Raquel Panos

Raquel Panos, BHS ’99, BSN ’22, Master of Science in Nursing Educator track student, is wrapping up her final semester at Florida Atlantic University. But before she crosses the stage in May to receive her third diploma from Florida Atlantic, she’s traveling to Guatemala this February with the College of Nursing’s immersive study abroad program for a second time.

“For this trip, I have decided to volunteer my time and resources to create physical templates of educational materials and bring them with me,” shared Panos. “I plan to donate these materials to Nursing Heart, Inc. (NHI) so they can be used by future Nurse Educators or by the NHI staff in programs without Nurse Educators.”

Last November, NHI hosted FAU College of Nursing students in Guatemala, along with Professors Drs. Debra Hain and Nancy Harris. Under the guidance and supervision of licensed Guatemalan physicians and FAU faculty, students treated patients of all ages.

As the only student in the education track out of eight in the November 2023 cohort, the NHI clinic director tasked Panos to focus on educating the patients about hypertension and type 2 diabetes. When Panos asked him for any educational materials she could use, he replied, “We don’t have any.”

Fortunately, Panos had brought her laptop and had access to internet service. And since Panos was not fluent in Spanish, she took it upon herself to create sample patient educational materials in both English and Spanish using the Google Translate app on her phone.

She quickly discovered that most of the patients had the equivalent of a second grade reading level or could not read at all. Throughout the week, Panos continually revised and simplified the materials to make them less technical.

“I created and collected visual aids like simple images, cups and spoons, to enhance understanding and gauge patients’ interpretations of measurements like ‘1 cup’ or ‘a little bit,’” she recalled.

As the week progressed, Panos noticed that patients began to open up more about their lifestyles with her once she stopped wearing her white lab coat. She felt that it also helped that she kept things casual and just chatted with the patients.

“I’m looking forward to working with NHI again and being better prepared to help educate local citizens,” said Panos.

After graduation – and a well-deserved break – Panos plans to return to working in a dialysis setting and focus on educating renal patients with type 2 diabetes.

“When an individual is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, their insurance might cover a one-time help session or the doctor might give them pamphlets about their condition,” said Panos. “Quite often, there’s no follow-up, and many people don’t read the documents or know how to apply lifestyle modifications. I want to step in and offer more guidance on self-management and create personalized plans that are realistic for each individual.”