Program focuses future nurses on community issues

The traditional nurse's cap won't be seen on these U-M students.

Stirring a meat and vegetable mixture for shepherd's pie to be served at the Delonis Center in Ann Arbor is first-year nursing student Ashley Stacy from Milan. (Photo by Joanne Nesbit, News Service)

But in this first year of a pilot program, you may see them wearing different head coverings as they cook and serve lunch or dinner at a local shelter, or tutor youngsters in the basics of reading and math at a community center, where they also teach and direct performing arts.

These first- and second-year U-M nursing students students can be found assisting in the University's programs for international families on campus as conversationalists with those for whom English is a second language. And chairing fund-raising events for area children's hospitals is just another way to reach out.

While these students are making a difference in the community, they also are fulfilling the School of Nursing's community service requirement for curriculum courses in service learning. All incoming nursing students must complete at least one of these courses before the end of their second year in the program.

"We want our students to look through a different lens, so they will have a better understanding of society while working with some of the people and families they will be caring for," says Dick Redman, director of doctoral and postdoctoral programs at the School of Nursing. "We want our graduates to be more engaged citizens, to give back to their communities."

Using a different lens has opened not only eyes, but avenues to new and deeper thoughts about social justice, the processes of teaching and learning and family dynamics. Those who have been preparing and serving meals in an Ann Arbor shelter have found the quality of ingredients and presentation meet higher standards than expected for food served in a shelter.

While some students report feelings of success, some also say they have felt failure.

A book fair intended to acquaint a community's parents and children with reading resulted in only children attending; parents just dropped them off. One student couldn't control an unruly child in an after-school program and had to ask staff to help. While the nursing student acknowledged her failure, she also learned of different methods for handling the problem more successfully.

The program so far has yielded some promising results.

"We are just planting the seeds for students to become more reflective about what they're doing," Redman says. "Each week students write a paper reflecting on their experiences in the communities—communities that may be far different from what they have known, or where they will ultimately be sharing their professional skills."