Översikt
Travel to Africa and get valuable work experience by joining our Nursing Internship in Ghana. You’ll learn from qualified nurses and doctors at a hospital, shadowing them on their rounds and observing their work. This is a great way to build your practical medical knowledge and make your CV stand out.
During your internship, you can rotate through different hospital departments. In each one, we’ll teach you about various conditions diseases, and how to diagnose and treat them.
You’ll also get practical experience doing basic health checks and dressing wounds at medical outreaches. This is important work, as we provide healthcare services in disadvantaged areas. All of your practical work is supervised.
You’ll be based in one of three locations in Ghana and live with a host family. We encourage you to make the most of your free time to explore the country, and sample tasty dishes like jollof rice and red red.
Is a Nursing Internship in Ghana right for me?
Our Nursing Internship in Ghana is ideal for students looking for work experience before or during university.
This is a great accompaniment to your studies and will give you a clearer idea of the work you do on a daily basis. If your goal is a career in nursing, the skills you learn during your internship will be a valuable addition to your CV.
No experience? No problem! The goal of this internship is for you to learn, and you’ll gain a lot from shadowing local nurses and doctors. We recommend taking advantage of any opportunity to ask questions and take notes.
Your medical coordinator will teach you what you need to know before you work at any outreaches, and will there to supervise you throughout.
Our Nursing Internship in Ghana runs throughout the year, and you can join at any time.
What will I do during my Nursing Internship?
In Ghana, you work at a hospital, where you shadow and learn from nurses and other medical staff. During your internship, you will:
Your work will focus on the following areas:
Shadow nurses as they work with patients in the hospital
A big part of your placement will see you observing and following nurses as they do their rounds. This will give you an idea of what nurses do on a daily basis. At your nursing placement in Ghana, you will see for yourself how important nurses are in the smooth functioning of a hospital. They care for patients, monitor them, and administer medication.
Experience work in different hospital departments
Hospitals in Ghana have different departments to meet the needs of the growing population. We recommend using this this opportunity to intern several, spending at least a week in which one. You'll see different illnesses and injuries across different departments. This will also give you a better idea on which departments you wish to work in in the future.
Provide free health checks and run educational campaigns at medical outreaches
You’ll take part in medical outreach work once or twice a week. Here, you’ll assist the nurses with basic healthcare checks at a leprosy camp, care centre, or in more remote areas. Here are a few of the tasks you do:
- Clean wounds
- Treat ringworm
- Check blood sugar levels
- Check blood pressure levels
- Conduct malaria and Hepetitis B tests
- Help nurses refer patients with positive test results
- Help distribute medication
Another part of our outreach work is focused on education. Education is a huge part of empowering local communities and an important prevention method. Our goal is to improve standards of health in the community. We do this by creating awareness around various diseases and share knowledge about prevention and treatment. You will help with setting up and running these campaigns. These activities will give you invaluable nursing work experience in Ghana.
What type of nursing placements are available in Ghana?
You’ll work in Akuapem Hills or Accra at a general hospital or clinic. All nursing placements in Ghana have various hospital departments. We encourage you to stay in each department for at least a week so you can get the full experience.
Departments
- General medicine
- Paediatrics
- Accident and emergency
- Labs
- Opthamology
- Dentistry
We recommend discussing the different departments you’d like to intern in ahead of your trip with your Volunteer Advisor. On your first day at the hospital, you’ll discuss your work schedule with your project coordinator and meet your supervisor.
Where will I be working in Ghana?
Cape Coast
Accra
Ghana’s capital city is a thriving trading centre and serves as the country’s administrative, economic, and educational centre. You’ll work at a general hospital and assist local nurses with the patients that come in to to be treated by the doctors. As Accra is the largest city in Ghana, you’ll see a variety of different medical conditions and treatment methods.
Akuapem Hills
Located in the Eastern Region of Ghana, Akuapem Hills is characterised by vibrant green vegetation and rich red earth. As one of the quieter regions, children calling 'Obroni’ (foreigner) as they try to catch your attention will be unmistakable. The villages are welcoming and know how to entertain! When volunteering in Ghana, join in on the street festivities or try dried fish and yams at a food stall on the main street. The bustling city of Accra is within easy reach for a day trip.
Nursing interns will work at hospitals and join outreach events in the community.
A typical day on the Nursing Internship in Ghana
Start your day after a good night's sleep in your host family’s home. Get dressed, eat breakfast and grab a tro tro or shared taxi to get to the hospital. Don’t forget your white coat!
Your day starts at about 8am, Monday to Friday. This will, however, depend on the department you are working in . Finish up around 2pm or opt to stay longer and continue your observations. Just be sure to check with your supervisor and the local staff beforehand.
Each day, you will find yourself assisting the nurses as they go around the hospital cleaning their ward, bathing and grooming patients and remaking beds. You’ll often spend the next hour shadowing the doctor in the ward as he visits each of his patients. Under the supervision of the local nurses, you can help check vital signs and administer medication according to doctor’s instructions.
If you’d like to head home for the day, head back to your host family's house. Tuck into a home-cooked meal of jollof, a traditional rice dish of rice with tomato sauce and meat, fish or chicken. You can then depend time getting to know your host family and playing games or watching movies in the evening.
