0:00

[Music}

0:13

We are honored to have Dr. Larissa Miller and Camila Rios

0:14

join us on this episode of the Spartan

0:18

Nurse podcast. Camila Rios is a first year

0:19

undergraduate student

0:22

at Michigan State

0:22

University, is from Chicago, Illinois.

0:26

She's a first generation daughter of immigrants

0:27

currently navigating the pre-nursing path.

0:31

Camila, with a unique background

0:31

in the medical field,

0:34

has been volunteering at Rush Hospital's

0:34

Cancer Survivors Week since a young age.

0:40

Her senior year of high school

0:40

saw her working as a certified nursing

0:44

assistant at Rush, where she collaborated

0:44

with RNs and CNAs

0:47

on the Med-surg floor, engaging in essential

0:47

tasks like providing bed baths,

0:52

cleaning wounds and assisting patients

0:52

with daily activities.

0:56

Camila

0:56

is driven to pursue a nursing career

0:59

with a dual goal of representing

0:59

minorities in the medical field

1:02

and improving health

1:02

care access in underserved communities.

1:07

At Michigan State University,

1:07

she has immersed herself in clubs

1:11

aligning with her aspirations,

1:11

including the Latino Medical Student

1:15

Association

1:15

and is the president of the Multicultural

1:18

Nursing Student Association

1:18

here at the MSU College of Nursing.

1:22

Camilla eagerly anticipates

1:22

her journey of growth and learning

1:26

within the College of Nursing at MSU.

1:29

We have four different student engagement

1:29

groups here at the College of Nursing.

1:32

We have the Black Student Nurses

1:32

Association, the Multicultural Student

1:36

Nurses Association,

1:36

the Men in Nursing Student Association.

1:40

I'm actually the advisor for the Men

1:40

in Nursing Student Association

1:44

and then the LGBTQIA+ Allies

1:44

Student Nurses Association.

1:49

So we have these four different student

1:49

engagement groups where those individuals

1:53

that identify with those groups can join

1:53

those particular groups.

1:57

Camila, thank you for joining us here

1:57

today on the Spartan Nurse podcast.

2:01

Thank you for having me. Can you share more about your role

2:02

and responsibilities of the Multicultural

2:06

Student Group and how it relates

2:06

to nursing and health care?

2:09

So basically, my role as the president

2:09

of the Multicultural Nursing

2:14

Student Association is to help Dr.

2:17

Miller plan events and like schedule, like

2:21

what we're going to do

2:21

for our next meetings.

2:24

And also I help to, like help new,

2:24

like, members of the group, like

2:29

get involved and give them all the emails

2:29

and include them in the group meetings

2:33

and try to just like talk

2:33

with everyone to get the club moving.

2:39

The good old GroupMe, huh? These clubs are pretty new here at MSU,

2:42

right?

2:44

Yeah, I think just this past semester.

2:47

Mm hmm. It's pretty exciting. Yeah, we started off with just me

2:48

and these other two girls,

2:52

and now we have, like, around six or seven

2:52

girls now, so it's getting pretty big.

2:58

It's awesome. I would say

2:59

there's some pretty good momentum so far.

3:01

That's awesome. What are you looking forward

3:02

to most this semester?

3:06

I'm looking forward to having-

3:06

I know that we're having a guest speaker

3:10

for our next meeting,

3:12

and I know that she's going to help us,

3:12

like with our resumes.

3:15

Another thing that I'm looking forward

3:15

to that I spoke with Dr.

3:18

Miller about was having someone come in

3:18

and like help us with our applications

3:22

and like give us like tips and things to form an application

3:24

for the nursing program.

3:28

And I think that would be really helpful

3:28

and I could definitely use that a lot.

3:32

And I think the other girls could too. And I think that peer to peer interaction,

3:33

too, right,

3:38

to get to know a group of peers

3:38

that, you know, you can identify with.

3:41

And you know, and I know that I can speak

3:41

for our men in nursing group.

3:45

That's been great because, you know,

3:45

if you have, you know, kind of a group

3:49

that's not as well-represented

3:49

in the college overall,

3:52

it can seem like there's you know, it

3:52

kind of- you kind of feel isolated.

3:57

And so that peer to peer,

3:57

how does that work?

3:59

Have you seen any benefits

3:59

from that peer to peer interaction?

