Projects

There hasn't been time to talk to the Dean about the tools I wish to adapt while here so I will get serious about that today. I heard that the Dean of the School of Medicine would like to meet me/has my bio and has some business training himself. The President of the University will be at the big seminar for the Nurse Executives at which I am the keynote; he was trained at both Case Western and Berkeley so he and I have CWRU and the UC in common.

I have a dinner invitation with a faculty member in her home on Sunday and my schedule keeps changing now with two weekend commitments. I hope I am able to get to Bangkok the one weekend I have free. There isn't a whole lot to do here as I predcited and I am having hit or miss success on getting my radio podcasts-I learned you need 'doubletwist' through the Droid Marketplace but it seems some of the podcasts aren't in doubletwist format. I have yet to have doubltwist articulate to itunes so I can watch movies. Such are the musings of a new Droid Xoom owner.

Laptops no more!

2nd Full Day

Today I lectured/presented on Nursing Economics to senior undergrads who were so very polite, respectful and positive I was a bit alarmed! There was an audible 'ahhh' when I entered the room and when I was finished,, a class officer made a speech thanking me for coming all this way to do good work for them. Things are much slower with a translator of course and what a pleasure to see the book chapter I wrote translated into Thai!

I  have proof positive that they were able to master some applications of "profit margin" and "the margin" in hospital care. They wore uniforms, school uniforms, not scrubs and at the end of the day they gather downstairs to sing the national song under the picture of the much loved Queen Sirikit.

No

We have a driver-the school has its own van and we have a road trip  planned for next week to present to students out in a rural area who sometimes come to PhiNtsanulok and sometimes have faculty come to them. A very nice young man on faculty may do the driving. He, like the regular driver, is a great driver and I could get used to being driven. Being the visitor, they have me sit in the front and faculty seem very proud of their cars. I am accustomed to driving/being a passenger on the left and overally the driving is relatively calm and the roads are pretty good. I was treated to lunch both days and I have them order for me. Bkfst and lunch covered by the program and I haven't spent any real money yet except convenience store stuff.

Courtesy of the Dean, I am having two dresses made from the fabrics she selected and of course our driver took us into town (15 kms) to the tailor. I go back Monday for the fitting. This is great because I really didn't bring the right outfit for the Nsg Admin seminar in which I am the keynote but my selction on casual clothes (skirts and 3/4 length pants w sandals and no hose) seems just right and I have managed to beat the heat, relatively speaking, for two days in a row.

Sleeping pretty ok from the start, didn't forget anything important, all the hardware working (they are on OUR electricity so my converters/adpaters not necessary after all) and I don't know how to use the Quick Pro app to actually word process so that's  a bit of a disappointment. Remember, the grand back up is  my traditional office at the U where there is computer support and secretarial support better than at home.

J'arrive a Thailand

Today was my first full day at Naruesuan University School of Nursing, Consultant, Research, Informatics and Quality. After a 40 hour journey door-to-door, I arrived without incident with nothing lost or stolen including good humour! At Subvarnhabumi Airport in Thailand, "Mr. Joe" picked me up for transfer to Dun Muong International (the former 'big' airport in Bangkok). The puddle jumper on Nok Air was all arranged and I will be reimbursed for the ground transportation which is great. The flight from the U. S. will be reimbursed (I purchased it in March-that way I get miles) and my room at the residence hotel by the university was arranged, again, no money changed hands which is much better for me. Looks as though breakfast and dinner are included and my new colleagues took me to lunch today, ordered my pad thai and it was fantastic.

Through the generosity of the School of Nursing here, I have a short consulting fee for a month of full-time work which includes coaching/mentoring faculty on everything from their publications (inception to submission), PhD applications (many wish to study in the U. S.), some guest lecturing (health economics and case management) and of course, the 'big stuff', the three substantive presentations on administrative issues for the 80 visiting Nurse Manager/Nurse Executive group on the 27th and July 4th.

I had the royal tour today; I signed documents; I rec'd flowers/had my pic taken at the faculty 'meet and greet' where each faculty memeber expressed their goal for our time together. I reflected back on what I thought we could make happen together and it seemed well-rec'd. I have a lecture on Nursing Economics tomorrow and my chapter in the Dunne and Talor text has been translated to Thai overnight! Hope I can cart a copy home, who would have thought?

I will have a translator and/or a member of the faculty around all the time but most people have pretty good English skills as I anticipated. My power points were translated to Thai for the students also and I will be meeting/presenting to each level of the undergrad and grad programs, once each. The real focus of my work here is the big seminar for the Nurse Leaders coming from all over Thailand and the faculty mentoring.

Some of you know I developed my own late-breaking research agenda (tool development, small qualitative study) which I hope to work on with experts here. Down the road, IRB pending at CSU and IRB not approached yet here, I hope to carry out the interviews through SKYPE and TANGO on The Meaning of Nurse Leadership  in  Thai Hospitals.

I acquired some other duties today, no big deal, and there should be some leisure  time with Sunday and Monday off. Perhaps I could fly back to Bangkok and hang around. I really truly hope to hear from people, there is so much to tell here! For example, every time I turn around, someone is pouring tea, providing a glass of water, to go with my mango sponge cake. I was promoted with fliers and blast emails apparently so I feel like a queen. Big change from home, eh?