Funded by a three-year grant from the Florida Blue Foundation, undergraduate nursing students from the South Florida community worked with the SONHS senior faculty scientists on studies of home health nurse-led interventions with substance abusing mothers, HIV testing in victims of domestic violence, the evaluation of specialized services for victims of human trafficking, and a trial of a promising video-game-based program to reduce sexual behavior and pregnancy in Latina adolescents. At the conclusion of the program, each student created and presented a scientific poster displaying results of the experience, just as real-world scientists do at professional conferences worldwide.
“Giving undergraduate students in nursing programs, especially those from disparity populations themselves, the chance to actively participate in scientific studies that improve the health of these groups, is an invaluable component of their educational experience,” says Associate Professor Dr. Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, principal investigator of the project, who mentored one of the summer scholars on her human sex trafficking study. “These experiences introduce students to the research process and the vital role it plays in the advancing evidence-based nursing practice. All of the students involved in the Florida Blue Summer Research Experience participated in projects that will improve the quality and safety of patient care.”
One of reason for the shortage of disparity population healthcare researchers is that minority nursing students face special obstacles to pursuing their doctoral education, including limited access to suitable mentors, economic barriers, and lack of exposure to undergraduate research experiences. The Florida-Blue funded summer science program addresses all three of those barriers.
Monika Cintulova, a student at Miami Dade College Benjamin Leon School of Nursing, spent her summer helping UM School of Nursing and Health Studies Associate Professor Dr. Joseph De Santis transcribe and organize data collected during his study of the health care needs of transgender women in South Florida. Cintulova says the experience exceeded her expectations, and she has since decided to pursue a nursing research career.
“Before I came to UM for this summer research experience, I was considering applying to a master’s program after I complete my Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree,” said Cintulova. “I didn’t know that such a thing as the B.S.N.-to-Ph.D. track existed. Nursing research is the combination of service to humanity and science that I have been seeking, and I am excited about applying to the School of Nursing and Health Studies’ Ph.D. program.”
“The support from the Florida Blue Foundation helps us reach out to a greater number of future nurse scientists at the undergraduate level,” explained project co-investigator Dr. Mary Hooshmand. “By exposing these students to research focusing on disparity and population health issues, we make them aware that applied clinical research can result in scientifically derived solutions that improve patient care and reduce health inequities.”
The Florida Blue-funded project helps address the Institute of Medicine’s 2010 groundbreaking Future of Nursing report, which issued a mandate for doubling the number of doctorate-prepared nurses by 2020. The project is among the efforts of the Florida Action Coalition – the driving force implementing the IOM report’s recommendations and transforming health care through nursing in Florida.
