|
How did you get into nursing and nursing
academics?
When I graduated from high school, I saw only three
choices. These were teaching, secretarial work and nursing.
I chose nursing because the school was close by and
it was financially advantageous. I went to a diploma
school and after graduation worked at Memorial Health
University Medical Center in Savannah, Ga., in the psych
department. While there, I completed my BSN at Armstrong
State College and then my MSN in psych/mental health
at Medical College of Georgia.
I had a wonderful professor while in my master's program,
Em Olivia Bevis. I watched how she handled a conflict
situation in one of her classes and, with my psych background,
appreciated her expertise. I went to her and said, "I
want to do what you do," which was teaching. She
was wonderful and she became my mentor.
After completing my MSN, I taught for four years with
[Bevis] at the Medical College of Georgia graduate satellite
program. She and I then went to Georgia Southern University
to start a new baccalaureate nursing program. I stayed
there for 10 years as a professor and then as head of
the nursing department.
I next went to New York City and became director of
accreditation for the National League for Nursing after
completing my doctorate in education at the University
of Georgia. In 1992, I returned to Georgia as a nursing
professor and associate dean of academic affairs.
Today, I look forward to continuing my work as an educator
while serving as NLN president-elect starting in September.
There's not only a nursing shortage, but also a shortage
of faculty. The lack of faculty is unprecedented. The
NLN conducted a study on faculty positions throughout
the country and found that it will become worse in five
to 10 years as faculty retire. We are already beginning
to face this shortage.
The NLN has established the Foundation for Nursing
Education to support faculty and students in this educational
process.
One incident I always think about was when I was teaching
crisis intervention and decided with Em Bevis to create
a mock crisis situation for students. She came into
the senior class and told the students that they wouldn't
be able to finish the program, as it was being postponed
and she'd get back to them. Well, they panicked. I quickly
told them it was not true, but they had just briefly
experienced the first stage of crisis. We then had a
rousing discussion on crisis intervention. It was memorable.
I'm also involved in what is probably the highlight
of my career in education. Several years ago, three
nurses from Ethiopia came to Emory to obtain their master's
degree in nursing. When they went back to Ethiopia,
I obtained funding through a university grant and was
able to visit and work with them on their baccalaureate
nursing curriculum.
The Carter Center at the same time established the
Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative, which focuses
on improving education in the health services. In September,
I became director of the initiative and that work has
been tremendously rewarding.
"Learning is not a spectator sport" is what
Em Bevis said. Students must be involved to learn and
retain a certain body of knowledge.
Bevis and Jean Watson start out with the belief that
caring is the essence of nursing and that the socialization
of students in the caring model is imperative. This
is done through the selection of learning activities
focused on content, skills and caring.
Using this model, students have input into their own
learning. It becomes participatory learning, teacher
to student and student to student. The paradigm is best
described in the book Toward a Caring Curriculum: A
New Pedagogy for Nursing, written by Em Bevis, MA, RN,
FAAN, and Jean Watson, Ph.D., RN, FAAN.
No one in nursing will have an easy road. The NLN,
fortunately, is in a good position and financially stable.
Fewer nurses have been choosing nursing academics as
a career choice. We've put energy into advanced practice
and clinical specialist programs and lost the emphasis
and preparation for nursing education. The focus has
to be on nursing faculty and nursing education.
Nursing opens many doors. It is so diverse and complex
with so many different areas for nurses to practice.
My nursing career has been a major part of my life.
Nursing has provided me the opportunities to move both
personally and professionally in any direction I wanted
to go.
Contact Bree LeMaire at peraltap@aol.com
|
Print
this article
