Interested in global humanitarian efforts

[evilbell]

(I'm actually only beginning my NAI course this January, so I am totally new to nursing; if I sound ignorant, that's why!)

Ultimately, I would like to make a living as a nurse participating in global humanitarian efforts, e.g. in crisis areas such as war zones, areas suffering from natural disasters, etc. I'm interested in experienced nurses' opinions about what agencies or organizations I should look into to pursue this kind of work; I'm aware that military nurses might be deployed to crisis areas, so I'm also interested in information military nurses could provide me about what kind of work they do and how the deployment system works.

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

Doctors without Borders staffs nurses in areas of conflict/crisis. The pay isn't great, but it is actually paid (unlike many volunteer/humanitarian programs, where you have to pay your way in order to participate). I believe that the shortest time commitment is six months with options to renew.

With a nursing background, you could also do something like the Peace Corps, and they'd probably place you in a medically-related role. However, it is a two-year commitment, and if may be tough to get back into bedside nursing after doing something unconventional. Also paid, but I believe it's even less than Doctors without Borders (more like a stipend than a salary).

Mercy Ships is another alternative. It's essentially a hospital on a barge that travels along the coast of Africa doing surgeries. They have a need for OR, PACU, ICU, and step-down/floor surgical nurses. Commitment is at least two weeks to two months (depending on the specialty). It's a Christian organization, although you don't have to be Christian to participate. You do have to raise money and pay your own way. A similar alternative is Operation Smile.

With any of these jobs, you'll need to have at least a few years of bedside nursing experience in order to be considered. Nobody wants to try to train a new grad nurse in a war zone; you'll be expected to hit the ground running. Therefore, in the immediate future I'd focus on strengthening your resume so that you can land an inpatient job right out of school.

After you have a few years of nursing experience under your belt, you could consider travel nursing part of the year in order to make an income, then traveling to do humanitarian work the rest of the year. If you are interested in travel nursing, you probably want to look for new grad jobs in specialty areas (i.e. ED, L&D, ICU, OR, etc.) rather than med-surg, as those areas have the highest travel demands.