Nursing Schools and Programs
Students can
choose from the more than 600 nursing schools that are
members of the American Association of Colleges of
Nursing. They are
listed on the association’s website. Registered nurses
(RNs) who want to earn their bachelor’s degree can
explore more than 620 RN to BSN programs on the website,
including more than 340 offered at least partially
online. In addition there are 149 programs available
nationwide to transition RNs with diplomas and associate
degrees to the master's degree level.
Bette Keltner
Jacobs, Cherokee,
PhD, RN, Dean of Georgetown School of Nursing and Health
Studies says that
American Indian people who want to move into positions
of high influence and high impact should consider
premier institutions such as Georgetown. Graduate
degrees are highly recommended.
Students who want to begin their education close to home or
in a home-like atmosphere might want to explore schools,
such as the following, that have programs that actively
recruit American Indians and Alaskan Natives and support
them during their education. Although the schools tend to
focus on indigenous people in the state in which the school
is located, students from tribes outside of the schools’
states are also welcome.
Below are descriptions of programs at the University of
Oklahoma, Arizona State University, Montana State
University, the University of Alaska, and Northern Arizona
State University
University
of Oklahoma
Nursing students doing health
education in a school
The American
Indian Nursing Student Success Program at the
University of Oklahoma College of
Nursing recruits
students into the OU College of Nursing and supports them
throughout the baccalaureate program. Program
director Beverly
Patchell, Cherokee,
RN, MS, CNS says that a major focus is helping students
learn to study and deal with test anxiety. “We have
excellent students with good grade points. Only 120 of
the 1200 applicants to the nursing school are accepted
each year, so our students have gone through a very
competitive process. Many Native people have been
traumatized early in their education and feel they can’t
learn math and science. They also can have trouble
adjusting to the curriculum that is so focused in the
head, meaning it is very intellectual. To help students
learn we use things like the Cercone program that
includes music and color. We also use the HeartMath
program. When I recruit students, the Elders in the
communities tell me they don’t want their children to go
on to higher education because they will loose their
heart. One of the benefits of the HeartMath program is
that it provides grounding in the heart. These programs
have been very helpful to students. Unofficially, I
think that, on average, the HeartMath programs improve
students’ scores by 17 points.”
The students’
clinical experiences include supervised, hands-on care of
Indian people in clinics and hospitals in Oklahoma City and
in tribal clinics outside the city, some of which have
multi-million dollar budgets and serve thousands of people.
As part of a leadership course, Patchell took some students
to the Cherokee Nation Home Health Services in Tahlequah.
Patchell says, “The students didn’t want to be in a
hospital learning how to be a charge nurse. They wanted to
see Indian people in leadership positions in a complex
organization that relates to the Cherokee Nation, the
state, and the federal government.”
Networking and a limited number of scholarships are among
the other features of the Success Program at OU. Social
support includes meetings with tribal Elders, medicine
people and American Indian role models.
Arizona State University
American-Indian Students United in Nursing
(ASUN) was
established at
Arizona State University College of
Nursing & Healthcare Innovation in 1990. ASUN students
participate in all of the courses and activities of the
nursing school. In addition, ASUN provides a variety of
services and activities. Program Director,
Bev Warne, Oglala
Lakota, MS, RN, says. “We think of the medicine wheel
and try to support our students physically, mentally,
emotionally and spiritually. Native students who are in
the pre-nursing program can have tutoring for all
required courses. Our ASUN graduates provide tutoring
for students in the professional nursing program. They
want to give back.
“We have an Elder Nurse Program with two nurses who worked
for many decades in the IHS. Niela Redford, Choctaw, RN,
BSN. MAOM (Master of Arts in Organization Management),
comes to the school every Friday morning to listen to and
talk with the students. Judy Black Feather, Ottawa, RN,
BSN, MPH, also serves as an Elder and mentor.
