Emergency Medicine Nursing

The Good Samaritans had been working in Vietnam since 2000 with the first Summer Mission and medical education became part of the agenda in 2003 when the team came to work at Hue College of Medicine and Pharmacy. Despite working directly at the Medical College which has a nursing program, the Good Samaritans were not able to contribute to the growing nursing needs of the College and University Hospital.

All that changed when the First National Emergency Medicine Symposium were organized in 2010. Because of the large contigent of EM physicians coming to Hue, interests for Nursing education also grew and 8 US Registered Nurses came together and organized the first Nursing Conference, chaired by Michele Suter, RN.

The success of this first conference wasn't about what was taught but it was about relationship. The US nurses developed such a bond with local nurses and they simply can't ignore their new found colleagues' needs. As soon as they left Hue in March 2010 they began to plot their return.

In November 2010, three nurses from Hue University Hospital came to Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside, California for a 2 month educational training, working in the medical-surgical ward, Emergency Room and Critical Care Departments.

Out of those experiences and compared to their needs at home, these 3 nurses helped plan for the 2011 Nursing Conference. That began a new chapter for Nursing Education in Vietnam. The next chapter is to be written in Hanoi in March 2012. Come with us and help change a life!