Nursing Abroad

Adazia Mellott, a senior nursing student, has known she wanted to be a nurse for a long time. In high school she fell in love with Geneva, but at the time there was no nursing program. Shortly after discovering this, Adazia received a letter in the mail introducing Geneva’s new nursing program. From there, she immediately applied and began her Geneva College journey.

Geneva’s nursing program partners with CCBC to fulfill clinical and other nursing requirements. Freshman year is spent entirely at Geneva, then their time is split between Geneva, CCBC, and clinical rotations.

“I really liked my time at CCBC. The clinicals and nursing-based classes were really informative. Seeing all the different hospitals and different things nurses can do on clinical rotations, such as the OR, ICU, or Mental Health, was really interesting.”

Adazia reflects on the community she has built during her time in school.

“Some of my favorite memories have been carpooling and building community with the other students in the nursing program.”

Nursing students develop a unique bond not only as fellow Geneva students, but as they spend a lot of time off campus at CCBC and doing clinical rotations.

“Sometimes it can be hard because you do not have the same classes as everyone else that you met freshman year, but this only brought the nursing students closer together. We spend so many hours together you really get to develop a close bond with your cohort. Additionally, we got to stay very connected with Geneva and with campus. I was still able to do all the CSE events, lived in the apartments, and I was an RA so I was involved with Residence Life.”

While Adazia has enjoyed many classes throughout her four year, she lists learning how the body functions and how we can help it resolve problems, Geneva’s core Political Science class, and the Biblical worldview class she took in Ecuador as some of her favorite learning moments.

In addition to majoring in nursing, Adazia also is a Spanish minor. To enhance both her nursing degree and Spanish minor, by working with Dr. Lynette Fair, the Department Chair of the Nursing Department, Adazia was able to study abroad this last semester in Ecuador.

“This program is perfect because it allowed me to have an internship that went along with my capstone. Being in a Spanish-speaking country and a different culture entirely, I have improved my Spanish-speaking skills and cultural awareness a lot- it has been a great challenge."

Every nursing student at Geneva participates in a senior capstone project where they learn about and investigate a real-world nursing issue or situation and share their findings, sometimes even offering solutions. Adazia was able to use her capstone project to blend her interest in nursing with her passion for traveling and Spanish.

Adazia’s capstone project focuses on technology and how it relates to and impacts administering medicine.

“The hospital I am at here in Ecuador does not have the same technology, so I was curious how this impacted patient safety. Ecuador has a more relationship-based approach to care, and the lack of technology creates an environment where nurses spend more time with patients.”

Adazia used her time in Ecuador to observe these relationships and study how medications are being given. She was even able to go to the pharmacy to see the entire medication distribution process from start to finish.

“I have found a lot of evidence-based research showing how technology reduces medicine errors. Overall, my conclusion from my observations and research is that technology can be a good and helpful thing, but there is danger in relying on it. It does make things more efficient but does not take into account troubleshooting and other things. Additionally, there are a lot of other barriers to accessing technology, such as funding.”

Adazia will use her findings from this project, and the knowledge she gained throughout her time in this program, in just a few weeks at a hospital here in Pittsburgh after graduation. She will begin as a nurse on a medical-surgical general hospital floor, and is interesting in transitioning to the ER once she gains some experience.

Adazia has loved her time at Geneva, in the nursing program, and her time studying abroad.

“I recommend studying abroad to anyone, it is really helpful. No matter where you are you come across people from different cultures and who speak different languages. It helps you be more understanding toward others who may be having a hard time understanding or who are experiencing culture shock.”

Geneva encourages students to study abroad, and has many opportunities to do so. Students of all majors take advantage of this unique opportunity to enhance their education.

Learn more about Geneva College's BSN program here.