Interprofessional Bachelor’s thesis

IMCO: a full community immersion experience

Since 2014, the La Source School of Nursing, the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and the Canton of Vaud Department of Youth, Sport and Culture, by way of the Department of Higher Education (DGES), have taken up the dual challenge of integrating nursing students in the IMCO community immersion project. The aim is to prepare the physicians and nurses of tomorrow to operate in a globalized context and to make interprofessional collaboration a part of their respective practices.

The IMCO concept

The project brings students to examine a community health issue in a foreign country from the point of view of medicine and nursing.

The 2019 edition

In 2019, the students’ interprofessional Bachelor’s theses dealt with the following topics:

  1. How do villagers define their healthcare needs and resources? Applying a community immersion interprofessional approach in Santiniketan, India
  2. Cautious but not curious: Level of HIV knowledge and prevention among adolescents in Tamil Nadu, India. This thesis was selected for publication in Primary and Hospital Care.
  3. Diagnosis disclosure in China: A family affair? This thesis was selected for publication in Primary and Hospital Care.
  4. Children and HIV: What about psychosocial issues?
  5. Stirring up diabetes management: Integrating dietary advice in secondary prevention of type 2 diabetes in Wuxi, China
  6. Use of menstrual cloths: Health, financial and cultural aspects. This thesis was selected for publication in the Revue Médicale Suisse.

These theses were all validated and all obtained good results.

International partners

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