4:02

I think so. I think it definitely does help.

4:04

I think like all the girls like as a

4:04

whole, like in the club, like we all know

4:08

that we all come from like minorities

4:08

in that we all kind of like

4:13

see a little bit of each other,

4:13

like in all of us.

4:17

And I think that's one of the most important things about representation

4:18

is like being able to identify

4:22

with other people,

4:22

because that's like one of the goals of

4:25

the Multicultural Nursing Student

4:25

Association to promote like diversity

4:30

and not only like just have people

4:30

that like are representing minorities

4:35

in health care, but also inspiring

4:35

other people to take on jobs

4:39

in health care because they see

4:39

other people working there.

4:43

That's great. Right. Because when you can see

4:44

somebody who looks like you,

4:46

it makes you feel like you actually have

4:46

a space that you can belong in.

4:50

Exactly. Yeah. How else can these organizations create

4:51

and foster a sense of belonging here

4:55

at the College of Nursing? I know when I previously worked at the Center

4:56

for Gender and Sexuality

4:59

in the Flint campus of U of M,

5:01

that it was so important

5:01

to have that kind of network

5:05

for other queer students to feel like

5:05

they had that sense of belonging.

5:08

But how does it feel from

5:08

your shoes as a current student?

5:12

I think one of the most important things

5:13

that like makes the club

5:17

kind of give everyone a sense of belonging

5:17

is that we're all like

5:22

most of the girls,

5:22

I think are all pre-nursing students.

5:24

So we're all kind of like building

5:24

ourselves up to apply to the program

5:28

and also coming to MSU like

5:28

it is a predominantly white, like, campus.

5:34

And I think it's good to like

5:34

have those networking

5:36

skills and connection

5:36

with other like minority groups.

5:41

I think it's one of the good things

5:41

that comes out of being in the club.

5:45

I think they also provide

5:45

like a safe space for all of the girls

5:48

to kind of just be able to talk about

5:48

like racial issues

5:54

and not feel like kind of like there's

5:54

any judgment.

5:58

Also, like,

5:58

we can relate on a lot of like things

6:01

like a lot of I know a lot of the other Hispanic girls like we all talked about,

6:02

like our family traditions.

6:06

And I think that that's something

6:06

that kind of like

6:09

makes you feel more at home, more at ease,

6:09

like being away from your family

6:13

and everything, having like a separate

6:13

family, part of the club.

6:17

It's awesome, that sense of community,

6:17

you know, that's really important.

6:20

So important to have

6:20

that sense of community. You know,

6:24

as far as like, you know, increasing

6:24

our diversity, equity, inclusion.

6:28

What do you see

6:28

as ways that we can foster that

6:32

and create some more diversity here

6:32

in the College of Nursing or even at MSU?

6:37

Mm. I think that some of the events, like

6:41

I remember when I first came to campus,

6:41

I remember seeing an event about like

6:47

Latino student like Welcome Week

6:48

and I thought that was really cool.

6:51

And they had like tacos and they showed

6:51

like all the different, like,

6:55

um, fraternities and sororities

6:55

that were like Latino.

6:58

And I thought that was really interesting.

7:00

I thought maybe like something like that,

7:00

similar to like the College of Nursing,

7:04

like maybe a welcome week for all, like students of color

7:06

or like first generation students.

7:10

I think that would be like interesting

7:10

or like a meet and mingle dinner.

7:15

I think that would be, um, helpful.

7:17

What are you looking forward to

7:17

with your education here at MSU?

7:22

I'm looking forward

7:22

to building connections,

7:25

being able to network

7:25

with a lot of different people.

7:29

I'm excited to hopefully maybe one day

7:29

be part of like the College of Nursing

7:34

and be able to like actually do clinicals

7:38

and learn a lot and actually

7:38

like be able to do hands on like nursing.

7:42

And I think I'm really excited

7:42

to learn all of that.

7:46

And what got you into nursing? Well, my mother,

7:50

she is an oncology nurse

7:50

at Rush Hospital in Chicago.

7:55

And so she definitely has inspired me

7:55

a lot because since I was young, like,

7:59

I remember her going through school

7:59

and like how hard it was on her

8:03

and then how like rewarding

8:03

her job is now.

