As nursing at North Park marks its 50th anniversary, Dean Linda Duncan C’69 says the School of Nursing and Health Sciences remains committed to teaching clinical excellence with a strong Christian worldview to prepare competent and compassionate healthcare professionals.
Ahead of the September 15 events on campus to celebrate 50 years of nursing at North Park (see pages 18-19), Linda Duncan C’69, Dean and Gretchen Carlson Professor of Nursing, talked with the North Parker about the school’s valued legacy and its strategic focus on the future of nursing and the health sciences to ensure that students succeed in an ever-changing landscape.
North Parker: As nursing at North Park celebrates its 50-year legacy, what distinguishes today’s School of Nursing and Health Sciences?
Dean Linda Duncan: I think tenacious adherence to our value base is a critical factor. Swedish Covenant Hospital, where our nursing program began 50 years ago (see page 16), was certainly committed to its mission as a Christian institution to meet people’s needs, and we brought that foundation with us here.
Today, we are still very committed to teaching and training our students to develop excellent skill sets, but we also infuse a strong Christian value base into our educational process, which informs how our students learn and practice. We maintain the Christian worldview of the dignity of mankind. This means all people have worth.
Often, what I hear from employers is that North Park students bring a different value base to the bedside. And that’s what we want our students to understand while they are here: To see every patient as a valuable individual and as part of God’s creation, regardless of race, background, and so on. As nurses, our goal is to stand alongside you in challenging times to help you make good health choices.
Delores Johnson (first chair of North Park’s Department of Nursing) was very clear about all of this when the school was founded in 1967. It has not changed. And may it never change.
NP: How has nursing education at North Park evolved over 50 years?
Duncan: What has changed significantly is our physical space, the increase in the number of students we educate, and the availability of graduate nursing programs.
We are a very different school today, with much broader programs, reaching different populations. The first classes had 10-15 students. Today, we admit 100 undergraduate nursing majors a year, and we may see that increase to 112.
The school started with one lab on the fifth floor of Carlson Tower. Now, our labs fill the fifth floor and half of the second of Carlson, plus dedicated space for the simulation lab on Foster Avenue. Also, we look to the potential expansion of the health sciences and other major areas.
In Carlson, we have labs dedicated to skills development. In addition, the Kathy J. Holmgren Nursing Simulation Lab, opened in 2011, features four simulation rooms, two control rooms, and a conference room where students and faculty can debrief class experiences using video and audio tools. Students also have the opportunity to work with actors posing as patients and to practice skills with SimBaby and SimMan, which are realistic patient simulators.
There’s been significant advancement over the decades in our graduate programs; today, we offer five master’s degree programs, along with post-master’s certificates. We’re very excited about the fall 2018 launch of our first doctoral program, the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). We have potential for continued growth in our graduate programs.
NP: What strengths and advantages does the School offer to prospective students in nursing and the health sciences?
Duncan: In addition to our commitment to values, we are located in Chicago. The city has everything. Draw a one-mile circle around North Park and just count how many languages you’ll hear, and the different cultures you’ll experience.
Chicago offers rich resources for training citywide, thanks to our strong relationships with many leading healthcare and community institutions: Northwestern, Advocate, Lurie Children’s Hospital, Lawndale Community Center, and so many more. All offer our students excellent opportunities to work with a wide variety of patients.
Great opportunities for jobs are available throughout Chicago. Undergraduates do very well in job placements here and around the country. For instance, one of our male nurse students did clinical work in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Northwestern. After graduation, he relocated to Florida, where he was immediately hired to work at a NICU there because of his North Park education and excellent experience here in Chicago.
This is just an exciting city. Students can get involved in so many different things around Chicago—theater, the arts, sports, and so much more.
NP: How have North Park nursing students changed over the years?
Duncan: Today’s students are very different from classes years ago that were filled with only 22-year-old female students.
Many nursing undergraduates are older when they start, and graduate nursing students are returning to school at younger ages. More people are coming back to nursing as a second career. Currently, we have 11 veterans (10 men and one woman) studying nursing. One of our veterans did two tours in Afghanistan. These individuals are different students than what we saw years ago. We also now see a lot more people come into nursing because they feel they can go in a variety of directions with their degree—administration, advanced practice, leadership, and so on.
Men make up 20% of every class (see page 12). Men certainly see nursing as a viable career option. I think we’re well aware of the stigma nursing had in the past as “the nurturing role” and “just a woman’s career.” The change in attitude is largely due to great efforts by companies like Johnson & Johnson to reframe nursing and positively portray male nurses. And salaries for all nurses have improved dramatically, so both men and women can support their families in these jobs.
NP: How do you describe North Park’s nursing faculty: What sets them apart?
