Logo for Elms College School of Nursing
Logo for the Kellog Foundation

Un Message du President de Elms College, Harry E. Dumay

Program Overview

The Elms College School of Nursing has received a $750,000 grant from the Kellogg Foundation to improve health outcomes in Haiti through faculty development beginning in summer 2019.

In Haiti — where infant mortality rates are the highest in the Americas, and life expectancy is the lowest — most healthcare is provided by nurses, so educating nurses for the future workforce is critical to the health of the Haitian population.

Skill development for student nurses depends on competent and well-trained faculty, but nursing faculty in Haiti are reportedly unprepared for clinical teaching and need enhanced teaching.

The Elms program will prepare two cohorts of approximately 40 faculty from approved nursing schools across Haiti and clinical educators from multiple hospitals to be skilled nurse educators. Students will complete an undergraduate or graduate certificate transferable to a BSN-completion or master’s program, providing pathways for lifelong learning and increasing enrollment in Haitian nursing programs.

‘We have an obligation to share our expertise and contribute to global nursing and healthcare.’

—Kathleen Scoble, Ed.D., RN, dean of the Elms College School of Nursing

This sustainable and replicable continuing education program will use a train-the-trainer model to enhance the nurse educators’ abilities to deliver the content going forward. Content threaded throughout courses will include graduate-level study of the role and skills of the nurse educator, health and physical assessments, nursing leadership, maternal and child health, and other health disparities.

“Because to many we in the U.S. represent the gold standard of nursing, I believe we have an obligation to share our expertise and contribute to global nursing and healthcare,” said Kathleen Scoble, Ed.D., RN, dean of the School of Nursing at Elms. “We are honored to have the opportunity to make a difference through nurse faculty development, which we hope will become then a program for replication. After all, in my international nursing experiences, nursing and the human condition are universal despite language and geographical differences. The Elms nursing faculty will gain as much or more than the Haitian nurse faculty they are teaching and mentoring as they learn this new culture and environment of practice.”

Course Schedule

Courses

Cohort II (2020-2021)

Course Descriptions

English Communication

3 credits, 45 hours

April – June 2021

  • Nurses will improve their English proficiency and communicate more effectively in healthcare settings.
  • Understand frequently used spoken words, expressions and questions in familiar healthcare contexts.
  • Able to use English phrases and sentences correctly in common nursing centered conversations.
  • Construct meaning from reading materials on healthcare topics.
  • Write English language numbers, letters, personal information and simple sentences and notes related to patient care.

Introduction to Nurse Educator Knowledge and Practice

3 credits, 45 hours

June – September 2021

  • Theories of learning.
  • Strategies for teaching and learning.
  • Use the learning technique of “train-the-trainer” where nursing faculty are students of the program learning new content while also learning to teach the content themselves, thus learning by teaching.
  • Use of virtual simulation.

Health and Physical Assessment

3 credits, 45 hours

September – December 2021

Incorporated within the health and physical
assessment will be the priority health concerns:

  • Hypertension
  • Diabetes
  • Primary prevention of accidents
  • Post-Operative complications
  • Hypertension – management of stroke
  • Infectious Diseases (malaria, TB, Sexually transmitted diseases
  • Post-Birth warning signs

Leadership for Nurses

3 credits, 45 hours

January – March 2022

Emphasis on application of skills for addressing and responding to challenges within the nurses” scope of practice.

Completion Date: March 25, 2022
Completion Certificate


The certificate will be designed to award 12 credits that would be transferable to any baccalaureate or masters in nursing program at EUH or other participating schools of nursing in Haiti.


Eligibility Critera

  • Currently employed as nurse faculty in one of the approved nursing schools/programs invited to participate.
  • Graduated from an approved School of Nursing and licensed in MSPP (Ministry of Health).
  • At least one year of full-time appointment as nursing faculty.
  • Letter of recommendation from Dean or Director.
  • Letter of recommendation from a colleague.
  • Copies of transcripts diploma and certificates from an approved school of nursing.
  • Copy of your current nursing license.
  • A letter of intent.
  • Current CV that includes prior education and work experience.
  • Goal statement for graduate study. This is a short essay (1 page) discussing your professional goals and reasons for applying to the Elms College and FSIC faculty development program.
  • English proficiency is desired, not mandatory.
  • Computer proficiency desirable.
  • Completed Elms College application process.
  • For more information contact:
  • Elms College School of Nursing
  • 291 Springfield St.
  • Chicopee, MA 01013
  • Office: 413-265-2393
  • Cell: 413-388-1669