At Concordia University Texas, nursing students have the opportunity to attend nurse mission trips. On mission trips, students work alongside registered nurses to provide medical services to people with limited access to medical facilities. These trips offer students the opportunity to serve others and practice caring for those in need.
During nursing school, hands-on patient care experience is essential for developing your skills. Whereas most nursing schools teach patient care in labs and clinical rotations alone, some nursing programs take the further step of offering medical nurse mission trips. Mission trips provide the opportunity for nursing students to serve those in need by applying their skills and knowledge in new patient care situations.
As a student of the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) track at Concordia University Texas, you’ll have the unique opportunity to attend medical nurse mission trips during nursing school. These trips will enhance your skills and help prepare you for your career by showing you the real impact of your work as a nurse.
What is involved in a nurse mission trip, and why should you consider a school that offers the experience? This post will explain all you need to know about nurse mission trips.
How Do Nurse Mission Trips Work?
Medical Nurse mission trips serve a range of different communities and take a variety of forms. Some trips will take you to communities within the United States. Others are international. The services provided during each trip depend on the needs of the community served. One trip might focus on providing vaccinations and blood pressure checks for urban homeless communities. Another trip might focus on offering aid and medical care to members of rural communities with little access to healthcare.
Regardless of the specific aid you offer, you’ll be gaining practical experience by applying your nursing skills to meet a community’s needs.
What Are the Benefits of Mission Trips for Nursing Students?
Medical mission trips offer a wide range of benefits to nursing students, including real-world applications of the knowledge you are gaining from your coursework and the chance to give back to people in need.
Here are a few of the advantages of attending a nursing school that offers the opportunity to participate in medical nurse mission trips.
1. Ability to Interact with Patients
As a nursing student, you have a lot to learn about patient care before you’ll be ready for professional nursing. That’s why hands-on experiences caring for patients play such an important role in your education. During the ABSN track at CTX, you’ll spend a lot of time developing skills in skills and simulation labs and then serving patients in clinical rotations. Those experiences will provide a solid foundation for your clinical education.
When you participate in a medical nurse mission trip, you’ll increase your experience by talking with patients about their symptoms and health histories, which will improve your skills in patient communication. You’ll also broaden your experience by serving a different patient community.
See why clinical experience is so important for nursing education.
2. Giving Back to the Community
Another advantage of attending mission trips as a nursing student for nurses during the ABSN track at CTX, is that it’s a way of serving others. Setting aside time to help people in need is a great way to experience the profound impact of your education. Nursing is a selfless profession, and any time you can help others, you’re putting your skills to good use.
3. Unique Nursing Care
MedicalNurse mission trips serve communities in the United States and other countries, providing nursing students the chance to work with patient populations different than those they care for in clinical rotations.
You might travel to serve communities that are underprivileged or have limited access to healthcare. You might treat conditions unique to a particular geographic location or work with patients who speak another language. No matter where your medical nurse mission trip as a nursing student takes you, it will bring new professional experiences, broaden your skill set and make you a better nurse.
4. An Opportunity for Empathy
One of the best reasons to attend medical nurse mission trips during the ABSN track is the opportunity for empathy that they provide. As a nurse, you’ll need to have compassion for your patients every day, showing kindness, understanding, and support. Since patients from backgrounds different from yours might make different decisions than you would make, medical nurse mission trips provide experience in respecting diverse healthcare choices. Those experiences of empathy and respect as a nursing student can have a lifelong impact and will make you a better nurse.
What other skills do nurses need? See 12 qualities of the best nurses.
How Can Medical Nurse Mission Trips Impact Communities?
Before embarking on a medicalnurse mission trip, it’s important to evaluate the community impact of the service you’ll be providing. The best mission trips implement systems that are sustainable and will continue to benefit the community after you leave. Whereas bringing clean water helps a community for only a limited period, the more sustainable mission of building a well enables the community to access safe water for years to come.
The type of aid given depends on the community’s needs, and trips can differ greatly in their missions. But while some trips focus on building infrastructure and others on education, most medicalnurse mission trips provide healthcare in some capacity.
Local Community Service for Nursing Students
If you have a passion for service but prefer not to travel, there are many ways you can use your nursing skills to give back to your local community. Participating in volunteer activities during nursing school sharpens your skills while also connecting you to your community and its health and wellness.
Volunteer options in your local community include:
- Helping at a local community-based clinic
- Performing community blood pressure checks
- Assisting at the local blood bank
- Providing home visits for elderly community members
- Presenting at local health education events
Start Your Nursing Journey at Concordia University Texas
The nursing track at CTX is an excellent career investment. At CTX, we offer the unique opportunity of medicalnurse mission trips along with many other invaluable learning opportunities. Now that you understand their contribution to your nursing education, it’s time to take the first step.
What is the ABSN track like? See what to expect in accelerated nursing school.
If you have at least 60 non-nursing college credits or a non-nursing bachelor’s degree, you may be eligible for the ABSN track at CTX. To begin, reach out to our admissions counselors. We’ll walk you through the entire process of accelerated nursing school admissions.