{"id":7052,"date":"2018-08-27T02:29:39","date_gmt":"2018-08-26T18:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/go-global-students-cross-cultures-shanghai\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T13:08:55","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T05:08:55","slug":"go-global-students-cross-cultures-shanghai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/go-global-students-cross-cultures-shanghai\/","title":{"rendered":"Go Global students cross cultures in Shanghai"},"content":{"rendered":"

In August, a group of students from the Faculty of Health Sciences<\/a> set off for China\u2019s largest city; the bustling metropolis of Shanghai, population 24 million. The students were part of the faculty\u2019s unique Go Global program<\/a>, and were set to spend the next four weeks doing fieldwork in Shanghai\u2019s health care system.<\/p>\n

The cosmopolitan city of Shanghai, renowned for its delicious cuisine and melting pot of architectural styles \u2013 including the pristine art deco buildings of The Bund \u2013 had always appealed to Master of Occupational Therapy<\/a> student, Yan Ming Wong (Ming). As an avid traveller to many Chinese cities, she jumped at the opportunity to return to China and undertake a fieldwork placement in Shanghai.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always been intrigued by the culture and lifestyle in China, and I have been to different cities in China in the past. I have always been interested in cultural exchange programs, and I decided to apply to this program when it was introduced to our class during the first year of my postgraduate study,\u201d said Ming.<\/p>\n

For the Go Global students, a typical day in Shanghai began with a morning commute \u2013 complex by Perth standards \u2013 followed by\u00a0clinical placements at Sunshine Rehabilitation Hospital, Shanghai, discussions, debriefs and lots of delicious food!<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d meet at the lobby of the apartment at 7.40am and walk to the station. We\u2019d take the first train to an interchange station and change for another line to get to our destination station. Very often we had trouble getting on the train because it gets rather packed and crowded during peak hour travelling,\u201d Ming said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire train ride took about 1.5 hours and this is where I got to bond with other team members. Sometimes on the train ride, I looked through materials in preparation for the practical work we would be doing. If I encountered any problems, I talked to the facilitators and other students to have a discussion around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Students
The student’s provided allied health services in hospital.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once the group arrived at the hospital, the focus was on clinical work in specific areas. Unlike the Australian healthcare system, where allied health practitioners often work with clients in community settings, rehabilitation services are provided solely in the hospital system in China, and the style of therapy can be quite different. Having complex conversations, full of medical jargon, in Mandarin proved to be an additional daily challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to the hospital at around 9.00am and went to our designated areas of practice such as paediatrics, neurology, orthopaedics or spinal cord injury. Before the session, I\u2019d ask the supervisor about the background of the client and, when the client arrived, I\u2019d make small talk with them so that they felt more relaxed during the treatment,\u201d Ming said.<\/p>\n

“I started by observing what was being done and asking the supervisor about treatment strategies. I also made notes and had discussions with the supervisor afterwards. If I felt comfortable, and had permission from the supervisor, I\u2019d try out the strategy on the client whilst the supervisor observed and gave feedback afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Students
The students helped one another to navigate cultural differences.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Conversing in Mandarin and using technical medical terms during clinical time was challenging, as I don\u2019t always speak Mandarin in Perth. Working in a different healthcare system was also demanding at times \u2013 things are done differently in China such as the amount of cases each therapist carries and the techniques and equipment used. Chinese therapists utilise a variety of technologies and equipment to facilitate rehabilitation, which is often passive, and it was a learning curve to try to get accustomed to new things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to navigate the cultural differences in China, I tried to maintain an open mind towards things that I felt uncomfortable with, and I also spoke with friends about it. We helped to ground each other and learned to be okay with it. I also spoke with the locals, such as my therapist supervisors and local students, about what I found shocking and very often their explanations would clarify my confusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Students
Enjoying the delicious food and drinks in Shanghai was always a popular pastime!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Shanghai
The group took in many popular tourist attractions in their downtime.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the group\u2019s clinical placements were the focus of their Shanghai visit, when not working in the hospital they had the opportunity to enjoy the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the vibrant metropolis, and visited many popular tourist attractions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe visited famous tourist spots such as City God Temple, Yu Yuan, Disneyland, Jingan Temple, the French Concession, The Bund, Oriental Pearl Tower, Shanghai Tower and many more! People who were keen for food enjoyed famous food in Shanghai, such as soup dumplings, pan-fried dumplings and hotpot. And, of course, shopping sprees were a rather popular thing to do during our downtime,\u201d said Ming.<\/p>\n

Ming\u2019s Go Global placement was challenging at times, however it was an experience she describes as invaluable and would recommend it to other students.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo Global is a wonderful and invaluable opportunity to experience a different culture, practise what we learn in university, see how healthcare is delivered in a different country, learn new and innovative techniques and strategies, meet people and expand professional connections, learn great interpersonal and team work skills, form lifelong friendships and develop professionally and personally. This experience forced me to be out of my comfort zone and constantly challenged me to be better,\u201d Ming said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In August, Go Global students from Curtin’s Faculty of Health Sciences had an exciting study abroad opportunity in the cosmopolitan city of Shanghai, China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":7053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-7052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-and-global-community"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":false,"credits":{"author":{"title":"Arianne Chavez","url":"#","target":""},"photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/IMG_5141.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Curtin","last_name":"University","display_name":"Curtin University"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 12:59:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7052"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=7052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}