Lígia Guedes and Ana Gonçalves, final year nursing students of the degree in Nursing at the School of Nursing (Porto) of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, developed several health promotion activities with different age groups at Colégio Nossa Senhora da Paz in Porto. These activities aimed to promote health lifestyle habits, where topics such as food and hydration were addressed, exercise, sleep and rest, body hygiene, substance use and mental health.
The promotion of knowledge, training and nursing care in the school community are the main objectives of the collaboration protocol signed by the School of Nursing (Porto) and Colégio Nossa Senhora da Paz. A partnership that has been materialized in different actions and initiatives aimed at increasing health literacy in the school community. The College has received finalist students within the scope of the curricular unit Clinical Teaching 10 - Intervention in the Community and in close collaboration with the projects of the Católica Nursing Center (CEC) and the Nursing Service of the partner entity.
Under the tutorship of the nurse Cátia Costa, nurse at the College, Lígia Guedes and Ana Gonçalves say that the internship "was extremely important for our academic path, as it allowed us to acquire solid knowledge in Community Nursing in a school context, as well as to understand the crucial role played by the school nurse in this context".
“(…) a huge privilege and an experience of great value."
For the finalist students, "the sharing of knowledge, suggestions and feedback by Teacher João Amado and Nurse Cátia Costa, combined with their encouragement of critical reflection on the community environment, was undoubtedly crucial for our growth. This approach has allowed us to develop a holistic view of the community, assessing its context, characteristics and needs, with the aim of responding more appropriately and effectively".
"Having the opportunity to carry out our Clinical Teaching in this context was a huge privilege and an experience of great value. The fact that we are allocated to a school allowed us to establish very strong relationships with the entire school community and contribute to the increase of their health literacy. This college has become a home for us over these months and will forever be etched in our memories as a place where we were truly happy and authentic. In fact, nursing is also that it is being the best version of ourselves to be able to provide quality care to others", conclude the students.
From the perspective of the school's nurse, "this partnership and the operationalization of this internship has a significant impact on the educational community, as it allows a greater reach of the actions developed by the Nursing Service".
The daily presence of a nurse is not a common reality in schools and, therefore, this partnership is of "extreme importance so that future nurses who pass through Colégio Nossa Senhora da Paz can perceive the advantages of this presence in identifying the real needs of the school community and in the priority and personalized action that comes from it". In the specific case of students Ana and Lígia, the "mark left on the school was very positive as they quickly realized the importance of the School Nurse and their fundamental role in promoting the health and well-being of students and the rest of the educational community".
Nurse Cátia Costa summarizes this partnership "as extremely important in her personal and professional development due to the exchange of knowledge and continuous training that it allows".
Professor João Neves Amado, regent of "Clinical Teaching 10 - Intervention in the Community " reinforces that this context, in conjunction with the ongoing projects at the Católica Nursing Center (CEC), has been demonstrating the benefits of a prolonged intervention, continuous over time, of a preventive and health promotion nature. The intervention at Colégio Nossa Senhora da Paz enables students to develop transversal, specific, academic and professional skills in addition to enabling their growth not only as nurses but also in their integrality in the multiple dimensions of the person. The teacher also points out that the excellent ability to articulate is evident and that it becomes an example of excellence of the importance of the integration of nurses in the school! In addition, the presence of the management and the nurse in the activities of School of Nursing (Porto) is always praised by the professors and students as favoring the enormous responsibility and possibility of intervention of nurses outside the (direct) context of disease. In this sense, for the next academic year, new ways to strengthen collaboration between the two institutions are already being studied.