Yesterday while we were sitting in our "lecture," I noticed that here they go in to a lot more depth and hands on experience than we do in the States. Provided I am not a Nutrition major, but I have heard from Kalie and Brittany that over here, the students go through much more clinical and hands on practice before they graduate than similar programs in the US.
For example, during our Friday lecture, we practiced taking blood pressures, urine analysis, and blood glucose levels. As a Health Promotion major, I have learned to take blood pressure before and so that part was a review for me and Ryland, but Kalie and Brittany had not yet learned how to do it (and I don't think that they would have in our Nutrition program).
It was also very interesting that after they explained how to measure blood glucose levels, we were sent to practice on each other. Meaning, we were given a finger prick needle and told to go to town. At first Kalie and I both tried to prick our own fingers...but we both jumped when we pulled the trigger and so the lab instructor had to prick them for us. As we were practicing all of these skills, I sat there and wondered if this would ever be done in the US. Blood pressure measurements, sure, but blood glucose analysis? I was just so shocked that they let us stick each other with needles...although they were small, it still made me nervous.
Other than that, I didn't experience too much of a culture shock this week because I was shadowing dietitians in the private sector and wasn't really exposed to the public sector at all. Next week I'm going to the Southern Free State where I think I will see a little more of rural South African culture...and hopefully will have more to blog about!
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