“Rachel Carroll, a Northern Cheyenne traditional healer, is
an important part of our program. Every month she conducts
talking circles with our students. For reading day before
finals week, she gives an inspiring talk about how nurses
are healers. Then she does a blessing for each student. The
smell of sage is very comforting. It grounds the students.
Rachael also offers a sweat lodge ceremony at the end of
each semester.
“Students feel part not only of the ASUN family but also of
the Native American Nurses Association (NANA) family. For
example, the association and ASUN co-sponsor a nurse’s day
luncheon at which we recognize the students, and veteran
nurses give messages of encouragement to the students. NANA
and ASUN also co-sponsor a welcome-back-gathering for
nursing and pre-nursing students. Families are welcome at
this and other events in keeping with our values as Native
people.”
With more than 20 tribes in Arizona, all of the students at
ASU have many opportunities to take care of American Indian
patients.
Warne encourages bachelor level students to begin thinking
about entering a master’s program. When students graduate,
she tells them, “Keep connected with your roots and your
school. Mentor others. Get back into school as soon as
possible because with a master’s or doctoral degree you can
have even more of an impact.”
Montana State University
The Caring for Our Own Program
(CO-OP) is a
Reservation/University Partnership. CO-OP works with a
state-wide advisory board with members from each
reservation who represent the education and health
sectors. The advisory board acts as a liaison between
the reservation communities and CO-OP. Board members
identify perspective nursing students as well as
effective outreach strategies to use in their respective
communities.
CO-OP creates a
community away from home through an orientation program,
culturally-sensitive advising, group tutoring, leadership
training experiences, and other strategies that create
strong support networks for students. In addition to
the regular nursing curriculum, CO-OP students participate
in weekly seminars addressing critical issues in Native
health care. As part of the seminars, students plan and
implement service learning projects aimed at improving the
health of Native communities through education and action
campaigns. Some examples of recent student projects
include oral hygiene and physical activity education for
preschool-aged children; STD screening and risk assessment
for college-aged Native American students; tobacco
prevention education and action PSAs done in collaboration
with middle school-aged children; and family dietary health
education that includes the effects of diet on
behavior. These projects provide a sense of connection
to Native communities while providing a hands-on learning
experience.
Twila Old Coyote, Crow, MEd, Assistant Director of CO-OP,
says that CO-OP is celebrating 10 years of work. In that
time, 43 students have graduated and returned to their home
communities providing culturally-sensitive and
clinically-excellent health care to their own people. In
the last four years, 22 students have earned their BSN’s
and eight have started the master’s program. Currently
there are 35 undergraduate students and 5 graduates
students.
Casaja
Fritzler, Crow,
says that
CO-OP helped her get through school. She has returned
to her community and is working as a nurse on the Crow
Reservation. See her story in the Bozeman Daily
Chronicle.
University
of Alaska
The
RRANN program
(Recruitment and Retention of Alaska Natives
into Nursing) at
the
University of Alaska School of
Nursing in Anchorage began in 1998. In their outreach
program, RRANN staff try to identify students who would
like to become nurses and help them think through what they
will need before coming to the Anchorage campus, including
funding and housing.
RRANN coordinator, Randi Madison, Inupiaq, says, “Many
Alaskan Native students come from small villages. Anchorage
can feel overwhelming, so particularly in their first year,
we encourage students to stay in the Nightingale Wing of
the on-campus residence hall, which is set aside for
nursing students. Living in this community helps students
build relationships with each other.”
All pre-nursing students meet weekly in the Nightingale
Wing where they have sessions on various topics or just
relax together. Nursing students in the 4 semester diploma
program or the 5 semester bachelor’s program meet together
once a month. Madison notes, “We offer a variety of things
particularly stress management and time management because
the students are incredibly busy with school and often also
with families. Students share advice. We encourage students
in both groups to bring family members with them.
