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MSU nursing program continues tradition of skilled care

Jill Schramm/MDN A group of nursing students at Minot State University gather in a classroom to review course material between classes April 10.

Simulation labs and phone apps give nursing students new ways to acquire knowledge, but decades of technological advances haven’t changed the core values that motivate students to pursue nursing careers.

Linda Pettersen calls it the passion and compassion element, and she has continually seen it in students during her 40 years as an instructor at Minot State University.

“The reason they want to go into nursing is they want to help and be able to do good for others. I feel good about that – that they are coming in with some of those values,” said Pettersen, an assistant professor.

“One of the big things we teach and want soon-to-be nurses to know is we are the advocates for that patient. We are the ones who are going to watch out for them,” said Mary Smith, also a long-time assistant professor of nursing at MSU. “We look out for that whole person, that whole community. That’s a pretty awesome job when you think about that.”

MSU is preparing to graduate another 19 students through its pre-licensing program in May and has a number of associate-degreed registered nurses completing bachelor’s degrees through campus or online courses. Last May, MSU graduated about 45 nursing students in total.

Other community programs exist that educate certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses and associate-degreed registered nurses. MSU provides the four-year option for registered nurses with two-year degrees who wish to advance their careers.

Linda Schaefer, an assistant professor and long-time educator at MSU, said the transition process toward a bachelor’s degree is smoother than it once was. Students also used to have to travel to Minot or staff traveled to Williston and Rugby to offer classes to registered nurses looking to get their bachelor’s degrees. Education later was offered over an interactive video network before going online in more recent years.

“So they can live and work and stay where they are. Some never see Minot,” Schaefer said.

MSU’s nursing program was developed through the collaborative efforts of the North Dakota Joint Committee on Nursing Needs, the sisters of St. Francis School of Nursing, area state legislators and university administrators. The 1969 Legislature approved a resolution supporting the establishment of a bachelor’s degree program.

Sister Mabel Meng, the first director, shared an office in the Science Building (Cyril Moore Hall) with refrigerators, tables, another faculty member and a secretary, according to a departmental history. She told stories about an escaped snake from a science laboratory located under her desk and about an office move to a “broom closet” that was the passage way to the photo lab.

Contrast that with today’s modern nursing department, located in Memorial Hall in 1996 after construction of the new building brought human service departments under one roof. A second clinical nursing lab opened in 2011, allowing for expansion of the nursing program.

For the past several years, MSU has offered a laboratory with simulated “patients” capable of presenting with a variety of conditions. The lab provides a realistic, safe learning environment where students can test their critical thinking skills and faculty can measure student knowledge to better determine where to focus further teaching efforts.

Students need to know about electronic health records, intravenous pumps and all sorts of technological advances in medicine. MSU depends on its clinical partners to assist in educating students on new technologies. Technology changes are so extensive and rapid that MSU can’t keep up with everything, making the opportunities that exist with the clinical sites that much more valuable, Schaefer said.

Still, technology has changed drastically on campus, too.

Pettersen, who graduated with MSU’s first graduating class in 1973, recalled her class donated a tape recorder to the department because the students felt technology was important. In those early years, an overhead projector was a luxury. The first computers didn’t show up until the mid-1990s.

Now students carry around more data on their smartphones than students used to find in a backpack of textbooks.

“Overall, they are very, very tech-savvy and they are very open to and expect to see all those kinds of things within the program as well, because they see it out in the work world. So we have to be in tune,” Smith said.

Due to the explosion of information, faculty members have taken on larger roles as facilitators rather than presenters of information.

Courses are more interactive and participatory, Smith said. Much of the content remains the same, even though some of the tools have changed and the white dresses and hose are gone. Black pants and tops are the new look for students, who are faced with a curriculum that’s increased in its rigor.

Pettersen credits visionary staff in the department’s early years for establishing a lasting program that creates student connections on community, national and international levels. Over the years, students gained clinical experience at the John Moses Air Force Hospital, Minot Air Force Base hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Trinity Hospital. Of those, only Trinity remains, and the MSU nursing college continues to work closely with Trinity and the area’s rural hospitals.

Connections made through a nursing student from Peru led to a nursing exchange program in that country. Later exchanges occurred with Tanzania and Mexico. Three faculty more recently visited Haiti and are planning another trip with students.

“We need to learn about all of our different cultures and how to be sensitive to cultural needs and also look into those kinds of opportunities to go other places for those types of experiences,” Smith said. In the past, those opportunities have been as close as American Indian reservations and an immigrants’ clinic in Fargo.

Smith said the nursing program has received strong community support in Minot, and in return, students give back through service projects conducted by their student nursing organization.

Going forward, Smith said, the goal is to enhance and strengthen the program as it works in tandem with a national goal to have 80 percent of registered nurses with bachelor’s degrees by 2020.

“I know we want to be able to continue to not just maintain but grow and stay ahead of the curve with technology,” Smith said. “We always want to continue to work on how we can grow our numbers as best we can and still produce that best quality nurse.”

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