OGACHI Visits Partners in Rwanda and Tanzania

Jane Blood-Siegfried, professor, and Rebecca Fishman, senior program manager, with the Office of Global and Community Health Initiatives recently visited several DUSON partners in Rwanda and Tanzania to develop and/or continue to enhance clinical placement sites for our ABSN and graduate students.

Establishing mutually beneficial and sustainable partnerships, particularly with new relationships, is a complex and time-intensive process, though one with significant benefits for DUSON students.

DUSON has a newly-executed affiliation agreement with the University of Rwanda School of Nursing and Midwifery; the partnership will support student exchanges, research, and other collaboration between the organizations. Blood-Siegfried and Fishman conducted site visits and discussions critical to setting up placements for ABSN and graduate students. On the graduate side, this will be a particularly strong placement for acute care, neonatal, and pediatric NP students.

DUSON has several partners in Tanzania, including but not limited to the partners that Blood-Siegfried and Fishman visited:

• Bugando Medical Centre, an existing site for graduate students (particularly for DNP, oncology, and acute care)

• Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College and nearby institutions:

  • Pasua and Majengo Health Centres, which are government-run health clinics and existing sites for our MSN students (Pasua is particularly good for PNP and FNP students, and Majengo is great for FNP and WHNP)

  • Machame Lutheran Hospital, an existing site for MSN students and particularly good for orthopedics and FNP

  • Kilema Hospital, an existing site for ABSN delegations and a potential future site for graduate students (particularly acute care)

Also in Tanzania, but not included on this trip for logistical and distance reasons, is Teamwork City of Hope, a long-standing NGO partner and placement site for ABSN and graduate students.

OGACHI currently sends approximately 70 DUSON students abroad every academic year for clinical and research placements. Adding new sites is a time-intensive process, but we look forward to opening new global placements to future generations of DUSON students!

Please feel free to contact Jane Blood-Siegfried or Rebecca Fishman for more information.