This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
For seven weeks earlier this summer, a group of Lafayette students found themselves completely immersed in London’s health care system.
Through the Ethical and Social Issues in Health Care in the U.K. and the U.S. course, led by Alan Childs, professor of psychology, and Stephen Lammers, Helen H.P. Manson Professor of the English Bible, students explored the health care field from two different perspectives, that of the United Kingdom and the United States.
The students worked four days a week as interns at a variety of health care organizations and companies and spent each Friday in a day-long class taught by Childs and Lammers.
The course included readings, discussions, and papers, which reflected on the students’ experiences on the job. They studied the difficult choices about healthcare made in each country, a choice reflective of the culture and its values. The United Kingdom rations healthcare through waiting lists, while the United States bases coverage on the ability to pay. The students learned that it was not about which system was better, just exploring the differences between them.
“Our job was to be provocateurs, to ask questions. Let them figure things out,” Childs says.
The internships, arranged by the European Union Studies Association (EUSA), were selected for both the students’ interests and personal fit. Students had to submit a resume and were interviewed for their positions.
“EUSA is extremely dedicated. Over 90% of students are overjoyed with their internships,” Lammers says.
Briana Hecht ’08(Chesnut Hill, Mass.), a Marquis Scholar and chemical engineering major, agrees.
“My internship experiencesurpassed my initial expectations, and was an amazing way of learning about the dynamics of a hospital setting, as well as working with patients, families, and staff,” she says.
Briana worked at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, London. The Royal London is one of the largest providers of pediatric care in the National Health Service. Her internship was with play specialists in Buxton Ward, a pediatric unit. The Buxton Ward is a day care unit that provides medical and surgical procedures.
“I helped prep the children by helping the play specialists show the children such things as cannulas and gas masks in order to desensitize them to those objects and make their hospital experience less traumatic,” she says. “I also played with the children before and after their procedures, or during their transfusions, in order to help make their hospital experience a positive one.”
Lammers believes the London internships to be an important aspect of the abroad experience.
“The Brits expect more of [students] than Americans expect of an intern. They immediately have more responsibility. They have to grow up very quickly, and rise to meet the challenges. That’s one of the reasons students like this experience; they get stretched to the limit, but then they think about all they have accomplished,” he says.
While the students adjusted to their jobs, they also needed to adjust to the British culture. They lived in Boston University-sponsored housing in South Kensington, navigated busy, foreign streets, and even experienced the World Cup surrounded by British football fans.
“Students need to directly experience another culture,” Lammers says. “They need to see cultural differences. For example, the British tend to be more blunt in their teasing than Americans. If they make fun of you, they like you.”
Childs describes the students as becoming very resourceful and independent.
“It’s nice seeing the students get immersed in an alternative culture beyond the “tour bus” mentality,” he says. “Each year I see it anew through the students; every year is like going for the first time. This experience enables them to think critically about healthcare or any service they’ve become accustomed to and maybe take for granted. They begin to see the different ways that different cultures solve the same problem.”
Lammers adds, “When students get in an alternative culture, gain experience in that culture’s workforce, and have it reinforced with the coursework, they will never forget it. They saw something different and can now understand why people live another way. This will help them in all areas of life.”
While the interim program will most likely not be scheduled for the upcoming year, it is an experience that Lammers and Childs hope to repeat in the future.
Lammers is coeditor of On Moral Medicine, an award-winning book in medical ethics, and Theological Voices in Medical Ethics. He is the recipient of Lafayette’s Carl R. and Ingeborg Beidleman Research Award, which recognizes excellence in applied research or scholarship. Lammers is ethics consultant for Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network, working with residents and medical students, and a member of the hospital’s Institutional Review Board, Institutional Animal Use and Care Committee, and Ethics Committee.
Childs is former chair of the College’s Health Professions Advising Committee. He is the recipient of several Lafayette awards for excellence in teaching, including the Student Government Superior Teaching Award, Marquis Distinguished Teaching Award, and James P. Crawford Award and Lafayette’s Daniel Golden ’34 Award for service. The faculty mentor for the men’s basketball team, he served as founding executive director of the Colonial League, the predecessor to Patriot League. He is a former American Council on Education Fellow.