Nursing Internship in Kenya

Gain practical experience while working in a hospital or clinic in Nanyuki and learn directly from nurses

Destination

Kenya

Age

16+ y/o

Minimum Stay

2 weeks

Start Date

Anytime

Accommodation

Homestay

What’s included

Accommodation & Amenities

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

24/7 Support

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

Transportation

To and from the airport, plus everything in between. Daily transport to your placement and back.

Certification

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

Request info

Starting at €2,245 for 2 weeks

Flexible 0% Interest payments
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Trip Overview

Learn from real nurses

Shadow nurses in Nanyuki, observe daily rounds, and assist with basic health checks like wound dressing and vital sign monitoring under supervision.

Experience various departments

Gain experience in maternity, paediatrics, and surgery, rotating through hospital departments to broaden your nursing knowledge and experience.

Conduct community health checks

Participate in medical outreach, conduct health checks in disadvantaged communities, and contribute to improving access to basic healthcare services.

Attend valuable workshops

Attend workshops by qualified medical coordinators, learning techniques like blood sugar level measurement, and discussing observed medical practices.

Explore Kenya's beauty

Live with a Kenyan host family, experience local cuisine, explore wildlife reserves, and immerse yourself in Kenyan culture during your free time.

What you need to know

Overview

This project is ideal for anyone looking to gain nursing work experience in a medical setting. It will add a lot of value to your CV if you want to study nursing. You will also be able to explore different nursing specialisations that could help you plan your future career.

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

If you participate in a community outreach, our medical coordinator will teach you what you need to know before you start working. All outreach work is supervised by a medical professional.

Our Nursing internships run year-round, and you can join at any time. We encourage you to stay as long as you can in order to maximise your learning and gain as much nursing work experience in Kenya as possible.

Nursing Departments

This internship is ideal if you want to be exposed to a variety of hospital departments and specialisations. During your internship, you can choose to spend time in some of the following departments:

Maternity
General Medicine
Surgery
Paediatrics
Laboratory work

You can also choose whether you want to work with adults, children, and/or mental health patients.

A Day in the Life

Start your day with a hearty breakfast enjoyed around your host family’s table. Then set off to the clinic or hospital, using either public transport or walking. The local staff will show you the way on your first day.

Your working day normally starts at 8 am, and the first bit of the morning will be dedicated to helping local nurses prepare for their rounds. By 9am, you will start shadowing them as they check on different patients.

Between 12 pm and 1:30 pm, you will get to enjoy an hour and a half’s lunch. If your host family lives close by, you can head home to eat and rest for a bit. Alternatively, you can enjoy a packed lunch at the hospital.

You will continue shadowing nurses on their rounds in the afternoon. The most important medication of the day is normally administered in the morning (or evening). Because of this, the afternoon is the ideal time for you to assist the nurses with more basic practical tasks. These might include monitoring heart rates and taking blood pressure or temperature.

On some afternoons, you will attend workshops with other medical interns. We will let you know in advance which days to set aside for this.

Evenings and weekends are your free time to relax, explore and learn more about Kenyan culture. Be sure to do some travelling with fellow interns. Check out wildlife in one of the game reserves in the vicinity or go on a hiking trail or two.

Aims & Impact

There are two main aims of this project: to offer you the opportunity to gain experience in nursing and to serve the local community through your work.

As a Nursing intern in Kenya, you will work alongside medical professionals and explore different departments within the clinic or hospital where you work. This will give you the opportunity to explore various specialisations and learn more about a wide array of conditions and illnesses. It will also allow you to add valuable experience to your CV.

Besides getting nursing work experience in Kenya, you will also help make a difference through community outreach work. Many of the communities we work with have limited access to basic healthcare services or cannot travel for medical care.

We have outlined five goals in our Medicine & Healthcare Management Plan for Kenya:

Encourage an understanding of medical practices and promote an exchange of medical knowledge
Improve the quality of healthcare provided to patients
Improve access to basic healthcare for disadvantaged groups
Improve hygiene standards
Reduce the number of cases of malaria

Join our Nursing Internship in Kenya and help us achieve these long-term goals while gaining professional work experience.

Activities

You will work in a health clinic or hospital in the town of Nanyuki. During your internship, you will:

A Projects Abroad medical volunteer doing a Nursing Internship in Kenya shadows a local nurse.

Shadow local nurses as they do their daily rounds to gain a better understanding of the work they do

A Projects Abroad volunteer checks the blood pressure of a local woman in Kenya during her Nursing internship.

Help with basic health checks, such as measuring heart rate and blood pressure levels

Attend workshops with fellow medical interns in Kenya

Your work will focus mainly on the following:

Shadow local nurses

For the first few days of your internship, your role will be mainly observational. You will shadow the local nurses as they do their daily rounds and gain insight into the nature of the work they do.

During this time, it’s important to make notes and ask as many questions as possible. When the nurses see that you’re enthusiastic and interested, they may be willing to give you more responsibilities. If you do practical work with permission from the nurses, it will be supervised.

Help with basic health checks

It is important to build up trust and a good relationship with the local medical staff. This will help you get involved with more practical work. The kinds of tasks you may help with include dressing wounds, monitoring a pulse, and checking blood pressure and temperature.

You’ll also do health checks during community outreaches. These are important, as they help disadvantaged communities access basic healthcare services.

Attend workshops

We hold regular workshops for all our medical interns. These are usually run by our qualified Medical Coordinator in Nanyuki.

These workshops allow you to ask about specific things you have seen at your nursing placement in Kenya. It is also great for learning techniques and skills to put into practice during outreaches, like measuring blood sugar levels.

Map & Location

Welcome to the “Cradle of Humanity” and a land of contrasts. Here, snow-capped mountains meet rolling savannahs, where lions roam and elephants graze. While famous for safari experiences, there’s much more to life in Kenya.

Home to the Maasai Mara National Park and the second-tallest mountain in Africa, Mount Kenya, this East African gem is a bucket list item for nature lovers worldwide. Witness the Great Migration, taste delicious coffee, and be welcomed into a traditional way of life.

Nanyuki

In central Kenya, three hours north of Nairobi, lies the charming town of Nanyuki, the gateway to Mount Kenya. Home to about 70,000 residents, Nanyuki enjoys a cool climate and serves as a base for eager mountain climbers.

Nanyuki has a mix of modern amenities and natural beauty. The town is surrounded by wildlife conservancies, offering popular game drives and safaris, but is also steeped in history. It is famous for its markets, British colonial heritage, and sitting exactly on the equator.

Food & Accommodation

Feel like a local with a caring host family. Our host families in Nanyuki are all carefully vetted and will provide you with everything you need for the experience of a lifetime. This includes a comfortable bed, three meals a day, and fresh drinking water.

We guarantee that your host family’s home will be safe, secure, and clean. They will share Kenyan culture with you and will be eager to learn about yours through conversations or games over home-cooked meals.

Our team will organise your daily transport to and from your placement and will also take you to some of the best restaurants in town. We will try to place you with other Projects Abroad participants of the same gender and similar age, the perfect opportunity to build lasting bonds with people from around the world.

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 Kenya Arrival Procedures page.