International Partnerships Ramp Up at Wegmans School of Nursing
Over the course of the last year, the Wegmans School of Nursing has reinvigorated partnerships with universities from across the globe.
Dr. Tricia Gatlin was invited to speak at several international conferences between March and July to discuss the School's adoption of augmented reality and virtual reality in its nursing curriculum.
In March, Gatlin and Dr. Dianne Cooney Miner, executive director of the Golisano Institute for Developmental Disability Nursing, traveled to Poland to present open lectures at the University of Lublin Medical Center. Gatlin’s talk, “Utilizing Virtual Reality to Augment Nursing Education,” explored the School's new immersive 3D learning program. The AR/VR program—supported by a $500,000 grant from the Mother Cabrini Foundation—provides a controlled, augmented reality where students can experience treating a “patient” in environments where different conditions may affect their health, functioning, and quality of life.
Cooney Miner delivered the talk, “Advanced Practice Nursing Education in the US.” Her presentation focused on the education preparation and practice capabilities of advanced practice nurses, and the improvement and impact on overall health care that has in the U.S.
While in Poland, Gatlin and Cooney Miner also met with Dr. John Wells, head of the School of Health Sciences at the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), based in Waterford, Ireland. The two institutions have a formal partnership through the Golisano Institute, the culmination of a decades-long relationship between Fisher and Waterford, Rochester’s sister city.
Wells invited Gatlin and Miner to serve on the advisory board for The Dynamic Digital Resilience for Medical and Allied Professions in Health Services (DDS-MAP) consortium, which brings together leaders in medicine, nursing, education, and digital technology from eight countries to develop new training modules to facilitate learning and mastery of new and emerging digital technologies and their associated challenges. In April, Gatlin and Miner joined a virtual consortium conversation, sponsored by the Southeast Technology University, and delivered a presentation on augmented and virtual reality in nursing education to the grantees of the DDS-MAP.
In addition to travel abroad, the School hosted several international colleagues as well. In the spirit of reciprocity, two faculty from Poland traveled to Rochester in July to meet with School of Nursing faculty and staff as well as members of the Golisano Institute. During their visit, Dr. Beata Dobrowolska and Dr. Anna Pilewska-Kozak toured Creekside School, a collaborative program by Hillside and Monroe No. 1 BOCES for students aged 5-21. Students at the school have multiple disabilities and, often, complex health needs. The tour was led by Dr. Holly Brown, associate director of the Golisano Institute, who also serves as the senior psychiatric nurse practitioner at Hillside. Later, Dobrowolksa and Pilewska-Kozak participated in a panel discussion for a class in the School of Nursing.
And, earlier in the spring, the School hosted colleagues from Slovenia. As part of an Erasmus grant, Dr. Mateja Lorber, dean of Faculty, and Dr. Klavdija Čuček Trifkovič, assistant professor, from University of Maribor Faculty of Health Sciences to learn about undergraduate and advanced practice nursing education in the United States. While at Fisher, they observed classes, toured health care systems in the Rochester region, and met with School administrators and professors.
Gatlin then traveled to Slovenia in June to serve as a plenary speaker at the 30th annual Research and Education in Nursing International Conference, sponsored by the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Maribor. She delivered the talk, “Using Augmented & Virtual Reality: Transforming Nursing Education & Expanding Research Opportunities.”
International partnerships through the school will continue into the fall and beyond. Gatlin will deliver a virtual presentation to medical, pharmacy, and health sciences doctoral students through the Scientific Council of the Doctoral School at the Medical University of Lublin in Poland.