WHAT: The School of Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is providing educational expertise across the border to Mexico. The aim is to improve nursing education, clinical training and the status of the nursing profession in Mexico.
WHO: Nursing faculty members from the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and supervising faculty members from the School of Nursing at the UT Health Science Center will be available to discuss the program. English and Spanish interviews will be available.
The Mexican nurses will be learning how to conduct a simulation exercise demonstrating nursing response to respiratory failure. The Mexican nurses do not have this level of clinical education in Mexico, so they are learning how to change their teaching methods to better utilize simulation to provide more realistic clinical education using simulation before working with human patients.
WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 18, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: Center for Simulation Innovation in the School of Nursing at the UT Health Science Center, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive. Please enter through the main gate, near the intersection with Medical Drive, and identify yourself. You will be directed to the School of Nursing.
Why: The eight nurses from UANL already have advanced nursing degrees from Mexico, but they have not had the opportunity to learn or teach at the level provided by U.S. nursing schools. By educating the Mexican faculty in critical thinking, quality and safety, and high-level clinical training, School of Nursing faculty members hope to positively influence nursing education policy in Mexico.
How: The nurses are participating in an intensive two-year program in the School of Nursing (three weeks each spring and fall) to earn 12 graduate credit hours in nursing education. The program includes changing the nursing school curriculum at UANL to be in line with the guidelines for nursing education in the U.S.
The program will help the Mexican nurses learn how to provide a higher level of nursing education for their students and work toward policy changes throughout Mexico. Currently there are no standardized national policies for nursing education in Mexico ― each school sets is own education guidelines. The collaborative process is providing Spanish-language teaching modules to support learning. The program is funded by a three-year grant from Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together and also involves the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan, although all the classes are being held in San Antonio at the UT Health Science Center’s School of Nursing.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 13 percent of academic institutions receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced more than 31,000 graduates. The $787.7 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.