8:06

And when she would like come home

8:06

and tell the stories of her patients

8:10

and like her patients

8:10

would like give her gifts and stuff

8:14

and I remember like meeting some of them

8:14

and like going to her job.

8:18

And I just remember thinking

8:18

it was the coolest thing in the world.

8:20

Like to be at a hospital working

8:20

with like so many different people.

8:25

And I always just like, like that scene

8:25

of like working in the hospital.

8:30

So when you were talking to your mom

8:30

about different stories, is there anything

8:33

as far as, you know, identifying,

8:33

you know, as a Latino nurse?

8:37

Is there anything, any barriers or anything

8:39

that she's faced throughout her career or

8:39

anything that you've talked to her about?

8:43

Because it seems like she's

8:43

a great role model to you.

8:45

Is there anything that maybe

8:45

she's talked to you about?

8:49

I think my mom, like as a Latina nurse,

8:52

I think she's also helped to like close

8:52

that gap as well.

8:56

I think that she like

8:56

for some of my cousins as well that are

8:59

like younger, like she's been able to like

8:59

help them get jobs at the hospital.

9:03

And I know that she's told us before

9:03

stories of like

9:07

when translators haven't been able

9:07

to get to the patient's room right away.

9:11

They call my mom in immediately

9:11

and they're like, Paola, like, help us.

9:15

Like we don't understand,

9:15

like what they want.

9:18

And then my mom will come in

9:18

and like talk to the patients.

9:21

And I just remember her telling me that

9:21

that like the look

9:25

her patients give her like once

9:25

they can finally like communicate freely

9:29

in their native language with her. And she was able to translate

9:31

and understand for them.

9:35

I think that's something

9:35

that is really heartfelt to me.

9:37

And I've seen I've been at the hospital

9:37

with my grandparents before and like I see

9:41

how like they're all like lost,

9:41

like trying to figure out what's happening

9:44

and to have like a nurse that comes

9:44

in, that speaks Spanish,

9:47

that's able to explain everything

9:47

in medical terms to them.

9:50

I think it's really like relieving,

9:50

and I think that that's another thing

9:55

that we're trying to get at

9:55

with closing the gap

9:58

and making sure that there's no language

9:58

barriers and health care.

10:02

That's awesome. That's great. You know, I think as we increase

10:04

our diversity in nursing

10:08

and I think that it's great

10:08

that the patients need to have,

10:12

you know, people that they can identify with. And, you know, and that's

10:16

and that goes through all of our,

10:16

you know, groups

10:18

and even gender identities

10:18

and everything else.

10:20

It's really important that patients

10:20

have that because sometimes as patients,

10:25

they really have some

10:25

you know, it's scary anyway.

10:29

And then if they are already there

10:29

and they already feel kinda like isolated,

10:32

kind of like, you know, you can feel

10:32

as a student, the same thing as a patient.

10:35

And I think it's really great

10:35

that you shared that.

10:38

That's awesome. And especially like my mom

10:38

working in oncology, like I feel like

10:42

there would be nothing scarier than to go

10:42

into like your first session of chemo

10:46

and not understanding anything

10:46

and just being kind of like lost.

10:50

And so I think that that's like really important that she does

10:52

that and I admire that a lot.

10:56

I think another thing that is important to highlight

10:57

about closing the gap

11:00

and as one of our goals

11:00

in the Multicultural Nursing Association

11:04

is that we also like are hoping that

11:07

nurses of color

11:07

and like minority nurses, um,

11:11

not only are they like going on

11:11

to like becoming nurses,

11:14

but we also are hoping

11:14

that we're promoting students

11:18

to search for like further education,

11:18

like getting a Ph.D.

11:23

or a Masters or anything in nursing.

11:25

I think that also having

11:25

like your nursing teachers and like

11:29

professionals like higher up in nursing

11:29

is you see yourself in them.

11:34

I think that that's another important thing to helping

11:35

to improve diversity and equity.

11:40

Yeah, I love that you mentioned that. You know, when we look at our faculty,

11:41

you know, I know

11:44

we have a goal of being more diverse,

11:44

but currently it is not diverse.

11:48

And so I think that there's

11:48

a lot of opportunity there.

11:50

So I really am glad that you mentioned

11:50

that about faculty and leaders,

11:54

because I think that's really important

11:54

because as students

11:57

can identify with those,

11:57

maybe we'll have, you know, students

12:01

that then want to become faculty,

12:01

then want to become nurse leaders.

