Day two was the perfect day to get more acquainted with the city of Birmingham and to truly start the study abroad trip off in the education aspect of things! To begin with, we woke up for an 8:15 meeting time and were able to eat a quick breakfast to start our day off. I enjoyed some scrambled eggs and a fresh bread roll along with a warm cup of peppermint tea and an amazing glass of apple juice. After our breakfast, it was time to meet in the hotel lobby to begin the trip to Birmingham City University (BCU).
To begin the trip, we got bus passes and sat on the top of a double decker bus which was so fun because we were able to sit and watch the scenery go by. It was only six stops which wasn’t a lot of time on the bus, but we got day passes so we could ride the bus as much as we wanted! While the bus was part of the trek there, we still walked for about a mile to BCU main campus. While we were walking it did start to rain but we were prepared for the weather and were able to put our raincoats on or our umbrellas up before we got too soaked. Once inside, we met Chinenye Anetekhai, an educator and nurse who works in the burn care unit. She became our leader for the day and took us all around BCU.
To begin, we introduced ourselves to Chinenye. It was a really special experience because she would have an anecdote or piece of advice for many of us when we stated what specialty we were looking to go into as nursing and education majors. After introductions, Chinenye also gave an overview of the campus and was able to talk about general comparisons between nursing in the United States versus nursing in the United Kingdom. We learned that BCU was more teaching intensive than research intensive which was a change from the University of Pittsburgh which is geared more towards research. It was also interesting to learn that the nursing and education majors only took three years of schooling, but worked year-round with shorter breaks in between. For nursing specifically, clinicals start the first year and nursing students don’t have to take the NCLEX; however, this does mean that nurses in the United Kingdom can’t practice nursing in the United States unless they go back to school.
After we had our overview, we were given an hour for lunch at the BCU cafeteria. It was one of the nicer dining halls I had been to before, and offered a huge variety of different foods that we could eat. I got mac and cheese with a small side salad and a bottle of iced tea, because I needed caffeine before attending the next event of the day, which was a lecture with Chinenye on burn injuries!
The lecture was really interesting and Chinenye made it relatable and fun to listen to. I learned so much about the causes of burns, burn effects, burn treatments, and so much more. To begin, we learned that burns may be low incidence but can have lifelong impacts for the patient and those connected to the patient in various ways. The effects are not just physical, but are also mental with a cycle of mental health and burn injuries taking place (mental health issues can cause burn injuries and burn injuries can cause mental health issues). Due to overcrowding, smaller kitchens, etc. burn injuries are the leading cause of disability in low income countries, especially in children, and there are three zones when looking at burn effects. There is the zone of coagulation, which is unsalvageable skin tissue, there is the zone of stasis which has static blood flow, and there is the zone of hyperaemia which is tissue inflammation and has a high chance of survival. The most effective treatment for treating burns is to cool the burn area for twenty or more minutes with cool tap water within the first three hours of the injury. This has many benefits including faster healing and less scarring. We also learned how to classify the amount of fluid that needs to be given within the first twenty-four hours of the injury with the Parkland Formula which is 3-4 milliliters of Hartman solution, multiplied by the patient’s body weight in kilograms, multiplied by the percentage of the body covered in burns. Overall, we had an educational, collaborative lecture, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the lectures we will be attending on this trip!