Nursing is a demanding field of work even under the best circumstances. So what kind of person does it take to leave the well-stocked and spotless hospitals of North America for disaster- or poverty-stricken regions overseas? Undertaking a placement within an NGO with a mission to provide healthcare to the world's most underprivileged citizens takes nursing to its most extreme, stretching a nurse's skills and stamina to their limit and beyond.
"It's a little bit difficult to get into the field at the offset, but if this is something you want to do, then just keep at it, and you can find a way in," admits May Marconet, International Recruiting Manager at International Medical Corps.
As in any field of work, tailoring your studies to your career path from year one — or at least, as early in your education as possible — will bolster your application to work for an NGO immensely. "Someone who's been studying emergency medicine as their concentration we see as more likely to be suited for this type of work, rather than someone who had selected something like general family practice," Marconet explains. She adds that, for her organization at least, a graduate degree in a related field also helps set a candidate apart and is considered to be a part of any complete job application.
Any nursing program requires a practicum period and this, says Owen Campbell, Recruitment Manager for Doctors Without Borders Canada, is the perfect opportunity to hone your extreme nursing skills to the niche needs of an NGO career path. "If you've worked in trauma or ER settings, that's useful. Working in pediatrics with children, in obstetrics and gynecology, are all very useful," he says of the areas where NGOs see the most need during their missions abroad. "We always need midwives because most of our programming in the field incorporates a maternal health component. If there's a nurse who's worked with kids, who's managed large caseloads or worked in ERs, or who's worked in northern medicine — these nurses have had to deal with more responsibility because there's less staff, they're isolated, and they don't have the same resources as they might in other places."
Because proven skills are vital in crisis situations, a position in an NGO isn't usually in the cards for nurses fresh out of school. "Most of our positions require previous international experience," Marconet says of International Medical Corps in particular. "We send people to disaster areas, so we want to make sure we're sending someone who can handle the stress of such a situation, and who knows what to expect."
Gaining experience is tricky
Both Doctors Without Borders and the International Medical Corps advise volunteering in your nursing field of choice as the best way to bulk up your NGO application. Get to know the individual employment requirements of your NGO of choice through their website, and attend any information sessions held by the organization. Check your campus job board and your career centre, as counsellors often have an inside track on positions that might be coming up. Most of all, volunteer — often, and for as wide a variety of projects and locations as you can. Campbell suggests looking to northern Canada if a humanitarian work-study overseas isn't an option for you, as northern nurses are often faced with the same challenges that Doctors Without Borders team members see on their missions every day.
But a great nurse isn't just made of classroom training and work experience. Those intangible, integral personality traits and behaviours we call soft skills are also vital to every nurse's professional development. And as you might imagine, it takes a pretty unique set of soft skills to equip a nurse for a career with an NGO.
"The ability to cope with stress, and great communication skills, are the two big traits we look for," Campbell says of Doctors Without Borders' ideal candidate. "Your team that you'd be working with will be diverse, from different cultural settings, speaking different languages," he explains. "Most of the medical and non-medical professionals that work with us are actually from the country in question, so the ability to communicate across cultures and languages is one of the most important things we look for."
A broad range of skills
"We look for someone who can deal with uncertainty," says Marconet of International Medical Corps' soft skills requirements, stressing a nurse's flexibility as a key trait. "When we send nurses to the field, we need someone who can deal with stressful situations that come with emergencies and disasters." Both professionals also named extreme flexibility and bi- or multilingualism as huge components to any NGO nurse's success in the field.
Campbell also advises broadening your job search beyond clinical positions. Any team management experience is extremely beneficial to a prospective NGO worker, he says, stressing that "the role of our nurses isn't necessary clinical work all the time; it also involves a lot of coordination and supervision. When we send people overseas, we aren't just sending them there to be an extra pair of hands."
"This is a very rewarding career path for someone who has the personality and skills for it," says Marconet. And whether or not a nurse continues working with NGOs or returns to their home country's hospitals, the skills gained in crisis areas overseas apply to any medical position. "In the places where we work resources are scarce and people need to be able to adapt, be resourceful, and find new ways of doing things. And in the absence of technology, you have to go back to the basics of what it is that medical professionals use to help to provide services to patients," she explains.