12:05

And it really promotes that,

12:05

which is great.

12:08

And it just can kind of be like a maybe a snowball effect

12:09

is what I what I would like to say

12:13

[Music]

12:24

We're honored to have Dr. Larissa Miller and Camila Rios

12:28

join us on this episode of The Spartan

12:28

Nurse Podcast.

12:32

Dr. Larissa Miller,

12:32

an assistant professor and coordinator of

12:34

professional development at Michigan State

12:34

University's College of Nursing,

12:38

has over two decades of experience

12:38

as a nurse educator.

12:43

Her extensive career

12:43

includes roles as a clinical

12:45

hospital-

12:45

hospital educator, lead professor, campus

12:49

curriculum chairperson

12:49

and simulation program coordinator.

12:53

Larissa holds certifications

12:53

as a ANCC Board Certified Nursing

12:59

Professional Development Specialist and an

13:02

NLN certified nursing educator.

13:05

Her academic journey includes

13:05

earning both Bachelor’s and Master’s

13:09

degree in nursing at MSU,

13:09

a Post-Master’s in Nursing Education

13:14

at Northern Michigan University

13:14

and a Ph.D.

13:18

at Concordia University in Chicago,

13:21

where her research focused on compassion

13:21

fatigue

13:24

and secondary traumatic stress in nursing

13:27

and pointing to the Michigan Board

13:27

of Nursing

13:30

in 2021, Larissa contributes

13:30

her expertise to its administrative roles

13:36

and nursing education subcommittees.

13:39

She's a key figure in Michigan's

13:39

nursing development,

13:42

serving on the Steering Committee

13:42

for Michigan Professional Nursing

13:46

Development, the executive board

13:46

of the Michigan Health Council

13:50

and the Michigan Nursing Action Coalition,

13:54

Recognized as a 2022 MSU STEAMpower Arts Fellow.

13:59

she remains committed to integrating the arts into nursing

14:00

education, showcasing her dedication

14:05

to a holistic and innovative approach

14:05

in shaping the future of nursing.

14:10

Currently, she's the faculty

14:10

advisor of the College of Nursing's

14:14

Multicultural Nursing Student Association.

14:17

Welcome, Larissa. Thank you.

14:20

Thank you for having me today.

14:22

All right, Larissa,

14:22

I have a hard hitting question for you.

14:25

Can you share with me

14:25

your roles and responsibilities

14:27

as the advisor

14:27

of the Multicultural Student Group

14:31

and how it relates to nursing

14:31

and health care overall?

14:34

Oh, sure. So this is a new role for us here

14:35

in the College of Nursing at MSU.

14:40

And my role is really

14:40

just to facilitate the group,

14:43

to help the students get connected to us,

14:46

to make sure

14:46

that they have a meeting platform

14:49

and that they have encouragement

14:49

to set their own agendas.

14:52

So mine is really just

14:52

kind of a helpful role,

14:55

and I've really enjoyed watching them grow

14:55

into their own leadership roles.

15:00

How do these groups play into DEI

15:00

here at the College of Nursing?

15:05

That's a good question. I know that these groups have not existed

15:06

before this year

15:10

in the College of Nursing. So these are new initiatives.

15:13

And I really feel that that goes along

15:13

with our new leadership

15:17

here in the College. We have an assistant dean for Diversity,

15:18

Equity and inclusion

15:21

here in the college, Dr. Krista Walker.

15:23

And this was really her brainchild

15:23

to really not just have a nursing student

15:28

association that welcomed everyone,

15:28

but to break that down even further

15:33

and make these, you know, these little bit deeper places

15:34

for people to find connections.

15:37

So this is one of our four nursing student

15:37

associations that are new this year.

15:43

And you're working with the state

15:43

task force in the Michigan Nurse Survey.

15:46

What are some key findings or insights regarding diversity

15:48

in nursing education and practice?

15:52

Yeah, that's a great question. I really applaud the work

15:54

that is being done by the Michigan Nurses

15:57

Survey here in Michigan.

15:57

It's an annual survey.

16:00

It goes out to every licensed

16:00

nurse in Michigan.

16:03

So one of the challenges there is just

16:03

to get our nurses to respond.

