medical intern assisting health screening in Ghana

Nursing Internship in Ghana

Learn from nurses in different hospital departments and do health checks during medical outreaches

Destination

Ghana

Age

16+ y/o

Minimum Stay

2 weeks

Start Date

Anytime

Accommodation

Homestay

What’s Included

24/7 Support

Round-the-clock support on the ground and 24/7 back up from our global teams.

Accommodation & Amenities

Clean, safe, and welcoming accommodation. A home away from home with comfortable amenities.

Activities, Training & Equipment

All programme activities and equipment, including training and workshops from experienced professionals.

Certification

Certified record of service hours, workshops, and activities for your CV.

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Starting at £1,775 for 2 weeks

Flexible 0% Interest payments

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Trip Overview

Hospital ward observations

Observe nurses in varied departments, assist with vital signs, and learn medication administration under supervision.

Give health talks to locals

Conduct health checks in rural areas and contribute to vital campaigns on disease prevention to help people with limited healthcare access.

Get diverse department experience

Gain exposure to a huge variety of hospital operations, including paediatrics, A&E, labs, and more, broadening your nursing knowledge.

Live the local life

Live with a caring host family, experience the rich culture of Ghana, and explore key historic sites like Cape Coast Castle in your free time.

Build your professional skills

Improve your CV in a real nursing context, contribute to global healthcare access, and expand your perspective on healthcare.

What you need to know

Overview

Our Nursing Internship in Ghana is ideal for students looking for work experience before or during university.

This is a great accompaniment to your studies and will give you a clearer idea of the work you do on a daily basis. If your goal is a career in nursing, the skills you learn during your internship will be a valuable addition to your CV.

No experience? No problem! The goal of this internship is for you to learn, and you’ll gain a lot from shadowing local nurses and doctors. We recommend taking advantage of any opportunity to ask questions and take notes.

Your medical coordinator will teach you what you need to know before you work at any outreaches, and will be there to supervise you throughout.

Nursing Departments

You’ll work in Akuapem Hills or Accra at a general hospital or clinic. All nursing placements in Ghana have various hospital departments. We encourage you to stay in each department for at least a week so you can get the full experience.

Departments

General medicine
Paediatrics
Accident and emergency
Labs
Ophthalmology
Dentistry

We recommend discussing the different departments you’d like to intern in ahead of your trip with your Volunteer Advisor. On your first day at the hospital, you’ll discuss your work schedule with your project coordinator and meet your supervisor.

A Day in the Life

Start your day after a good night’s sleep in your host family’s home. Get dressed, eat breakfast and grab a tro tro or shared taxi to get to the hospital. Don’t forget your white coat!

Your day starts at about 8am, Monday to Friday. This will, however, depend on the department you are working in. Finish up around 2pm or opt to stay longer and continue your observations. Just be sure to check with your supervisor and the local staff beforehand.

Each day, you will find yourself assisting the nurses as they go around the hospital cleaning their ward, bathing and grooming patients and remaking beds. You’ll often spend the next hour shadowing the doctor in the ward as he visits each of his patients. Under the supervision of the local nurses, you can help check vital signs and administer medication according to the doctor’s instructions.

If you’d like to head home for the day, head back to your host family’s house. Tuck into a home-cooked meal of jollof, a traditional rice dish of rice with tomato sauce and meat, fish or chicken. You can then spend time getting to know your host family and playing games or watching movies in the evening.

In your free time, you can explore more of Ghana by renting a trotro for the day. We encourage you to learn more about Ghana’s history by visiting the Cape Coast Castle. There are also a lot of hikes in the national parks. If you’d like recommendations, you can speak to our staff. They will be able to give you the best advice and tips on what to see and do while you are there.

Aims & Impact

The aim of this internship is for you to learn from qualified nurses in a medical setting, and get experience in various hospital departments.

Working in different departments is a way for you to explore different specialisations if you plan to become a nurse. This will help you get a better idea of the departments you’d like to work in in the future. It will also allow you to add amazing experience to your CV, and give you more to talk about in interviews.

Besides getting nursing work experience in Ghana, you will also help make a difference.

Ghana suffers from a double burden of disease. Infectious diseases like cholera and malaria are rife, and cases of illnesses like diabetes and hypertension are on the rise. We want to help communities prevent and manage these diseases through our outreach work.

To accomplish this, we implemented a Medicine Management Plan, which has five clear goals:

Encourage an understanding of medical practices and promoting an exchange of medical knowledge
Improve access to basic healthcare for disadvantaged groups through outreach work in leprosy camps and schools
Promote awareness of non-communicable diseases
Improve the quality of healthcare provided to patients
Reduce the number of cases of malaria

Join us on the Nursing Internship in Ghana and broaden your medical knowledge and skill set.

