• Thirteen second-year Charles Sturt Nursing students assisted to provide sanitary items and education in remote high schools and clinics in Cambodia
• Students travelled from Charles Sturt in Wagga Wagga, Albury-Wodonga and Bathurst

Thirteen student nurses from Charles Sturt University (Charles Sturt) have returned from a life-changing trip to Cambodia.

For two weeks, the second-year students travelled to isolated villages where they provided education to young men and women on mental health, healthy eating and sexual health.

The students from Charles Sturt in Wagga Wagga, Albury-Wodonga and Bathurst distributed 120 kits from Days for Girls to young women so they can continue to attend work and school during menstruation.

Students also assisted doctors in isolated clinics to screen for chronic diseases and provide information to patients after a diagnosis was reached.

Lecturer in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health in Wagga Wagga Mrs Amanda Moses accompanied the students overseas.

She said each student returned with a renewed appreciation for the resources available in Australia after visiting a Cambodian hospital.

“The students found it to be quite challenging in terms of being in a developing country with limited health care,” Mrs Moses said.

“The hospital generated an emotional response, especially in terms of the limitations of the treatments.

“There were a couple of students that were quite stressed by it. Their cultural competence and sensitivity has certainly been heightened.”

Charles Sturt partnered with Projects Abroad for this trip and the University is planning more trips for nursing students in 2020 to the Philippines, Samoa, India and Cambodia.

“Charles Sturt will continue to offer these international placements, which is a unique and valuable opportunity for our nursing students,” Mrs Moses said.