 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
         |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| navigate: home: magazine: spring 2001: article | |
|
Penn State Abington helps prepare next generation of nurses By Mary B. Waltman | ||||||
|
Penn State Abington’s partnership with Frankford Hospital School of Nursing is more than a business arrangement; it’s a symbiotic relationship to prepare students to be well-qualified health care professionals. According to Daniel Fitzgerald, assistant director of Continuing Education, the campus college, located 15 miles north of Center City Philadelphia, has enjoyed a positive relationship with the nursing school since 1957. The joint program has continued to grow and expand, offering nursing students the scientific and academic knowledge needed to excel in their profession. Fitzgerald, who has been administrator of the Frankford program for the past 10 years, noted that preparing students for a successful career in the nursing profession continues to be the main objective of the partnership.
The Frankford program, which currently offers 78 credits and 25 sections of courses each semester, has an enrollment of about 250 students. The program employs about 20 to 25 faculty members, both full time and part time. In addition, some Penn State instructors also teach courses at Frankford Hospital, which is located in the Lower Northeast section of Philadelphia, a distance of eight miles from the campus. The Frankford Hospital was founded in 1903 as a private nonprofit community and teaching hospital serving Northeast Philadelphia and Lower Bucks County.
Originally the program offered only noncredit courses in biology and anatomy, or core courses necessary for a nursing diploma. Those noncredit courses eventually evolved into a nursing program that leads to an associate degree in Letters, Arts and Sciences.
In the beginning, Frankford employed instructors with backgrounds in the sciences, but with a growing emphasis on a total educational experience, the School of Nursing expanded its program to include instructors in other academic disciplines. The Frankford program is unique, because it recognizes the importance of addressing all issues in the educational process to create a well-rounded graduate, pointed out Dr. Jane A. Owens, director of Continuing Education at Penn State Abington.
Not only has the partnership provided the academic information necessary for the students to become professionally competent nurses, but, Owens added, “the partnership also offers philosophy, arts and humanities courses, which help to educate the whole person and provide an important foundation for making good, sound decisions for both the patient and family in a health crisis.”
Over the years, Penn State staff sought to accommodate the needs of students and adapted to the necessary changes to keep them abreast of the latest information and technology, including the development of new courses.
“We listen to them and try to be responsive to various needs and requests, and they’ve been responsive, as well,” Owens said.
During the 44-year partnership, the program has had to adapt to meet the changing demands of health care. Thus, the years that experienced a shortage of health care professionals witnessed an increased demand for nurses and a larger enrollment, whereas, more recent years of cutbacks have caused a decline in enrollment. “We feel the ripple effects from managed health care,” Fitzgerald said. The current shortage of nurses will most likely generate another increase in enrollment, he added.
Through both good and lean times, though, Penn State Abington and the Frankford Hospital School of Nursing have maintained a good working relationship and have cooperated in using their resources. The partnership has strengthened and mutually benefited everyone involved. Fitzgerald noted that the support of Frankford’s current administrators, including Eugene Johnson, senior vice president, and Dr. Mary Gilchrist, dean, has helped create a productive team environment.
For instance, Frankford’s health professionals have provided important information at health care seminars offered by Penn State Abington, while Penn State Abington’s staff members regularly participate in the graduation exercises for nursing students.
“We have a team relationship,” Fitzgerald said. “This is truly a collaborative effort in which we continually network for the good of our students for whom we have a shared vision.”
The partnership has also generated joint scholarly endeavors and achievements that have resulted in greater visibility for the partners, both locally and nationally. For instance, collaborative efforts have led to the publication of an article in a national magazine of nursing.
One Penn State Abington instructor who has been recognized for his work to improve and upgrade the program for the students at Frankford, as well as for his research, is Dr. Walter Schlosser. A member of the science faculty at the campus, he has been teaching courses to students enrolled in the Frankford Hospital School of Nursing program for more than 10 years. With a doctorate in pharmacology and extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry, he teaches anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, pathophysiology and elementary chemistry at Frankford.
Schlosser, who has developed a reputation as a highly competent teacher and consistently receives high student evaluations, began as a part-time instructor in 1990. In 1993, he became a full-time faculty member and now teaches courses both on and off campus.
“The students and faculty just love him,” Owens noted. “He has a great rapport with the students. He has a sense of humor and helps take away their fears and increase their understanding of difficult subjects.”
To upgrade the science laboratories at Frankford, Schlosser, along with Justine Baker, a biology instructor at Penn State Abington, jointly applied for and received a grant from the National Science Foundation to install “The Mac Lab,” a state-of-the-art computer system for the science laboratory. The additional computers and software offer students a hands-on experience and help create an active learning model that introduces them to scientific methods. Interactive human anatomy software called A.D.A.M., provides students with a close-up view of the human body, system by system. Another part of the new computer system enables students to analyze data and produce graphs, as well as measure blood pressure, conduct electrocardiograms and measure muscle activity.
“It has greatly increased their interest in science,” Schlosser said. “These lab computers have a greater capacity than those we had in the pharmaceutical industry 15 years ago, which were then the best money could buy.” Also, through the use of the Internet, students at the Frankford campus can network with labs at Penn State Abington to share and compare data.
Two years ago, Schlosser also introduced a new course for fourth-year Penn State Abington science students — Neuropharmacology, the study of drug reactions on the nervous system. He believes that the new course, which is a continuation of the course on Neurophysiology, aids both medical school and research students in determining the physiological mechanism of the nervous system regarding drug interactions.
Schlosser, who is a member of several scientific societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the New York Academy of Science, has also been recognized for his research in the evolution of neuroreceptors. In collaboration with Dr. Leah Devlin, Penn State Abington associate professor of biology, he researched the project for four years.
“I am fortunate to work with two gifted researchers,” he said, crediting both Baker and Devlin for their contributions to the research project.
Their research resulted in two publications, a third at press and a fourth submitted for peer review. One paper, “Gamma aminobupyric acid modulation of acetylcholine-induced contractions of a smooth muscle from an echinoderm (Schlerodacty briareus),” was published in the scientific journal Invertebrate Neuroscience. Another paper, “Pharmacological identification of acetylcholine receptor subtypes in echinoderm smooth muscle (Schlerodacty briareus),” was published in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology.
Schlosser explained that the research noted the differences and similarities in the development of neurotransmitters in vertebrates, compared with invertebrates. The research tracked the actions of various neurotransmitters on the muscle activity of an echinoderm and related this to mammalian preparations. The research helped develop insight into the evolution of neuronal control of smooth muscle activity.
Penn State Abington’s partnership with Frankford Hospital School of Nursing helps to foster this kind of important scientific research, while also benefiting the nursing students, Schlosser noted.
The students learn under the guidance of faculty who are part of a major teaching and research university, and they receive not only essential academic information in their nursing careers, but also the context for attaining a higher level of maturity in dealing with everyday experiences.
An outreach program of Penn State Abington Continuing Education | |||||
| ||||||
