NURSING
“ El doctor lo verá ahora”
The doctor will see you now
Instead of heading to an exotic resort for some sun this “The instructors at the University are top notch,” said summer, a group of NSC alumni enrolled in a medical program coordinator Pam Call. “They incorporate creative Spanish course in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico to learn learning techniques in the classroom and are extremely to communicate better in their careers. Everyone knows passionate about their country and their language. The that learning a second language can help no matter instructors have inspired some of the students to continue the field you’re employed in; this really rings true in on with Spanish courses when they return to Las Vegas.” the medical field. This summer marked the beginning of a new and interesting multicultural course within During the final two weeks of the course, students the School of Nursing, the four-week Medical Spanish visited hospitals to interact with patients. As their focus immersion program. was on practicing the Spanish language, tasks included documenting patient history and discussing care, rather “There is an increasing need for local nurses to have than actively participating in medical procedures. an understanding of both the culture and language of our Hispanic community in order to communicate with Participants were also instructed on the cultural aspects patients and provide proper treatment,” said Sherrilyn of rendering nursing care to the Hispanic population. “In Coffman, interim dean of the school of nursing. “In turn, our cultura class we learned about alternative medicine,” this program will also increase the marketability of NSC’s said participant Larissa LaMert. “As nurses, we need to BSN graduates.” be aware that the Hispanic culture takes part in herbal remedies as a part of their normal regimen. Doctors will As the Hispanic population in Southern Nevada continues also incorporate alternative medicine as part of their to grow, the need for bilingual medical professionals has treatment plan.” also heightened. To answer this need, this immersive program was developed and launched. Taught at the “My favorite Spanish sentence of the day,” according to Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (UAG), the NSC participant Falisha Ollison-Leffler, who wrote this on her program was open to licensed Bachelor of Science in blog about the experience, “is ‘pongo su brazo sobre Nursing (BSN) graduates as well as current students la mesa para que yo puede chequar su precion’ or ‘put nearing the completion of their degrees. Under the your arm on the table so that I can check your pressure.’” supervision of Pam Call, NSC nursing instructor and program coordinator, the six students (five NSC nursing Because of its uniqueness, the course has an application graduates and one from UNLV) were in Mexico from process. To apply, course applicants submitted letters June 25 – July 20. of reference, an essay, and transcripts with priority given to NSC BSN graduates. Applicants were reviewed As participant Paula Fama said on the second day of the by NSC faculty in collaboration with education director course, “So far, I have already learned so much! I now Susan Adamek from St. Rose Dominican Hospitals. This understand what many of the articles meant when it summer’s course was funded by the Nevada Hospital comes to gender roles and religions of Mexico. I will be Association. tired from all the homework and readings I must do, but I am looking forward to the next lessons of these courses.” One cohort member summed it up perfectly when she said, “One thing that I always have to remember with It’s often noted that the best way to learn a language is nursing is to always keep learning new things!” to live within it. With that in mind, students accepted into the course stay with a host family in Guadalajara during the program. The first two weeks of the course include an immersive language study held at UAG focusing on medical terminology.
Fall 2012