A Fortnight More
By: Rachael Chansler, Nursing ’23
Rachel’s computer screen waiting for the webinar, the learning, and the music to begin.
Nursing Research in Dublin – Ireland
The summer seems to still have barely begun. The kids I babysit seem to have barely grown. The summer league I joined seems to barely have started. Yet the end of my global internship is, as one of my PIs recently mentioned, only a fortnight away.
COVID threw off the timing of everyone’s plans for the past two years, as we are all so clearly aware, and the research project I’ve been assisting within Dublin is no different. During the interview process, we all were hopeful that by the time my internship was starting the team would be deep within the third work package out of five. But due to offices being closed, funds being moved, and the need for ethics approvals from organizations whose focuses have changed, I started my internship during the planning and approval stages for the first work package.
At first, I felt a little lost. There wasn’t much I could do besides wait for the ethics approval and fill my time by doing my own research to grow my expertise in the specialty of dementia in patients with intellectual disabilities. My PI, and the rest of the team, did what they could to guide my learning, sending me different studies and supports that they and their colleagues had designed or incorporated into their practice. When reading the articles, I noticed that even some of the most simple and easily incorporated supports for people with intellectual disabilities were things I had never even heard of. Take PhotoSymbols for example. By just simplifying instructions for care into sentence-long commands and including a clear image relating to each one, information can be accessible to patients in a way that works for them without minimizing their power in their care process. Here was a whole population who despite how much they knew or needed to know about their health were cut off because of the medical field’s tendency to write to and for themselves and not the patients they are meant to serve. I felt guilty for only ever thinking of accessibility in terms of language barriers. I felt angry that I’m not the only one who didn’t know about the changes that could be made to properly care for anyone who may walk into a clinician’s practice. As a future nurse, I pride myself on my dedication to serving anyone who needs my help, and I am so thankful to be working on this project to be able to grow this dedication and my knowledge of ALL the wonderful people who I will eventually help care for.
Healthcare is nothing without equity. And no provider, researcher, or patient can reach this benchmark alone. Through my time with Trinity College Dublin, I’ve also had the honor to attend multiple conferences held on relating to brain health, intellectual disabilities, and spirituality, and music in health care. As a Religious Studies minor, I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the research being done worldwide into the effects of spirituality on a patient’s wellbeing and happiness throughout their care. Further, the webinar on Jazz, Equity, and Brain Health I attended sparked my interest in more holistic care by not only describing the effects of music on the patient but using musical metaphors to explain complex anatomical processes. The metaphors helped me find yet another way to relate to my future patients who may not understand the complexities of medical jargon but who feel safe within the scales of song. Â
The systematic review, focus groups, and recommendations that this project will produce won’t be finished by the time my GRIP internship ends. The team has agreed to allow me to stay on and help finish the pieces I have begun, including the scoping review, which will be my first published scientific work! Even once I do complete my part, and the project as a whole wraps up, the work will not be over. There will always be another fortnight needed (and available) to discover and understand.
The Global Research and Internship Program (GRIP) provides outstanding undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to intern or conduct research abroad for 8 to 12 weeks over the summer. Participants gain career-enhancing experience and global exposure that is essential in a global workforce.