External Student Visit Report- 2024

On August 20, 2024, the team was oriented to the Kasturba Hospital Manipal by Mrs. Geena Louis Dsouza and Mrs. Kusumavathi, Lecturers, Department of Fundamentals of Nursing, MCON. They had an orientation at the trauma and emergency departments, followed by an orientation at all the OPDs, including the women and child block. Exploratory visits were made to general, semi-private, and private wards, and they were taken to the newly inaugurated breast milk bank and Dr. Ramdas Pai Block, where they were briefed about the area's functions. They were impressed with the breastfeeding rooms and appreciated the hospital's initiative to promote breastfeeding practices.

On August 21, 2024, the team was taken to the hemophilia clinic, where Dr. Sulochana, Associate Professor of the Department of Fundamentals of Nursing, explained the patient assessment and briefed on the Haemophilia Society. The team stated that the center was person-centered and offered support groups for people living with the condition and their families.

The team visited the Rural Sub-Health Centre, where they learned about the various health services available to people within the community. They were able to see various contraceptives and vaccinations offered. The team said that the lead doctor was proactive in his approach to health promotion and disease prevention, aligning with UK public health. They also met the ASHA workers, they expressed that it was nice to see how they act as health activists in the community, promoting nutrition, sanitation, and healthy lifestyles to improve health.

They visited the Community Clinic, where they saw the collaborative work bringing together multiple disciplines to benefit patient care and well-being, including social workers, psychiatrists, and nursing staff facilitating the community outreach program. They also went to the Hombelaku Rehabilitation Centre where they found it was a step down from acute services to get the patient ready to be discharged into the community diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar. They found that the unit uses the recovery

model, which looks at empowering the individual to give them hope to recover, aligning with the UK in advocating for patients to be involved in their treatment. Along with the student community posting, the team visits the morbidity clinic and the rural home visits. They observed that basic healthcare was provided to the community as a team. The additional visits the team had were at the yoga division, ayurveda division, occupational therapy, speech therapy, asare centre, and spandana.

The team participated in the workshop for equity, diversity, and inclusion, where they learned about Meyer's model, Health Hierarchy, Elder Abuse, Gender reveal, LGBTQIA+, and different perspectives that differed from their settings.

Dr. Toni and the students visited different departments in MAHE and learned the workings of the areas. The team also visited various places surrounding the Udupi district and revealed the nature and beauty of the place.

At the end of the visit, the students and Dr Toni Bewley presented the visit report and expressed their experiences, perspectives, and differences in the two settings. The session was attributed to Sustainable Development Goal 4, Quality Education.