Jenna Applebach

NURS 450

Service Learning: Cusco, Peru

Service learning is a major educational component to the nursing program at Ferris State
University. According to the College of Health Professions (2013), Service Learning is a form
of practical experience that enhances learning in all areas of a nursing program, and the
experience of service learning reinforces the moral and civic values inherent in serving others
(para. 17). In order to fulfill this requirement of the nursing program, I chose to be a medical
volunteer in Cusco, Peru.
The organization in which I was able to go to Peru through is called Mximo Nivel. This
organization offers students a variety of volunteer opportunities in the Spanish-speaking nations
of Peru, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. I (along with other Ferris students) volunteered through one
of Mximos medical projects. According to Mximo, volunteering under one of these projects
entails working with mentally and physically disabled people, assisting elderly patients, or
working with HIV infected children and/or adults. Volunteers are expected to distribute or
organize medications, assist with bathing and other activities of daily living, and do other
activities for patients in a variety of settings in order to ensure their well-being (Mximo Nivel,
2015).
I had multiple volunteer roles during my week in Cusco. My first role was to inspect
students teeth for caries and then give them a fluoride paste at a private school in Cusco. The
next day, I palpated the necks of young girls at a girls orphanage for swollen lymph nodes. The
day after that, I listened to the bowel sounds of boys at a boys orphanage and later assessed
young girls for kidney infection by percussing at the costovertebral angle. Finally, during the last
two days, I listened to childrens lung sounds and took blood pressures on mothers at an afterschool program on the outskirts of Cusco.

To be honest, I thought at first that we, as a group, would be volunteering in mostly

clinics alongside doctors and nurses. This is the information that I was given by Mximo Nivel,
at least. However, I thought we had some wonderful experiences working in orphanages and
schools; we were able to perform basic (and vital) nursing assessments. I did not have any
specific assumptions about Cusco or our living situation in Cusco, as I have gathered from other
travels that one can never assume that destinations will be what one had in mind.
I learned many interesting things while I was in Cusco, but something heartbreaking was
that many of the girls at a special orphanage had been sexually abused at some point in life.
Therefore, when we went to palpate their abdomens and listen to bowel sounds, many were very
shy about it and would not let us lift their shirts up. I learned then that we need to be extra careful
of privacy when assessing sexually abused patients. An astounding number of children at the
school also had dental caries, so it was important that they received dental hygiene education and
proper teeth cleanings.
I think that the greatest thing I learned is that, regardless of where people come from in
the world, we all deal with many of the same health issues. The only difference is that some
health issues are more exposed and predominant in some areas than in others, depending on
where one comes from.
Service learning is highly beneficial to students in the nursing program because it allows
for students to get a taste of the real world. It allows students to see, first-hand, health issues
the general population faces and how those issues can be brought into the clinical setting. My
own service learning experience in Peru allowed me to connect with people and to see the issues
they face. Nursing is all about making connections with people and being aware of the

underlying issues they face outside of the hospital setting in order to provide the best care
possible.
In my volunteer experience, I met several BSN program outcomes, including
Collaborative Leadership, Generalist Nursing Practice, and Professionalism (College of Health
Professions, 2011). For Collaborative Leadership, we volunteers delegated assessment roles to
each other, provided basic nursing care through our assessments and interventions, and were held
accountable for the quality of our practice. For Generalist Nursing Practice, we worked alongside
a doctor and several teachers to provide care and education to our patients. For Professionalism,
we were professional in our assessments and care of our patients.
I believe that service learning in another country is a fantastic way to fulfill the service
learning requirement in the nursing program. It is by far not the cheapest means to do so, but it is
an incredibly enriching experience and it helps to solidify basic nursing practice (such as
assessment). Therefore, I highly recommend the fulfillment of the service learning requirement
in Cusco, Peru.

References
College of Health Professions. (2011). BSN program outcomes. Retrieved from
http://www.ferris.edu/colleges/alliedhe/nursing/BSN-program-outcomes.htm.
College of Health Professions. (2013). Frequently asked questions. Retrieved from
http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/colleges/alliedhe/Nursing/RN-to-BSN/Frequently-AskedQuestions.htm.
Mximo Nivel. (2015). Medical/healthcare volunteer abroad. Retrieved from
http://www.maximonivel.com/volunteers/medical-healthcare/.