“Some students drop out of school, not because they can’t
handle the classes, but rather because it can be very
difficult to navigate the system. We try to prevent this by
building relationships with students so they will feel
comfortable and come to us if they run into problems. We do
a lot of advocacy for our students. We also make sure that
they get the academic support that they need.”
Bachelor and associate degrees in nursing are offered at
the Anchorage campus. In addition the associate
degree is offered at 9 of the university’s other campuses
across the state. Madison says, “RRANN has recently
received funding for facilitators on the Bethel and Sitka
campuses. The facilitators motivate local people to
consider careers in nursing. Some of their recruits may to
go to Anchorage but students can also choose to earn an RN
through an associate program and then participate in the
RN-to-BSN program. The lectures in the RN-to-BSN program
are offered on-line. Clinicals are arranged at hospitals
nearest the students’ campus of study. RNs with family and
other obligations can earn their bachelors degree one
course at a time while they continue to work.”
RRANN funded 67 pre-nursing and nursing students across the
state in the spring semester of 2007. There have been 66
graduates. Most stay in Alaska. Some return to their home
village if it’s large enough to support a nurse.
Northern
Arizona State University
The programs
described above supplement nursing programs, providing,
Native students with support and enrichment. The
American Indian Program
at
Northern Arizona University
School of Nursing is a complete
program. In 1995, it became the first reservation-based,
baccalaureate nursing program in the United States. All
students can apply to NSU’s main program in Flagstaff. Only
Native students are eligible for the American Indian
Program on the Navajo Nation. In the first years of the
program most of the students were from the Navajo Nation.
Now students from other tribes are also joining the
program.
Karine Crow, Cherokee,
PhD, RN, Director of the American Indian Program, says,
“Students in the American Indian Program have the same
teachers and the same course content as the Flagstaff
Program.” Students in their first two years of the
nursing program go to a site, such as Fort Defiance or
Chinle, for courses taught via interactive television
and the Internet. Beginning in the first year, for all
but two courses, students use simulations, manikins, and
other strategies in the clinical lab at St. Michael’s to
learn specific clinical skills. When they pass the
clinical lab exam, they practice their new skills, under
supervision, in Indian Health Service facilities. In the
last 8 weeks of the 3-year program, students have their
first clinical experience off the reservation in a
high-level trauma center. Crow explains, “Students have
very good experiences on the reservation, but we want to
make sure that they have all had access to all levels
and types of care.”
Challenges can occur in both indigenous and non-indigenous
communities when a few members become the first generation
to earn degrees in higher education. This can be
particularly true when education has previously been used
in hurtful ways. Crow says, “Particularly if the student is
from a group culture, while the student is in school, it
can be hard for the community to understand why the student
is not spending time with them and fulfilling their roles
within the family and community. Sometimes people leave to
attain their education but can have problems returning and
being accepted back home.
“Studies show that if students learn within their
framework, it is easier for them to integrate their culture
while they are learning. To help our students with
integration, two medicine people who have master’s degrees,
do traditional ceremonies and also show our students how to
build a bridge between traditional and western medicine.
One medicine person is a midwife with a master’s degree in
nursing and a master’s degree in public health. The other
medicine person has a master’s degree in education. In
addition, every spring a successful Native graduate of our
program offers an elective course in Navajo medical
terminology.
“Having students learn in their own communities provides an
opportunity for communities to
grow with the students.
Even though sometimes it’s hard for the community to allow
members to change their roles, the community benefits from
students’ new knowledge and skills. Since nurses are
desperately needed, graduates quickly become leaders who
are role models and mentors for the younger generation.”
Two other programs that support American Indian students
are the Wokunze Project at
the
South Dakota State University College of
Nursing and the Recruitment/Retention of American Indians in
Nursing (RAIN) Program at
the
University of North Dakota College of
Nursing, which has been active since 1990.
This
article was originally published in the Summer 2007 issue
of
Winds of Change. (The cover
artist is Bunky Echo-Hawk, Yakama/Pawnee.)