Field Notes: Teamwork

  Hi everyone! Rylee here. The past 2 weeks we've all been busy busy busy doing research on atrial fibrillation, a heart condition, in and around Mongu. Carolyn and I have been working with Jessica, Fay, and our other UBCO instructors to help prepare for this research since September as our 4th year project. I've always been excited by our research topic, since I love all things cardiac. I've also been super excited to get to follow through with the project here on the ground, after having helped with the prep. But as far as the actual 'research' goes... a) I didn't know what to expect (because I've never been apart of research) and b) believe it or not, research class...was a wee bit dry. However with that said, I loved working with my classmates and helping my teachers at UBCO prepare for this. Little did I know, the fun had hardly begun! Now that we're here, we can finally see the pay off. Each Tuesday and Thursday for the past 2 weeks, I've been able to see my instructors and all the students hard work at play. It's been pretty cool. Not to say it's gone on without a hitch, but we made little tweaks that lead to improvements everyday. Never having been apart of research myself, Jess assures me this is a normal part of the process:)

     If it's not clear already, the research days have been one of my highlights while being here. It's been a unique experience with lots of collaboration; collaboration with my peers, my instructors, the Zambian nursing students, the Zambian nursing profs, doctors, clinical officers and the district ministers of health. Good thing I love teamwork! I love being part of a team working towards a common goal. Let me tell you, this exemplified team work. Each day our team was made of around 30 people, working together, helping each other out, trying to make each others lives easier. Not only were people fulfilling their roles in the research process, but I really liked when I saw everyone doing a little something extra. Whether that be people offering up their chair in the shade, or tossing their buddy a water, or sunscreen (some of us makuas have a little trouble in the sun sometimes) it was awesome to see. It's like these days were jam-packed with random acts of kindness and I hope everyone else felt what I saw. 

     Another part of the fun in research was getting to go into the communities and talk to the community members. Each day we went somewhere new and vastly different; some locations more rural and others right in the busy city. Each site was unique and valuable, both to the research and to my understanding and impression of Zambia. 

     I love what I learned about this team and these communities from the research days. As for what we set out to find about atrial fibrillation, I'm not sure yet. We'll have to wait and see!

Rylee