IUBAT BSN recognized by Government

Program Director Karen Lund offered flowers to the Minister of Health, Dr. AFM Ruhal Haque, in celebration of the completion of IUBAT’s affiliation with the Bangladesh Nursing Council.

Earlier this month the Government of Bangladesh gave IUBAT College of Nursing retrospective recognition for introduction of the BSc in Nursing program and permission to enroll up to 125 students per year.  (Previous graduates of the program were pre-approved to appear in the Bangladesh Nursing Council’s licensing examination of October 4th and received their RN certification the following week.)  IUBAT is now the first non-government university in Bangladesh to be authorized to deliver an independent BSN.  We are very pleased to have reached this milestone. This provides us with greater certainty as we move forward to develop the nursing leaders needed in Bangladesh and globally. We have ambitious plans for further development of nursing leadership in the region. You can find details elsewhere on our website.

IUBAT Alumnus Currently Training in Portugal

Sweta Sharma is a graduate of IUBAT, and since the registration of the BSc Nursing graduands, Sweta has been accepted into a Master’s Program offered as a joint collaboration between several European nations.

She writes: “I have arrived safely to Portugal to begin my scholarship and post-graduate studies.  The 18-month long program is an Erasmus Mundus Master’s in Emergency and Critical Care Nursing (EMMECC-Nursing).  It is a Joint Master’s degree organized by a consortium of 4 educational institutions in 3 European countries: The University of Oviedo (Spain, Coordinating University), Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and University of Algarve and Polytechnic Institute of Santarem (Portugal).  Within the program, there are two possible areas of specialization: Advanced Adult/Geriatric Clinical Nursing and Advanced Pediatric Clinical Nursing.  I have decided to specialize in Advanced Adult/Geriatric Clinical Nursing.

Our first semester is in Portugal, however, the second and third semesters will be in Spain or Finland, depending on the courses we have decided to take.  All the universities of the consortium participate in teaching activities and supervision of the Master’s thesis. Upon graduation of the program, I will obtain a joint degree signed by the University of Oviedo (Coordinating University) in the name of all participating Universities. The program will cover both the living cost and travel arrangements during the 18-month period.

Thank you for all the support during our time in Dhaka and knowledge and confidence that you all provided us.”

Thank you for your story Sweta, and the best of luck in your studies!

Congratulations on your success.

Hospital Conditions in Bangladesh as Illustrated by CNN

After the factory collapse disaster in April 2013, Bangladesh has been in the international spotlight, primarily with regard to labour and working conditions.  However, due to the large need for medical attention post-disaster, the media also wrote about hospital conditions and the care that victims were receiving.

An article from CNN chronicles the experience of a nurse from the United States, sent to Bangladesh’s Dhaka Medical as part of her regular rotation at Massachusetts General Hospital.  She describes her reaction after her first day:

“She’d never been in a hospital so ill-equipped to treat severe cases. In Boston, she changed her latex gloves after seeing each patient. In Dhaka, the hospital could not afford so many gloves, so the nurses used one pair on several patients.

She was appalled by the workload of the nurses; each averaged 25 to 30 patients. In America, that number would likely be somewhere between four and eight.”

For the full article, please visit CNN’s website.