Nursing School's new curriculum focuses on culturally sensitive care

“Care to change the world” — School of Nursing students have embodied their school’s motto in ways that go beyond the curriculum.

To prepare nurses for health care in the 21st century, the Nursing School launched a new undergraduate curriculum this year. Living in a diverse city requires nurses to provide culturally sensitive care, which is emphasized in a sophomore-level class on psychological and social diversity.

“With the press of classes and the rigorous demands of their clinical placements, they still find time to give back,” Nursing Dean Afaf Meleis said.

These programs are often done in partnership with other schools within Penn such as the School of Dental Medicine, the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Social Policy and Practice.

Even outside the curriculum, students volunteer their time at community outreach programs responsive to the needs of West Philadelphia residents.

“We are taught very early on how important community health is, especially in Philadelphia because many don’t have access to health care,” Nursing sophomore Carley Boyle said. “The school even changed its curriculum around so that now we will work in nursing homes and community clinics in the area.”

Some residents in the area have difficulty getting insurance and affording medications and also face language barriers in health care.

“Everyone deserves to have good health care and be healthy,” said Katie Shuman, who is in the BSN Second Degree Program.

In 1996, some health students decided to open a student-staffed clinic that continues to operate today.

The United Community Clinic, located in the basement of the First African Presbyterian Church in West Philadelphia, provides health care to the underserved East Parkside community.

“The primary goal of UCC was always to provide care that is convenient to local residents,” Nursing BSN Second Degree student and UCC coordinator Jenny Osborne said. “We are providing a simple but very important care.”

“We needed a place our patients trusted so that they would trust us,” said Shuman, who is also a UCC coordinator.

The clinic offers free care to anyone, even if they are uninsured. Penn students offer physical, dental and eye exams, conduct screenings for diabetes, hypertension and tuberculosis and provide health education on topics ranging from nutrition and fitness to sexually transmitted diseases.

“We see people who have never seen a doctor and have underlying chronic issues like high blood pressure and diabetes,” Shuman said. “If it isn’t a big problem for them now, it will be later, but it also puts a strain on our health care system because those people end up being helped in emergency rooms.”

Students from the SP2 knock on doors in the community to conduct a needs assessment in order to gear the clinic’s care towards specific residents’ needs.

“We all work as a team to triage patients — talking with them, trying to find out why they are there and what they need,” Osborne said.

Shuman added that what she enjoys most is working with other students. The experience “will help us in our career that we get to learn and work alongside each other,” she said.

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