Prestigious funding for nurses

The school of nursing and midwifery was one of the first nursing schools in the UK to receive funding from the Leonardo programme for a student exchange last year. The school is applying again this year to exchange its student nurses with Buergerhospital and Katarinen Hospital, Stuttgart.

During the exchange, students have the opportunity to observe the differences in practice between the UK and Germany and must present their finding to their peers on return home. Students found last year's exchange extremely valuable. Here are some of the comments from Dundee students who spent time in Germany.

Katrina Wales: "One aspect of care in Germany appears to be a greater emphasis on promotion of independence with patients being encouraged to do more for themselves than in the UK.

With limited German, the use of non-verbal communication became a useful skill and our efforts to make ourselves understood in German were a source of amusement to our patients. This was invaluable in breaking down communication barriers."

Joanne Leslie: "I noticed that the nurse-patient relationship is much more formal in Germany than in the UK. Patients are generally addressed by their titles and surnames and first names are only used if the patient requests it.

There appears to be a greater level of respect for nurses with interventions accepted without question. It is not thought to be inappropriate to reprimand patients for certain behaviour like continuously pressing the buzzer."

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