SON: Connections - Winter 2003

Headlines | Briefly | From the Deans Desk
From the Deans Desk

Nancy Fugate Woods
Ph.D, R.N., F.A.A.N.
Dean and Professor

One of the challenges in forecasting the future is that simply extrapolating current trends is likely to miss a critical development that could alter the course of history. Consider examples from the past few years: the development of the microchip and the Sept. 11 massacre. In retrospect, we could see hints of both – but no one could have predicted these events and their consequences with certainty.

In this issue of Connections, we focus on possible futures for nursing, committed to facing new challenges in the 21st century with the same level of academic excellence that guided us through the 20th century. From 1918, when the first nursing course was introduced in response to epidemic outbreaks of influenza and tuberculosis, the UW has assumed a leadership role in nursing education that included many "firsts," especially in applications of research to clinical practice. In the 1950s, ten years after the nursing master’s degree was established and the field was becoming increasingly specialized, Dean Mary Tschudin led a landmark curriculum study that produced national models for nursing education that are still being followed today.

This summer, our faculty launched a new curriculum study that challenges the paradigms of nursing education on every level, taking into account not only changes in knowledge but also changes in technology, demographics, financial resources, and political will. Based on the goals of our 1998-99 Strategic Plan, Curriculum 2010 will point the way for the next decade, describing the educational programs that must be in place to meet the health care needs of Washington, the nation—and the world.

Among these will be the challenge of caring for the most vulnerable among us, a concern that previously led to the establishment of the first NIH-funded Center for Women’s Health Research in 1989; the founding of the de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging in 1999; and the launching of a Center for Infant Mental Health in 2001, the last in collaboration with the Center for Human Development and Disability. The next issue of Connections will describe the launching of a brand new Center for Health Disparities Research, committed to understanding the gaps between groups in the United States who have the best and worst health and developing strategies for bridging these differences.

Another goal will be preparing nurses for a radically different workplace. In 2001, the School assumed a leadership role in developing interdisciplinary education among the health sciences in response to increasing trends for interdisciplinary practice. Enhancements already in place for our undergraduate curriculum include greater emphasis on leadership skills and cultural competence as well as augmentations in informatics, educational technology, gerontology, and complementary and alternative medicine. Improved distance-learning technology has greatly enhanced access to many master’s level programs, which are continually being expanded to meet changing needs in our society.

Although no one can predict the future, we do know that it waits for no one. Nurses must be poised to provide strong leadership in a new world of network-oriented health care, bridging relationships that can harness technology and information in the service of promoting and sustaining health. Our students will be ready to meet that challenge.

Headlines | Briefly | From the Deans Desk