Integrating nursing students into the larger university community:
From the non-nursing perspective, it’s our duty to integrate ourselves into nursing, and not just the other way around
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Collaborate with outside groups to promote research opportunities and courses in Nursing that fulfill non-Nursing students’ interests and requirements
Continue strengthening nursing’s plethora of ABCS courses, as well as healthcare-related courses, many of which are taken by non-nursing students. This would be a good time to push since the faculty is currently working to revise the curriculum (as SNAP knows better than I, of course)
Transform dining halls into a place where all students of any year and school can congregate by creating more flexible upperclassmen meal plans
Hold undergraduate-wide on-campus late night parties and gatherings. Fagin can be a great venue for people to become physically familiar with nursing.
Following my belief that the larger university community encompasses its West Philadelphia neighbors, waiving background check fees for students volunteering in public schools (such as the Sayre Health Center)
At the same time, many Nurses are unable to volunteer in the community because of packed class/clinical schedules. Let’s identify service time-flexible opportunities (such as Weekend Service Council) and promote them especially among Nurses.
Ensure that the UA Nursing representative serves as an informal UA liaison to SNAP (it’d actually be quite difficult to separate GJ from the two)
Produce UA materials that explain what the UA is, what the UA has done in each specific major topic of student interest (i.e. nursing), and how we can collaborate. SNAP, if it chooses, could then pass these onto its constituents for new projects/issues to bud
Bolster hiring and retention of underrepresented faculty through a conducive environment for minorities, gathering data for class demands, and meeting with undergraduate deans who do the hiring
Actively encourage UA resolutions and projects to stem from UA Steering groups
Hold discussion topics more frequently of, for example, “How can we integrate nursing” in UA Steering
Issues Facing Nursing Students at Penn
Misunderstandings and false stereotypes of nursing students and lack of integration: ambivalent students often ask ridiculous questions such as when Nurses get to start cutting people up, why they would want to be a nurse when they could be pre-med, or why someone would want to be a NP just to chase crazy people all day.
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The UA can assist in bringing non-nursing students into the nursing community and identifying synergies for cross-group collaboration through the specific initiatives mentioned in the above question.
Another large issue is course scheduling. With nurses’ packed schedules, it is often hard to fit in non-Nursing courses and involvements. This can be addressed by meeting with the Dean of other schools to have certain courses that interest Nursing students take place at, for example, Tuesday/Thursday afternoons for Juniors.
How do you personally plan to learn about and advocate for the interests of nursing students at Penn?
Advocating for their interests:
- Please see responses to the first two questions (it made more sense for me to integrate the responses)
Learning about the interest of nursing students
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I will pledge to attend one tri-weekly SNAP GBM per semester
- Meet with SNAP board at least once per semester
- Support and attend SNAP events while learning about the nursing community myself
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