Joyce Murray, on nursing excellence

By Bree LeMaire, MS, RN
January 17, 2003

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.

What do you see as nursing's greatest challenge?

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.

What's your favorite teaching memory?

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.

What is the Bevis-Watson paradigm for nursing education?

"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.

What's ahead for the NLN?

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.

Anything else you'd like to add?

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