NURSING DEGREE MASTERS EARNS HIGH MARKS

The diagnosis for Southeast Missouri State University's new master of science in nursing program is a good one, according to students who completed their first master's class during the spring semester.

"I am very excited to have this (master's degree) program offered locally," said Kathy Vickery, a student in the class who is the director of special care nursing at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston.

She added that attaining a master's degree in nursing has long been her goal.

This spring, 10 students completed the first class offered through the program, which will resume this fall with two class offerings. The program is being offered through Southeast's College of Health and Human Services.

"I have received very positive feedback about the program," said Mildred Roberson, coordinator of the graduate program in nursing.

Roberson came to Southeast from Salisbury State University in Maryland, where she served as associate professor in the graduate program in nursing, and for eight months as acting chairman of the program.

Of the students currently enrolled in the program, three are from Cape Girardeau, two are from Poplar Bluff, and one each is from Illinois, and Sikeston, Wappapello, Perryville and Jackson in Missouri. Three of these students are in management roles in area hospitals, two are employed by the Veterans Administration, two are teaching licensed practical nurses in Sikeston, one serves as director of nursing at a nursing home, one is director of nursing at Doctors' Park Surgery Inc. in Cape Girardeau, and one serves as an outreach teacher for St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.

The first class completed by the students was titled "Public Policy and Issues in Health Care." Roberson said much of the class focused on health care reform, which currently is receiving national attention as a priority of the Clinton administration. As a class assignment, students were asked to contact their legislators or local organizations to examine the efforts they are making in the area of health care reform, Roberson said.

"We could not have taken the class at a more opportune time," Vickery said. "The awareness of the class really increased from day one."

Vickery said she contacted 8th District U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson and organized a health care forum in Sikeston as a result of her class project. The forum focused on comparative health care systems. Emerson and business, community and health care leaders attended the forum, she said.

Madonna Sanders, a registered nurse at Southeast Missouri Hospital and a student in the program, said the class exposed students to policy at formal and informal levels and presented ideas for becoming active in health care reform.

Sanders said she is seeking a master's degree in nursing because she wants to pursue "an administrative track and to expand my knowledge in nursing."

Karen Hendrickson, a registered nurse and assistant administrator/chief nursing officer at Southeast Missouri Hospital, supervises Sanders and Sandra Flentge, another student in the master's program.

"What I am seeing is a change in their global thinking," said Hendrickson. "They are looking at a larger picture in the global practice of nursing.

"Being a part of this new graduate program has opened doors for professional nurses and has given them the opportunity to get involved with larger issues related to health care reform," Hendrickson said.

She said the program also has increased her staff members' "enthusiasm in their professional practice."

Family health in rural areas is the focus of the new program, which offers students an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills needed for advanced nurse practice with families across the life span, Roberson said.

"The students will be working with families in rural settings and will carry a case load of families in their clinical courses," she said. The first clinical course in the program will be offered next spring.

"While family nursing is an emerging specialty, few programs in the country offer any emphasis on the special health concerns in rural settings," Roberson said. "The combination of family with rural content should enable graduates of the program to effectively address some of the multitude of health needs facing families in rural locales such as those in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois."

Many counties in this region have either no physician or fewer than one physician for every 5,000 residents, said Catherine Taylor Foster, chairman of the nursing department at Southeast.

Southeast received approval last summer from the Coordinating Board for Higher Education to offer the master's program.

"There has long been a need for a master's in nursing program in the Cape Girardeau area," said Foster. "No other master's in nursing program is offered in this state, south of St. Louis. As the only senior institution of higher education in Southeast Missouri, we are committed to providing advanced education to residents of the 26 counties we serve."