More than just educators

Marinda Allender with one of the human patient simulators. Photo credit: Sarah Marie Witt

Fort Worth, TX

3/30/2010

By: Sarah Marie Witt, Schieffer School of Journalism 

Some of the hardest working majors on the TCU campus are nursing students. The faculty of the Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences has a strong impact on the motivation of students. Marinda Allender and Paulette Burns are two of these motivators.

“We teach them how to look for knowledge. Practice always changes. We teach them how to keep learning and how to be professional,” said Marinda Allender, instructor and director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs at TCU.

Allender has been in the nursing field for 32 years and almost 21 years at TCU. She grew up wanting to be a nurse and graduated from University of Virginia and University of Texas at Arlington. Her favorite thing about teaching is to watch new students, who know nothing about nursing, mature in their nursing knowledge and skills over time. Allender also works at Cook Children’s Medical Center and has the opportunity to work alongside her former students.

“Faculty in any program are responsible for sharing the knowledge of the discipline with those who are students of the discipline. So faculty roles include teaching in the classroom as well as the clinical setting, conducting and sharing research-based practices, serving the university through faculty governance, and serving the community and the profession,” said Dr. Burns, dean of the Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences.

Dr. Burns is a graduate of the University of Maryland, University of Oklahoma and received her Ph.D from Texas Women’s University. She has been at TCU for almost 10 years and chose the nursing field so she could help others.

“I want students to remember that they are a life-long learner. A college education teaches one how to learn and that one remains a student every day after graduation,” said Dr. Burns.

Nursing majors make up the largest percentage of students in Harris College, which was founded in 1946. Instead of weeding out students with tough classes, the nursing faculty takes a different approach.

“We want every student we admit [into the nursing school] to succeed. This means graduation and a passing score on the licensing exam,” Allender said.

“Harris College’s nursing professors are some of the best out there. They take the time to get to know all of the students in the school. They were really helpful in preparing me for the real world,” said Kimberly Euwer, an alumna of the Harris College ‘09.

To make sure nursing courses are effective and consistent, the faculty organize the curriculum around a conceptual framework, which they update every few years.

“Each course builds on previous courses as well as prerequisite courses,” Allender said.

Faculty members also make sure students are practicing with the latest technology. Human patient simulators (HPS) are designed to simulate a human patient; they have blood pressures, heartbeats, urine, dilating eyes, etc. One HPS is even able to simulate a birth.

“The faculty is committed not only in helping us learn the material in the classroom but they help us apply our knowledge in the clinical setting,” said Taylor Hohmann, a sophomore nursing major.

Julie Mills, a junior nursing major said, “They are more than just teachers. They are people we look up to and go to for help. They really care about you as a person in addition to caring about you learning important nursing skills.”

According to one senior, faculty members are particularly good at helping students find employment after graduation.

“ ‘Clinicals’ allow nursing students to get to know faculty members and to learn from them as nurses. I feel that I have personally gotten to know faculty members even more as a senior because they are a valuable asset in helping me find a job,” said senior nursing major Megan Henderson.

The Harris College of Nursing is recruiting new faculty. Currently, there is a shortage of nursing education professionals and job opportunities are available for those who qualify.