice ourselves in our everyday practice or even find particularly relevant in a Danish context.

Handwritten patient records
Students mentioned technology as one of the decisive differences between Aarhus University Hospital and the hospitals they know in Australia.

- I do not think you even know how far ahead you are. You have unique facilities and everything is digitally connected, which makes it easy to find information about the patients. In Australia, patient records are often handwritten and may be several hundred pages long, which makes it really hard to keep track of, explains one of the students, Catriona, who visited Department of Endocrinology and Internal Medicine.

Patient-focused and competent staff
The Australian students also stressed the collaboration between staff and the approach to patients as a postive difference.

- At Aarhus University Hospital you are much more patient-focused compared to Australia and you treat each other as equals and draw on the skills and expertises of each other when treating patients. You are good at being social and involving, says one of the other students, Ruby, who spent most of her exchange stay in the dialysis ward.

- All the staff members I have met, have been really competent and they have been open-minded to me as a foreign student. They even spent time translating to help me understand what was going on. It has been such a good experience to be here, says Rachel, who visited Department of Oncology.

And Catriona adds:

- This is the best hospital I have ever visited; it is completely different from what I know from home. I wish I could take it all with me back to Australia.