First-year nursing students from the Hukaho Women’s College in Nara, Japan, have recently visited BYU to learn from the College of Nursing’s advanced technology.
Public relations supervisor Rose Ann Jarrett, at the College of Nursing, said that Hukaho students were interested to learn how BYU nursing students practice what they learned inside the classroom.
“These students don’t have access to simulated learning,” Jarrett said. “They can see how we simulate scenarios that would replicate an illness or a trauma on a mannequin and how students are able to analyze the situation and determine what should be done to help the patient.”
Nursing students in Japan get their clinical experience primarily in nursing homes instead of visiting hospitals. Hukaho students were amused to see the different simulators, including the birthing simulator.
Hukaho nursing students Eri Matsumoto and Misaki Nakamura were impressed by the learning environment at BYU.
“The nursing facilities are wonderful here,” Nakamura said. “We’re kind of jealous.”
Matsumoto compared the facilities at BYU to the ones back home.
“We usually get in groups of four or five people and we take turns to play the different roles: one is the nurse, the other one the doctor and so on,” Matsumoto said.
Another Hukaho student, Akira Nishimoto, said that Hukaho doesn’t have an entire learning center dedicated to nursing but that the school provides mannequins for some lessons.
Merilee Maxfield, president of the Student Nursing Association, was thankful for the opportunity to spend time with the students from Japan.
“I had not come in the past years because of my class schedule,” Maxfield said. “But it has been really fun to get to know them.”
Hukaho students stayed with hosts families since their arrival on March 10 and stayed for a total of 10 days. There were two students per family, and on weekends they toured Provo and Salt Lake City. Visiting students had three translators while touring BYU.
