Volunteering Overseas?

[feralnostalgia]

I've always wanted to visit India - I'm wondering if you guys know anything about this.

are there any student loan forgiveness programs for nurses, similar to what doctors or lawyers have? I know that if you're a lawyer and go into pro-bono work, or if you do medical missions overseas as a new MD, that many places will forgive your student loan debt. is the same true of volunteering overseas as a nurse? if not, I'll deal, but I thought it couldn't hurt to check haha.

secondly, would some kind of volunteer nursing experience in a place like India be as good as working in a hospital unit to gain experience? instead of doing a year or two on a med-surg floor could I work overseas? I know it's not manditory to do 1-2 years in med surg as a new grad, but I want to be as hirable as possible.

thanks for your input everybody =)

[fortune-teller]

Doctor without Border!

Requirement: 2 years experiences in your specialty!

Pay: Very little! No student loan forgiveness!

Good luck! I always respect those who sacrifice!

[JBudd, MSN]

India is very strict about people coming in to work, its very hard to get a work visa. If you go in as a volunteer for a group, most of the time they have you go in on a tourist visa, being very careful not to mention you are there to work. If you get caught, you can be deported. There is a 6 month limit on tourist visas, you must then be out of the country for 6 months before being allowed back in. Check out the Indian Embassy's web site for more details.

I volunteered in a children's home, and loved it. But, you really need some experience under your belt; you'll see all sorts of things that are so out of the ordinary for us, that if you don't know what to do to begin with you'll be lost.

As far as student loans go, most volunteer organizations certainly don't have the funds to hire you, let alone pay your loans. As for what the holder of your loans says, you'ld need to ask them. Groups do tend to want someone with experience. MDs have to put in a lot of hours as residents, more experience than we get in clinicals, and are a little more ready to begin practicing.