Page 6 - Laker Connection Fall 2013

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THE LAKER CONNECTION
Dina Swearngin, MSN, RN oversees a student in the Clayton State Simulation Lab, a space where students experience a variety of nursing scenarios by working with artificial and computerized patients.
Dr. Rick Zoucha, speaker at the spring 2013 Nursing Workforce Diversity Conference, explains “la raza” or Mexican American cultural pride to nursing students and faculty.
Dr. Sue Odom speaks with students in an online classroom, adding another pathway to learning in addition to the traditional classroom and experiential learning opportunities offered in the nursing program.
from a different background than their own, it becomes very real very quickly,” explains Course Coordinator/Clinical In- structor Dina Swearngin, MSN, RN. “They must apply their theoretical knowledge to the real world patient situation. Sometimes it may be dietary choices or a special ritual during times of illness. Other situations can involve facing life and death choices and being a part of that final conversation, even when the family’s choices are much different than the student’s own personal beliefs and background.”
NURSING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY
In addition to diversity education in the classroom and clinical environment, the School of Nursing presents the Nursing Workforce Diversity Conference for nursing students and fac- ulty each fall and spring. Funded by the federal Nursing Work- force Diversity Grant, the conference features guest speakers who lecture on healthcare diversity topics. Past lecturers have included former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher and former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Dr. Louis Sullivan.
Dr. Rick Zoucha, one of the 2013 Nursing Workforce Diversity Conference speakers, discussed the Hispanic community’s re- lationship with nursing. His comments on “la raza” - explained as a sense of cultural pride among Mexican Americans - edu- cated attendees on the importance of what he called “eth- nonursing.”
“If you even say one word in Spanish, it is viewed as caring,” Zoucha shared.
The growing metro Atlanta Hispanic community is one minor- ity population that the School of Nursing works to recruit.
“Atlanta has a growing population of Hispanics – the students see this a lot in their clinicals. Many of their patients do not speak English,” says Chair of the Undergraduate Nursing Pro- gram and Professor of Nursing Dr. Sue Odom. “We need more Hispanic nurses to care for peo-
ple within their culture and com- municate with them in their language.”
“There are barriers to higher ed- ucation in the Hispanic commu- nity like legal documentation,” says Dean of the College of Health Dr. Lisa Eichelberger. “We are a proponent of the Dream Act. Many Hispanic stu- dents were brought to America by their parents, have gone
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Dr. Lisa Eichelberger Dean, College of Health