Practical tarining
I am doing my last two internships combined to 9 weeks in a hospital in Blankenberge, Belgium. The ward I work in is a Dagcentrum, which is a day clinic providing care to patients. Our patients come to our clinic in example for pre- and post.op care for small day surgeries, painclinic and colonoskopies. We also provide infusiontherapy and chemotherapy.
Working environment is good, but it takes a minute to adjust to the fact that you´re not as good in everything as you are in Finland, because you´re not used to how things are done in a different place, and there is a language barrier since everybody speaks Dutch.
Spare time
The days are long and commuting to work takes an hour per way, so during workdays my spare time consists pretty much of going to the supermarket, making dinner and having a shower. On the weekends I go sightseeing in Brugge or go to the Netherlands to visit my boyfriend.
Differences compared to Finland
Nursing in Belgium is not too different from Finland, the level of aseptic techniques is not quite on the same level that I am used to in Finland, and neither is the patient information security. Also a lot of stuff is in paper instead of online.
But the most shocking part is truly the lack of coffee breaks. In Finland you always get at least one coffee break and a lunch break during your shift, here it is 8 hours of work + 45 minutes for lunch, so the day is 8 hours and 45 minutes long with no additional break for coffee.
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