West comes East – College hosts Korean nursing faculty

Bloomfield College continues to widen its global scope through exploring exchange agreements with colleges and universities around the world. This week the college hosted eight faculty members from the Catholic Sangji College of Nursing and one faculty member from Andong Science College in South Korea who were here to observe students from the Korean Nursing Internship Program and meet with hospital nursing administrators about U.S. healthcare systems and to discuss collaborative possibilities.

The Korean Nursing Internship Program, housed in the Institute for Technology and Professional Studies (ITPS) at the College, began in 2005. Its purpose is to provide Korean nursing students with exposure to the advanced medical systems in the U.S. and to educate them through intensive English and communication training which includes cultural experiences.

Since 2005, the Korean Nursing Internship Program has hosted more than 250 Korean nursing students who return to Korea with knowledge of cutting-edge technology and a good command of the English language. In turn, the students, who spend four to six weeks rotating through specialty areas at health care facilities as observers, bring new ideas and cultural exchanges to their mentoring preceptors. The College would like to expand upon this very successful program by exploring articulation agreements, faculty exchanges, and research with the nursing schools in Korea. Currently the College offers an RN to BSN program for Korean nursing students which is in demand and quite successful. As noted by Dr. Marion Terenzio, vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty, “This program is so successful that we are at capacity and are looking at ways to expand the program to accept more students from Korea.”

One of the many sites visited by the Korean faculty was Morristown Memorial Hospital, an Atlantic Health Care System facility in Morristown, NJ. The Korean faculty was met by Wendy Silverstein, RN, MA, ACNS-BC, Nurse Manager, Shared Governance/Magnet/Education and Lourdes (Lori) C. Pineda, RN, MSN, BC, CCM, Nurse Educator, who arranged a tour of the hospital and answered questions about the magnet status of the facility. Both Ms. Silverstein and Ms. Pineda were complimentary about the students who were shadowing nurses at the hospital saying that they were eager to learn, fascinated by the technology, and very mature.  The students commented on the excellence in nursing care, the low nurse to patient ratio, but noted that in Korea, the resources, such as medical instruments, were not as disposable as in the U.S.

The visit was chronicled by WMBC-TV, a local cable station with interests in Korean events. The piece was scheduled to be aired the week of July 5.