Nursing students involved in community research

This summer, SFU Professor John Richards a long-time supporter of IUBAT, returned to Dhaka for his umpteenth visit. On this occasion, his mission was to promote the recent publication of a study by the Centre for Policy Research, based at IUBAT. This report analyzes a detailed survey, conducted by the IUBAT College of Nursing students, of nutrition conditions and purchasing choices among women in local shanty communities over the past two years. Its principal finding is that poor nutrition due to unbalanced diet accompanied by frequent use of harmful substances is a growing threat to public health. The publication, “Benchmarking the Nutritional Status of Women in the Tongi-Ashulia Road Slums”, authored by John Richards, Afifa Shahrin and Karen Lund is available at http://www.iubat.edu/cpr/ .

Thanks to our volunteers for Summer Semester 2010

As summer 2010 ends we thank our volunteers for this semester. Canadian Rhodina Hobbs taught medical-surgical nursing and supervised students at United Hospital. RNs, Emilie Fourrey from France and Sonie Meyer from USA, who both presently live in Dhaka, also supervised the medical-surgical nursing students. Emilie also supervised students practicing maternal health at the Centre for Woman and Child Health. Sonie, who is an American Heart Association Instructor, trained and certified students in CPR. Canadian Rebekah Lowes taught Community Health Nursing, which includes assessments of the varied communities around IUBAT. Cassandra Ma, also from Canada, taught medical surgical nursing and a new First Aid course, not only to nursing students but also to IUBAT faculty and security guards. Corina Oudijk from the Netherlands spent two busy semesters with us, teaching and supervising clinical practice. Thank you all!

IUBAT celebrates International Nurses Day 2010

IUBAT faculty and students celebrated International Nursing Day in May to raise awareness of the important contribution of caring, well-educated nurses to a modern health care system. Prof. M. Alimullah Miyan, IUBAT Vice-Chancellor created the College of Nursing because he believes that Bangladesh needs university level education for nurses. Opening the event, he welcomed representatives from our teaching hospital partners, Centre for Woman and Child Health, Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed and United Hospital (thanks for the cake!), as well as guests from Apollo Hospital Dhaka and Dhaka University College of Nursing. IUBAT College of Nursing students delivered presentations on nursing care for chronic illness, describing how RNs can help patients cope with these problems.

A new volunteer and a new clinical partner

Welcome to Corina Oudijk from the Netherlands who is volunteering at the College of Nursing until August 2010. Corina is teaching medical surgical nursing and supervising students at the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed www.crp-bangladesh.org . We have just started working with this amazing institution that provides medical and nursing care, rehabilitation and art and vocational therapy to adults and children.

A busy spring semester at the College of Nursing

In February, Dr. Rycki Maltby of University of Vermont, USA brought her Public Health Nursing class to Dhaka. The students visited local community health programs and shared classes with IUBAT students. These exchanges help students develop deeper understanding both of cultural and resource differences and universal health goals. Many thanks to our spring 2010 volunteers, Crissy George, Brenda Hutton, Cailey Lynch and Alysha Savji. They taught Community Nursing, Medical-Surgical Nursing and Nursing Fundamentals. Brenda and Cailey also supervised medical surgical students in United Hospital and maternity nursing students at the Centre for Woman and Child Health.

First College of Nursing graduate for 2010

Congratulations to Roshani Kandel. In January, having competed all the coursework, Roshani successfully defended her research project, and completed oral and written comprehensive exams to graduate with a BSN from IUBAT. Well done, Roshani. We look forward to hearing about your professional accomplisments.

Globe and Mail features IUBAT Nursing

In December 2009 Canada's national newspaper, The Globe and Mail wrote about our project for the series "Things That Work". Photos showed Karen Lund teaching in an IUBAT classroom and Lynn Buhler at her Vancouver Coastal Health office. Karen was quoted, "The program's biggest challenge is helping students accustomed to a rote memorization style of learning adapt to a system based on critical thinking and problem solving." Melodie Hull from College of the Rockies said, “These students will be able to change the way nursing is seen and how it does its work in Bangladesh." Thanks to the paper's National Affairs reporter Wendy Stueck for the great story.