IUBAT Graduate Overcomes Barriers for Dream Career

One of our alumni, Firoza, recently wrote to us to describe how her lifelong dream of being a nurse came to fruition.  Firoza has wanted a career in nursing from a very young age, and she recalls her journey to get to IUBAT.  

She writes, “Even from early childhood, I wanted to be independent.  A female neighbour, who was a primary school teacher, helped me believe that this was an achievable goal for me.  Also, as a fourth grade student, I read a storybook about a nurse that piqued my interest in the field.  My first attempt to get into nursing college was not successful, but I did not lose hope, I still believed that I would be an RN one day.  I completed a three-year paramedic course and got a job as a ward clerk at Sajida Hospital in South Dhaka.  While working at the hospital, my dream of being a nurse became stronger, but I knew that my family could not afford to pay the tuition through nursing school.  During my time at the hospital, I met Bimala Rai, a graduate of IUBAT and the chief nurse, who encouraged me to complete a BSN at IUBAT with bursary support from Bangladesh Health Project donations.  It was then that I was introduced to Dr. Karen Lund.  Both of them helped me gain bursary support in order to enroll in IUBAT’s BSN program.

I cannot explain how much happy I was when I got chance to enroll in the BSN course at IUBAT.  IUBAT is an English medium-university and students are taught by local faculty and international visiting volunteers.  Students from other departments informed me that IUBAT’s college of nursing followed a strict method of instruction, and in order to pass the program, one would have to dedicate a lot of hard work into their studies.  I was not deterred because I know that a journey of thousand miles starts with a single step.  English doesn’t come naturally for me, as I have only ever spoken Bangla, but I studied hard and I passed the program with a high score.  I was able to achieve this with lots of help from local and foreign faculty, and of course, Dr. Karen Lund.  I could not speak a single English word when I was first admitted to IUBAT, now I can speak English in front of thousand people.  I am very thankful to Dr. Karen Lund and other faculty members who always supported and encouraged me to study in nursing and helped me become competent enough to work in any corner in the world.

Now, since January 2nd, 2016, I have worked at Sajida Hospital, Narayanganj, as a Nursing Supervisor (Quality Improvement).  In this position, I have many responsibilities, such as performing professional supervisory practice in the care of physically ill people, and ensuring quality nursing care offered at the hospital facility.  I am working to improve and maintain the quality of nursing practice, using standard precautions.  I am currently organizing a training program to improve knowledge, identifying and assisting in resolving professional, administrative and supervisory problems in assigned areas. This is a more challenging job for me, but I like this work and the challenge of bringing positive change in nursing care.”

Thank you for this story, Firoza, and congratulations on your new supervisory position.  That is a remarkable achievement!  We hope that your career as a nurse is filled with many more successes, and perhaps one day, you may mentor someone contemplating nursing and help a young nurse-hopeful towards the program.

IUBAT Graduate Charters New Journey in Canada

Sweta Sharma

At the Bangladesh Health Project, we love hearing from our alumni and getting updates on their lives and careers.  Sweta Sharma, one of the first graduates of the nursing program at IUBAT, has had quite the journey since she completed her BSc studies in 2009.  Her success has been featured here and here, and now, Sweta explains her initial impressions of the program and how she is furthering her career progress in a new country:

“When I enrolled in BSc Nursing, I had only a vague idea of what nursing entailed and what the roles and responsibilities of a nurse were, as I was the first person out of my family and close relatives to choose nursing as a career.  In addition, a BSc in Nursing was a new and emerging field at the time in Nepal and there were limited university offerings with very few seats.  That is why I went to Dhaka, Bangladesh to pursue my career.  I was excited about my journey, but at the same time I experienced the pain of leaving my family and friends, as the furthest distance I had ever travelled from home was 150 km, and Dhaka was 1000 km away!  For a few days, it was hard for me to adjust in a new country with a new language, culture and food, but within a few days, things started to become normal.

My first year as a student nurse was standard for most nurses, in essence, I was excited about learning new things, but at the same time, I was scared about everything.  I was usually consumed with such worries as, would I understand the theories of nursing?  Would I cope on the wards?  Would I be able to give my first IV?  However, after being exposed to the clinical practicum and being able to perform the hands-on nursing tasks, I have had the pleasure of caring for clients.  In every step of the learning process, the volunteer teachers always helped us, and their help was incredible.  They taught us to provide standard nursing care, to have effective communication with clients and family, to keep a journal, to make presentations, to do scientific research, guided us in our clinical and community placements and gave us constructive feedback when necessary.  Afterwards, I went back to Nepal and started working as a clinical nursing instructor to diploma and first-year BSc nursing students.  After starting my career as an instructor, I started to realize that my education from IUBAT was equal to other nursing instructors.  While working as an instructor, I often heard encouraging feedback from the students e.g. “Sweta was one of my best nursing instructors”, and “I want to be a nurse like Sweta in the future”.