Duncan: All full-time faculty in the School of Nursing and Health Sciences are very committed to the success of their students. Each one is dedicated to being mentor and teacher for their students, and they do a good job of blending both. Whether our faculty is teaching a fundamentals course to undergraduates or leading graduate degree programs, they are clearly seen as caring individuals who want to work with their students. Our students speak highly of the personal involvement of their professors and their strong commitment to helping them develop.
Our faculty members model the work our students can do in the community and in hospitals and other healthcare settings. For example, Associate Professor Christine Smith is committed to her work at Lawndale, where she brings her students to share in her work in the community. Our students benefit from what is really an apprenticeship model, learning with many of our faculty and other experts in real settings throughout Chicago.
Our school is fortunate to work with a host of adjunct faculty who range from advance practice nurses at Lurie to chief nursing officers from our partner institutions. These adjuncts are all leaders in their profession. Bringing in such quality practitioners just enhances our work in educating the next generation of practice.
Faith is important to our faculty, but it’s more than just being Christian. It’s also how we engage you as a person. How we recognize when students are struggling and say, let’s sit down and talk. Our faculty does this all the time—putting their faith into practice. I’m blessed to work with all of them.
NP: The health sciences major for undergraduates is relatively new. How is the school moving forward in this area?
Duncan: Health sciences provides new programs that bring together majors for athletic training, physical education and exercise science, pre-physical therapy, sports management, and athletic training. Students can major in health sciences to prepare for a non-clinical career in the healthcare industry in such areas as health and wellness and healthcare management.
Our goal is to continue to expand in health sciences and develop a core curriculum to help students across different areas of interest. We want to focus on evidence-based practice research, as this is a model you’ll follow whether you are a nurse, an athletic trainer, or an occupational therapist.
To help us continue to develop our health sciences center, Dr. Keith Boyd has joined our school from Rush University Medical Center, where he served as senior associate dean and senior advisor. Currently, Dr. Boyd is helping to coordinate interdepartmental work at North Park and advise students who are seeking the best tracks for future careers in medicine, dentistry, and so on.
Dr. Boyd also is working on several ideas for our collaboration with other academic institutions on future master’s degree programs in such areas as respiratory therapy. It’s these types of programs that will enable us to open up even more new opportunities for our students.
NP: What are you most proud of achieving during your time as dean, and what’s next on your agenda?
Duncan: I’ve been dean for six years and have served at North Park since 1973. The Simulation Lab was my special project, so I’m clearly thankful for it. During my tenure, we’ve also had a successful reaccreditation—and with no recommendations for changes or improvements—which is noteworthy.
Right now, the launch of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree tops my list. It was talked about for a long time, and development started after we received reaccreditation in fall 2014. The Higher Learning Commission gave us final approval in September to launch the program.
The DNP is 100% online, though the cohort will come together on campus twice a year. This is an opportunity for the student cohort to get to know one another and for the faculty to talk with students in person. We will always offer face-to-face classes, as well as hybrid and online courses. But, more and more, our audiences want online courses for the convenience.
Currently, we offer RN-to-BSN degree completion programs in Arlington Heights and Lake Forest with hybrid courses—face to face and online. Adult learners who are not digital natives really want to have a teacher to relate to as a person, and they still want to study with real colleagues. And they also like the flexibility of learning online. We’re filling a niche.
NP: What’s your vision for the future of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences?
Duncan: What excites is me is that we have room in Carlson to expand lab and clinical space. We have used our space prudently but we need to do more revamping. I also believe we’ll expand our programming to include an occupational therapy major. Athletic training will become a graduate program by 2020.
I see broad opportunities for growth to bring in more students. We’re in a good position at North Park to attract nursing students who want a values-based, Christian worldview in a world-class city, and the chance to work with people from around the world.
All of this will continue to take work to move forward, but we’re up for it.
LEARN MORE
The School of Nursing and Health Sciences offers undergraduate majors in nursing and health sciences, and RN-to-BSN degree completion. Master of science in nursing (MSN) degree programs offer three specializations: leadership and management, family nurse practitioner (FNP), and adult-gerontology nurse practitioner (AGNP), plus two post-master’s certificate options for FNP and AGNP. The new Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program begins in 2018. For more information, visit www.northpark.edu/ school-of-nursing-and-health-sciences.
The historical artifacts throughout this article and the timeline (at l.) are drawn from a special exhibit, North Park Nursing at 50, created by Joanna Wilkinson C’08, head of circulation and communication, and Anna-Kajsa (Anderson) Echague C’05, former director, F. M. Johnson Archives and Special Collections. The exhibit, located on the mezzanine level of the Johnson Center for Science and Community Life, is available for viewing until December 15, 2017. For more information, contact the Archives at 773.244.6224; email; or visit library.northpark.edu/archives.