How did you get into nursing? Nursing academics?

When I was a child growing up in India, I developed a fever. No one knew what it was. So I went to the Mission Hospital, where I was taken care of by a missionary nurse. I liked the way she took care of me and I wanted to be just like her. I knew nothing of nursing, only that I wanted to be like that nurse. The RN license is not a degree and I knew I needed more knowledge, so I went on for my BSN.

I had planned to return to India once I got my master’s. But my preceptor said why not go for my doctorate, and since I was standing next to the admissions office, I went in and got an application. It was pure coincidence. While I was working on my EdD, teaching at Cornell, I went home for a visit to India. My parents had arranged a marriage and since I wanted their blessing, I got married. My husband followed me back to the United States after completing his U.S. paperwork. Later, we had a child, so it took a while longer for me to get my doctorate.

What is your favorite subject to teach? Any favorite teaching memories?

OB is my favorite. When I went for my RN license, I also got a midwife license. While I was in my doctorate program, they needed a teacher to fill in for a faculty member on maternity leave. I took the position with my specialized knowledge.

The year was 1972 and the abortion law had just come into effect. I wanted to be innovative and was enthusiastically teaching about our new law. That was when a student came up to me and said, “I’m the youngest of 12 siblings. If the abortion law was in effect, I would not be here.”

That broke my heart and I changed my attitude right away. It was the last time I taught about abortion laws.

The other day, I was teaching how to diaper a baby and told them to always have an extra diaper available, just in case. Just as predicted, the baby boy I was using for the demonstration sprayed us, right down the front of our white blouses.

What direction would you like to see nursing take today?

That’s a tough question to answer. I don’t believe there’s a shortage of nurses. The nurses we have aren’t used properly and they are leaving because of dissatisfaction. We are the most numerous and the most important people that provide health care. Nurses are allowed to care for patients, but they have no power or influence over health care systems. I’d like to see nursing enter into a collaborative practice.

We know how to promote health and take care of patients, but the focus is on sickness and nurses have little power. I am looking for a new model with decreased cost and increased quality of care through collaboration.

What is one of your challenges as a nursing professor?

I want to promote critical thinking in my students, have them promote health rather than sustain sickness.

Teaching OB, one of the questions I ask is, “What is the best gift that we can give each baby?” The students immediately think in terms of comfort or materialistic things.

My answer is to have well-bonded babies and mothers that leave our care. I say these mothers need to love their partners because all children want to see united parents. My teaching begins at the bedside. It’s a hard concept to grasp, yet I see it as the foundation for society, not just an exercise.

What’s ahead for the California League of Nursing?

We’ve been struggling these last few years. The National League for Nursing is a different type of nursing organization. Today there are so many organizations and we are losing our membership. We are reevaluating the need for a California League and looking at whether we should recapture our mission or just go out to sea. I plan on examining our status this summer.

It’s a very hard time and it breaks my heart. There was a time when I left home for a new life and maybe this is the time for innovation and creativity beyond our League of Nursing.

What do you tell prospective nursing students?

Nursing has given me more than I have given to nursing. That’s where I start.

It’s a gift to practice nursing, to advocate practices that keep us healthy. There are so many pleasure-giving, non-health-promoting challenges in our environment. We can practice things that keep us healthy. That’s our gift.