After working almost 3 years in Nepal, I got a chance to pursue my Master’s degree in Emergency and Critical Care Nursing with an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship.  During that period, I saw exactly what it was to be a nurse in a developed country.  I was amazed to see their dedication towards their job, their level of knowledge, the respect they received, and the autonomy that they have.  I then realized why the instruction was the way it was at IUBAT, and why the volunteer faculty were so detail-oriented.

After I obtained my Master’s, I came to Canada in June 2015 and I have started paperwork to become a registered nurse. In the meantime, I have been trying to learn new skills and utilize my existing skills with hope of gaining work experience in Canada. To assist with that, I have begun to volunteer at Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre, in Ottawa, Canada, as a community development and health promotion assistant, supporting PQCHC catchment area neighbourhoods with health promotion activities.

Finally, I want to say that none of us are perfect in our profession, as this profession offers us an opportunity to learn something new each day, as we touch new life every day, and with a positive attitude, we can make any experience a great and rewarding one. Also, I would like to thank all the nursing faculty members at IUBAT as well as the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship for all of my training and experiences.”

We appreciate your updates, Sweta, and thank you for sharing some words of wisdom, which may influence more nursing hopefuls to fulfil and pursue their dreams.  Best of luck with your RN designation in Canada; you are one of the numerous success stories that have arisen out of IUBAT.  You have already accomplished so much, and we anticipate more of the same in the future.

Former Faculty Furthers Field of Medical Language Competency

Melodie Hull, seen above with students in Bangladesh, is a former volunteer instructor with IUBAT and is currently publishing an article regarding the need for language competency in healthcare settings.  Melodie has also been involved in many other written works, amongst them, textbooks that focus on medical English and healthcare terminology.  

In commemoration of Melodie’s achievements, we have invited her to talk about teaching in Bangladesh and her prolific work as an author.

1) What was your role/responsibilities with the Bangladesh Health Project?

I taught several classes, one of which was on disaster nursing.  I used an example of disaster nursing at IUBAT and the adjacent community, wherein the students explored the potential role of nurses, the integration of other professionals at the university, and the logistics of how to work with spontaneous, emergency-response teams (for example, working with engineering students to solve problems such as collapsed buildings, access to water, flooding, etc.).  As a consultant and researcher, I also co-created a 100+ page summary of findings and recommendations for medical and nursing English, and English language education at the university level (and above).

Teaching in an IUBAT classroom.

2) What is your current position/role (i.e. are you a practicing nurse, writing/teaching full time)?

I am a nurse-educator, academic and scholar.  I am full-time nursing faculty in the BSN program at College of the Rockies (in Cranbrook, BC), and part-time nursing faculty with Thompson Rivers University Open Learning (in Kamloops, BC).  I am fairly well-published and have presented at numerous nursing education, nursing, psychiatric/mental health, and medical English conferences worldwide.  I hope to speak at a mental health conference in Europe this year, if I am lucky.  My publications have largely been either nursing articles and textbooks, or in English language/English for specific purposes/medical English journals and textbooks.  I have been cited by others for a number of these topics.

Teaching at English summer school in Chiapas, Mexico.

3) Can you please share more about your publications and your most recent article?

I wrote a textbook published by F A Davis Company, Philadelphia, USA in 2010: Medical English Clear & Simple: a Practice-Based Approach to English for ESL Healthcare Professionals.  This book sold quite well internationally, but less well here in North America.  As a result, like many books of this genre by other experts, this book is no longer in print.

I have another textbook still on the market: Medical Language: Terminology in Context.  This is a new approach to medical terminology, asserting my stance that medical language (which includes medical English) is an advanced subset of language and should be learned in the context of real healthcare situations.  This book is designed for all health and allied health students.

I have been working for years, drawing attention to the need for language competency in the health professions.  My latest article on this topic is currently in press and pending publication for February 2016: Hull, Melodie: Medical language proficiency: A discussion of interprofessional language competencies and potential for patient risk.  International Journal of Nursing Studies. 

Teaching on Route 5 in Cancun, Mexico.

Melodie, thank you for sharing the extensive amount of accomplishments in your career, for which you have gained international recognition for.  The BSN students at IUBAT were lucky to have someone so well-versed in medical language instruct and guide them, and we hope to read many more of your publications in the future.