In your free time, you can explore more of Ghana by renting a tro-tro for the day. We encourage you to learn more about Ghana’s history by visiting the Cape Coast castle. There are also a lot of hikes in the national parks. If you’d like recommendations, you can speak to our staff. They will be able to give you the best advice and tips on what to see and do while you are there.
What are the aims and impact of this Nursing internship?
The aim of this internship is for you to learn from qualified nurses in a medical setting, and get experience in various hospital departments.
Working in different departments is a way for you to explore different specialisations if you plan to become a nurse. This will help you get a better idea of the departments you’d like to work in in the future. It will also allow you to add amazing experience to your CV, and give you more to talk about in interviews.
Besides getting nursing work experience in Ghana, you will also help make a difference.
Ghana suffers from a double burden of disease. Infectious diseases like cholera and malaria are rife, and cases of illnesses like diabetes and hypertension are on the rise. We want to help communities prevent and manage these diseases through our outreach work.
To accomplish this, we implemented a Medicine Management Plan, which has five clear goals:
- Encourage an understanding of medical practices and promoting an exchange of medical knowledge
- Improve access to basic healthcare for disadvantaged groups through outreach work in leprosy camps and schools
- Promote awareness of non-communicable diseases
- Improve the quality of healthcare provided to patients
- Reduce the number of cases of malaria
Join us on the Nursing Internship in Ghana and broaden your medical knowledge and skill set.
Professional volunteers and medical electives for students
This project is also ideally suited to professionals interested in using their skills to help, as well as university medical and healthcare elective students.
As a professional, you can be sure we will match your training and expertise to the placement where you are needed most. With your support, we can make an even bigger impact on the local communities we work with.
If you are an elective student, we will organise an elective placement where you can learn as much as possible. We want you gain the knowledge and skills that will begin to shape your professional career.
Read more about volunteering as a professional or taking a healthcare elective as a student.
Projekthandlingsplaner
Vi har utarbetat långsiktiga mål för våra projekt och dokumenterat målen i våra projekthandlingsplaner. Våra projekthandlingsplaner används också för att planera ditt arbete. Tack vare våra projekthandlingsplaner kan du vara säker på att du arbetar mot ett långsiktigt mål och vi kan kontinuerligt utvärdera och förbättra vårt arbete. Våra projekthandlingsplaner säkerställer att vi gör en verklig skillnad.
Läs mer om våra projekthandlingsplaner.
Vi mäter resultatet av vårt arbete varje år
Vi arbetar mot långsiktigt mål med årliga delmål. Varje volontär och praktikant som deltar på ett av våra projekt hjälper oss att nå dessa långsiktiga mål. På så sätt kan även de som volontärarbetar eller praktiserar en kortare tid göra verklig skillnad. Varje person bygger på arbetet som tidigare volontärer och praktikanter gjort. Varje år utvärderar vi resultatet av vårt arbete. Du kan hitta en sammanställning av vad vi uppnått under året i vår Global Impact Report.
För mer information om vilken insats våra volontärer, praktikanter och personal gjort under året, läs vår senaste rapport.
Mat och boende
Du kommer bo hos en värdfamilj i Accra, Akuapem Hills, Cape Coast eller Dodowa. Din värdfamilj kommer välkomna dig som en familjemedlem till deras hem. De kommer lära dig mer om deras traditioner och om den lokala kulturen. Vi tror att det här är det bästa sättet att verkligen lära känna kulturen i ett nytt land. Du kommer få en unik upplevelse av Ghana.
Vi försöker alltid placera dig så att du bor med en annan Projects Abroad volontär eller praktikant. Ditt rum kommer vara enkelt men bekvämt, rent och säkert.
Din projektavgift inkluderar tre måltider om dagen.
Läs mer om våra boenden.
Fritidsaktiviteter när du är ledig
När du volontärarbetar i Ghana kommer du även få chansen att utforska detta färgstarka västafrikanska land. Det finns så många olika typer av aktiviteter att göra här så du kommer ha fullt upp på fritiden.
Musik är en otroligt viktig del i den ghanaiska kulturen. I större stöder som Accra kommer du kunna lyssna till många olika liveband och få oförglömliga minnen från det livliga nattlivet. Eller tillbringa dina kvällar med att smaka på goda lokala rätter på någon av de många restaurangerna.
För att lära dig mer om Ghanas historia rekommenderar vi ett besök i Cape Coast, där du kan gå på rundtur i slavforten och besöka museum.
Älskar du vara ute i naturen? Passa på att vandra genom regnskogen i Kakum National Park eller Mole National Park.
Vi driver många olika projekt i Ghana, så det finns andra Projects Abroad volontärer att lära känna. Du kan därför välja mellan att utforska Ghana tillsammans med andra eller utforska självständigt.
Säkerhet och personalstöd
Din säkerhet är vår första prioritet. Vi har många processer och system på plats för att se till att du har all hjälp och support som du behöver. För oss är det viktigt att du ska känna dig trygg när du reser med oss. Vår egen Projects Abroad personal finns tillgänglig för hjälp och stöd 24h om dygnet. De kommer se till att du trivs i ditt boende och känner dig hemma på din projektplacering. Om du skulle stöta på något problem, finns vår personal alltid där för att hjälpa dig.
Läs mer om support och säkerhet.
Meet the team in Ghana
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