Establishing Global Partnerships - University of Pennsylvania ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Fresh Faces of Leadership In the words of Florence Nightingale,“Unless we are making progress in our nursing every year, every month, every week, take my word for it, we are going back.”The question for nurses – both nationally and internationally – is how to achieve such progress. For some, it means coming to the United States to study with nursing scientists in order to create new knowledge and hone research skills.Yet, for this new generation of researchers, the path to progress involves interweaving science with the demands and concerns of many cultures to create truly global solutions. “Science must be applicable everywhere in the world,” said Korean doctoral student Eunhee Choi.“Nursing science that is true only in America is not true science. Nursing science should be everywhere, but nursing art is culturally dependent.” In freewheeling roundtable discussions, 54 international students from countries as diverse as Pakistan, Israel, 10
Korea, Singapore, and the Bahamas outlined plans for their futures, which included implementing what they have learned, becoming change agents, and expanding the role of nursing here and in their home countries. “Taking the useful knowledge and applying it where it fits is the most critical decision. . . ,” said Antoinette Sabapathy of Singapore,“. . . and the most difficult decision because it is easier to fit in my own comfort zone,” said Salimah Meghani of Pakistan, finishing the thought. Such collaborative thinking figures in the plans of many students and involves the stewardship of change on several levels: becoming politicians to influence local health care policy, managing the evolution of the role of nursing in their home country by importing a new discipline, teaching state-ofthe-science research skills, or working to incorporate the best practice models within the societal demands and cultural mores of their country. Penn’s doctorally prepared nurses expect to work at macro and micro levels by negotiating policy shifts in their countries’ health care systems while promoting the status of nurses as individuals. Nursing knowledge is influenced by American research, yet applying research acquired at Penn requires viewing it through the lens of the home country. Xiaotao Lang of China expects to help her colleagues institute a doctoral program in nursing to correct what she perceives as a lack of power in the health system in her country. Going into government may also be an option for tomorrow’s doctorally prepared nurses. Ms. Lang perceives government service as a way to “get more power to change the situation. I hope to improve nursing in China,” she said. As the family structure changes in Korea, the demands for long-term health care continue to expand.What was formerly within the strict domain of the family, such care is becoming a nursing challenge as more women work outside the home and once closely entwined families disperse.“I will learn how American home care agency and nursing-home systems are organized, learning the data set for ongoing research. Hopefully, I can contribute to setting up long-term-care settings in Korea where none now exists,” said Ms. Choi. Ms. Meghani, as the first Pakistani nurse to attend an Ivy League university, expects to return to a country where there are currently only four doctorally prepared nurses. International drug laws designed to stem the flow of opiates also constrict the availability of pain medication in Pakistan to nearly inhumane levels. “Disparities in cancer pain relief globally have given me a different perspective,” said Ms. Meghani, who intends to produce a dissertation on the topic and to influence both policy and practice in Pakistan. “For example, we need hospice care in Pakistan, but it cannot be institution-based as in the United States, where most deaths and acute care occur in hospitals.There is a big taboo against institution-based care – the only people who would use it would be very poor, disenfranchised, and alone. So a different model taking the best of the U.S. while adapting it to another culture needs to be developed,” said Ms. Meghani. Other students expect to make a difference in clinical practice, sometimes effecting change not through policy but through the gift of their presence. Ms. Sabapathy expects to return to Singapore with experience gained here to encourage her colleagues to be comfortable with being autonomous nurse practitioners.“We need to be seen to be practicing in the clinical arena as well as with students. Physicians have trouble with nurses being autonomous. It’s a slow process,” International Students Pursue Degrees Bachelor of Science in Nursing 18 Master of Science in Nursing 21 PhD candidates 15 Where they come from: Bahamas Canada China Denmark Great Britain Guatamala India Israel Jamaica Japan Kenya Malawi Malaysia Nigeria Philippines Sierra Leone Singapore South Korea Taiwan Thailand Trinidad and Tobago Ukraine Vietnam Zimbabwe she said. However, broadening the role of nurses to include just that type of independent thinking will be part of her ongoing career, as she puts it, to “see the need and meet the need.” Many students pursuing advanced degrees will count themselves among only a handful of similarly advanced practice nurses in their home country providing opportunities for advancing nurses in their generation and perhaps the next.“We may have no more than 10 nurse practitioners in the entire country,” said Rebecca Johnson, a dual major candidate from the Bahamas. “When I return, I will sit down with the other neonatal nurse practitioner as we try to find our way.We will need to be staff advocates for patients and faculty.” Students agree that often an advanced degree is necessary to obtain influence, particularly if they decide to pursue a political path with the power to 11
Page 1 and 2: Penn Nursing U N I V E R S I T Y O
Page 3 and 4: U N I V E R S I T Y O F P E N N S Y
Page 5 and 6: increasing demands of an ill person
Page 7 and 8: the concept is a nationally-recogni
Page 9 and 10: 1997: Funded by NIH, Penn Nursing l
Page 11: The Center for Health Outcomes and
Page 15 and 16: Students Making a Difference Under
Page 17 and 18: CAROL TISHELMAN, PHD, RN INFLUENCIN
Page 19 and 20: Dean Afaf Meleis, PhD, FAAN, has lo
Page 21 and 22: Asia Sarah Kagan, PhD, RN, the Dori
Page 23 and 24: Dr. Kagan’s topic, cancer and agi
Page 25 and 26: Invitational Conference on Directio
Page 27 and 28: Fagin, C. (2002).The Role of Nursin
Page 29 and 30: Richmond,T. S. (2002). Injury preve
Page 31 and 32: Geriatric Education Center Health R
Page 33 and 34: Exploring Methods to Incorporate Pu
Page 35 and 36: Living Legends “Since its incepti

Establishing Global Partnerships - University of Pennsylvania ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?