WORCESTER MEDICINE
Training The Next Generation of Physician Scientists Continued
Nursing Education: A History and Future of the Dynamic Professional Pathways to Excellence in Care
providing our patients of today with the best possible care while remaining steadfast in our goal to provide patients of tomorrow with better outcomes through collaborative research and innovation. As such, we agreed that we have a duty to understand the broad impact that racism has on various aspects of health and began an initiative to incorporate discussions on racism and justice into our Physician Scientist Forums. Over this past year, we held four 90-minute sessions on racism in medicine and focused each session on specific minority populations in the U.S. We discuss the diverse ways that racism and injustice exist within the health care field, how we can be better providers to patients from minority communities and what role research plays in either perpetuating or correcting health disparities. We believe that learning about how racism contributes to medical injustice, we can contribute to eradicating it through our collective careers by applying best practices at the bench and bedside. As we look to the future, our goal remains to provide the next generation of physician scientists with the tools required to make a mark on healthcare discovery and innovation. We welcome any members of the Worcester medical community to contact us if interested in collaborating on local projects or participating in our Physician Scientist Forums. +
Elizabeth DelSignore MS, RN Michelle Page, DNP, RN
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when there was a need to care for wounded soldiers during the Civil War. The first school of nurse training in the United States opened at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston in 1872. Student nurses completed apprenticeship-style training which included long hours on the hospital wards caring for patients followed by physician lectures in the evenings. Nursing education transitioned into the university setting in the early part of the 20th century and the National League for Nursing (NLN) developed one of the first sets of curriculum guidelines. By the 1950s, the associate degree of nursing (ADN) at community colleges was piloted to provide “technical” practitioners during a nursing shortage (1). The advent of intensive care units in the 1960s required a broader range of skills, and the application of clinical reasoning became a vital part of the role. The NLN and the American Nurses Association (ANA) called for baccalaureate prepared Registered Nurses (RNs) in the mid-1960s, but the social climate at that time discouraged the advancement in the education of women and progress was hindered. Although there has been an increase in the percentage of baccalaureate prepared nurses for initial RN licensure since 2013, 37.7% of registered nurses in 2020 report the ADN as their highest degree at initial licensure (2).
Silvia Corvera, MD, is professor of molecular medicine, endowed chair in diabetes research and director of the MD/PhD program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Email: silvia.corvera@umassmed.edu. Philip A. Feinberg is a student in the MD/PhD program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School working on understanding and treating neuropsychiatric disorders. Email: Philip.feinberg@umassmed.edu. references:
academic pathways and the need for
1. Medical Scientist Training Program. Accessed July 27, 2021. https://www.nigms.nih.gov/training/ instpredoc/pages/predocoverview-mstp.aspx
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he need for formal nurse training arose
baccalaureate-prepared nurses
There are educational options a student may consider for initial licensure as a RN, including the diploma, the associate degree, and the baccalaureate degree (BSN) however, many stakeholders encourage the BSN as the minimum educational preparation for entry into professional nursing practice (3,4). Many schools have bridge programs for nurses with a licensed practical nursing (LPN) certificate, diploma,
SEPT / OCT 2021