Activities

In Ghana, you work at a hospital, where you shadow and learn from nurses and other medical staff. During your internship, you will:

Projects Abroad nursing volunteer is taking a blood sample in Ghana during her internship.

Shadow nurses and observe their work with patients in different hospital departments

Do basic health checks for the community during medical outreaches in rural areas

Projects Abroad nursing volunteers run a health campaign in a school in Ghana during their internship.

Run educational health campaigns on disease prevention and treatment methods

We can arrange extra work for university medical and healthcare elective students to meet all of your university’s requirements. This includes meeting a set amount of clinical hours or working in a specific department.

Your work will focus on the following areas:

Shadow nurses as they work with patients in the hospital

A big part of your placement will see you observing and following nurses as they do their rounds. This will give you an idea of what nurses do on a daily basis. At your nursing placement in Ghana, you will see for yourself how important nurses are in the smooth functioning of a hospital. They care for patients, monitor them, and administer medication.

Experience work in different hospital departments

Hospitals in Ghana have different departments to meet the needs of the growing population. We recommend using this opportunity to intern at several, spending at least a week in each one. You’ll see different illnesses and injuries across different departments. This will also give you a better idea of which departments you wish to work in in the future.

Provide free health checks and run educational campaigns at medical outreaches

You’ll take part in medical outreach work once or twice a week. Here, you’ll assist the nurses with basic healthcare checks at a leprosy camp, care centre, or in more remote areas. Here are a few of the tasks you do:

Clean wounds
Treat ringworm
Check blood sugar levels
Check blood pressure levels
Conduct malaria and Hepatitis B tests
Help nurses refer patients with positive test results
Help distribute medication

Another part of our outreach work is focused on education. Education is a huge part of empowering local communities and an important prevention method. Our goal is to improve the standards of health in the community. We do this by creating awareness around various diseases and sharing knowledge about prevention and treatment. You will help with setting up and running these campaigns. These activities will give you invaluable nursing work experience in Ghana.

Map & Location

Formerly called The Gold Coast, Ghana became an independent nation in 1957, and the first African country colonised by Europeans to achieve independence under majority rule. Still famed for gold and cocoa production, it’s a treasure trove of cultural and natural experiences.

Explore lush rainforests, cascading waterfalls, and golden beaches or get stuck in to the lively music and dance scene. With a rich mix of languages and traditions, its people are known for their warmth and hospitality.

Accra

Accra, the capital of Ghana, is a lively city on the Atlantic coast with a population of over two million. This sprawling metropolis blends modern skyscrapers with historic landmarks, artisan markets, and beautiful beaches. It has a tropical savannah climate with hot temperatures all year.

Accra is culturally rich, with traditional drumming and dance performances alongside an energetic nightlife and thriving arts scene. More than half of the population is under 24, so it’s never short of excitement!

Food & Accommodation

Immediately feel at home with a supportive and welcoming local host family. We’ve vetted each family to guarantee you get everything you need for a wonderful stay. This includes a comfortable bed, three daily meals, fresh drinking water, and daily transport to and from your placement, arranged by our team.

Your host family’s home will be clean, safe, and secure, and they will welcome you as one of their own from the moment you arrive. Absorb the local culture, enjoy their incredible home-cooked food, and build a lifelong connection during the course of your stay.

You’ll stay with other Projects Abroad participants on your travels. If you share a room, we will match you with someone of the same gender and age. Whether you go it alone or with friends, you’ll have the time of your life.

Free Time and Leisure

Volunteering in Ghana is an ideal way to explore this colourful West African country. There’s a huge variety of different activities to do while you’re there, giving you plenty of exciting ways to spend your free time.

Music is a central part of Ghanaian culture. In the bigger towns, especially Accra, you will hear some great live bands and have some memorable nights out. Evenings spent at buzzing restaurants will also give you a taste of some of the delicious local cuisine.

For a look into Ghana’s history, you can tour the slave forts of Cape Coast and visit museums. Nature lovers will relish trekking through the rainforests of Kakum National Park or Mole National Park.

We run a wide range of projects in Ghana so there’s sure to be other volunteers there during your trip. This means you can explore the country solo or connect with other volunteers and travel as a group.

Your Arrival Made Easy

When you arrive at your respective airport, a member of Projects Abroad staff will be there to meet you. You can find more detailed information on arrival airports, orientation, and visas on our Ghana Arrival Procedures page.