With today’s nurses working in a rapidly changing health care landscape, emerging faculty educate their nursing students about issues that impact patient care and bring health care to underserved communities.
One of Dr. Kyeongra Yang’s goals in the community health courses she teaches is to guide her students to be more culturally competent in providing care to underserved minority populations. She says she’s noticed that, while students are well aware of what culturally competent care is from an intellectual perspective, some of them don’t achieve it in practical application.
“I should acknowledge that I would be more sensitive because I myself am a minority; however, I often notice that some of their communication styles are not sensitive enough to respect others and still reflect some biased views on different cultures,” says Yang, an assistant professor at the Lienhard School of Nursing at Pace University.
“I hope my nursing students can learn that culturally competent care is not about knowledge, but more about a matter of attitude,” she adds. “I want to be a facilitator and good role model.”
Technology in the workplace
The students in Yang’s community health nursing course are seniors who are about to graduate and are very focused on where to start their careers. She realizes many think community health nursing is not for them, rather seeing themselves in a hospital setting. She tries to provide opportunities for students to think about practicing nursing in various settings beyond hospitals.
“They may see their patients only at a hospital, but their patients’ lives do not end there and must go on with health conditions at their real world, such as home, occupational setting, etc.,” says Yang, whose research includes prevention and management of diabetes and underserved and minority populations. “I hope I can help broaden our students’ perspective on nursing, care coordination and public health.”
