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Peer-reviewed report published

This summer, our first report on this project was published in a peer-reviewed journal. “A Canada-Bangladesh partnership for nurse education: case study” by Alex Berland, John Richards and Karen Lund appeared in the on-line edition of International Nursing Review http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1466-7657.2010.00813.x/full. The report describes progress to date and lessons learned including the importance of 1) integrating nurse training with a general university able to provide core courses; 2) countering the low status of nursing and developing a caring attitude among students; 3) instilling critical thinking as opposed to rote learning. Next steps are identified: mechanisms to support networking in the local health system; sharing of resources; assuring program quality. The paper will be of interest to those concerned with nurse education and human resource development in less developed countries.

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.