…is the bomb. So, here I am, sitting in the library, listening to the Legally Blonde Broadway soundtrack, fresh out of my Chemistry for the Health Professions class. I’m almost a month into the school year (time is passing way too fast for me!) and I think that after this month, my favorite hands down class is not my chemistry class, but my Nursing in the Jesuit Tradition class.
Okay, first I’ll get the boring specifics out of the way. It’s a 3 credit class that I have two days a week; Tuesday and Thursday. It doesn’t start until 11 a.m. and it’s my first class of the day, which is why I may be a little biased towards it (I don’t mind waking up early, but waking up later is always preferable). My teacher is Dr. Boaz, who is a really awesome lady. She not only teaches our class but she also works as a nurse practitioner and does research for the Veterans’ Affairs Center in Milwaukee. She’s been a nurse for a long time, and she’s able to tell us a lot of things about nursing that she’s learned firsthand. There are only around 30 people in the class, which makes it easier for everyone to get their questions answered (however, these 30 people don’t include a male, which makes me sad because I’d really like to see nursing from a male perspective).
As a nursing major, I have to take this class. I really love it because nursing is something that I’m really passionate about, and I don’t mind reading and learning about it one bit. The homework is really only reading at this point, but I know we’ll have a midterm exam and a final exam. Other than that, our grades will come from journal entries and two projects. The journals all pertain to nursing and what we’re learning about during that week, which makes them pretty easy to write.
I’m really excited about our two projects, though! One of them is called a dashboard survey. Basically, my small group and I will head out into a neighborhood around Marquette and ‘survey’ the area. We’ll gather information about stuff that pertains to health, like how easy is it to access alcohol and tobacco products, are there grocery stores in the area, etc. The second project will be more of a research project where we’ll gather information about a certain health issue and present it to the class.
One thing that I’ve loved learning about so far is the history of nursing. My mom and grandma are both nurses, and I’ve always respected the profession because of this. But up until the mid to late 1800’s, nursing was actually the lowest form of employment for women! It was the last resort after prostitution! It wasn’t really up until after the Civil War that the profession started getting the recognition and respect that it deserves.
I definitely give this class a 10! It’s cool to see nursing not just from the science perspective, but as a social science, too. I’m not sure if you’re really able to take this class if you’re not a nursing major but if you are able to and have an interest in nursing theory and stuff like that, I’d definitely recommend it!
seeyouatnoon 