16:07

And in the last couple of years,

16:07

we've noticed that

16:11

there's some-

16:11

some kind of really positive trends.

16:13

And then there are some things

16:13

really to continue to watch.

16:16

One thing that we found in the 2023

16:19

survey of Michigan nurses

16:19

is that our ethnic

16:22

minorities are underrepresented overall

16:22

in our nursing workforce here in Michigan.

16:28

For instance, our black nurses at 4.4%

16:33

of the overall nurses

16:33

in Michigan, American Indian, 1.2%

16:37

and our Hispanic or Latinx nurses

16:37

at 1.9% of our overall population.

16:43

And that doesn't really line up

16:45

with the percentage of those populations

16:45

in our general communities.

16:49

So that's- that's

16:49

kind of the great insight to have,

16:52

but also kind of sets the stage

16:52

for the work to be done.

16:55

Great. So, Larissa, you're kind of an expert at

17:00

you roll your eyes, but we know you're an expert

17:01

and a leader here

17:05

in the Michigan community as a whole,

17:05

not just here at the college.

17:08

So can you talk to me

17:08

a little bit about the challenges

17:11

for nurses in diverse backgrounds?

17:15

Yeah, I think the overall challenges

17:15

for nurses of diverse

17:18

backgrounds is really to- to be encouraged

17:18

to- to continue to move

17:23

into educational systems, into licensure,

17:27

and then to retain them in practice.

17:30

I think that we are getting better

17:30

at being more

17:35

more devoted to encouraging that.

17:38

It's not just about encouraging people

17:38

to become nurses.

17:41

We want them to to stay in our profession

17:41

and become those future leaders.

17:46

What are some initiatives

17:46

that are helping to bridge

17:48

those kind of gaps that you see,

17:48

especially in higher education,

17:51

education and leadership roles

17:51

throughout Michigan and the country?

17:55

Yeah, that's a great way to put it

17:55

because it really points

17:58

at so many different places

17:58

where we can have impact.

18:02

So here at the MSU College of Nursing,

18:02

you know, we're looking at things like our

18:06

admissions and trying to approach things

18:06

differently and digging into that,

18:11

knowing that traditional systems

18:11

may not really benefit us anymore.

18:16

I think that's occurring

18:16

at lots of schools of nursing nationwide.

18:19

So it's cultivating that sense

18:19

of belonging that-

18:23

that students that come here

18:23

can find their place.

18:26

It's also looking at,

18:26

you know, retaining them once

18:29

they are a student that that persistence,

18:29

helping them get to graduation.

18:33

And then right after that, taking the

18:33

NCLEX, our national certification

18:37

exam and helping them

18:37

get the success that they need.

18:40

That is one of those pieces

18:40

that's also kind of being collaborative-

18:44

collaboratively worked on.

18:46

So the national councils of State Boards of Nursing, NCSB, and they're the ones

18:48

who write that licensure exam

18:52

and they have really rewritten that exam

18:52

to be more accessible,

18:57

to be a better measure of student success,

18:57

and to pay attention

19:00

to what that means for students

19:00

of different cultures and backgrounds.

19:04

How is continuing education playing

19:04

into filling these gaps that we're seeing?

19:10

That's a great question. It does mean that we definitely have

19:11

a place in educating our nurses

19:15

and educating faculty and also our

19:15

communities that we're interacting with,

19:20

so nurses out in practice, on topics

19:20

like what does implicit bias mean?

19:24

What- what is the- how can we influence

19:24

the care of LGBTQ patients?

19:30

How can we be more

19:30

welcoming to- to men in nursing?

19:34

So professional development,

19:36

we can put together learning modules

19:36

that address some of these disparities.

19:41

What is is there

19:41

anything being done at the state level?

19:44

I think there's a lot of attention being

19:44

paid right now to transition to practice.

19:49

I know at the state,

19:49

we- we have a learning module on that

19:52

transition of practice

19:52

and that's important for our nurses

19:56

of color and nurses of diverse backgrounds

19:56

because it helps them not only acclimate

20:01

to those, those changing nursing roles,

20:01

but to have success in that role.

20:05

So paying attention to the post

20:05

education world is important as well.

20:10

How have you seen the progression

20:10

of nursing education

20:13

with regards to diversity?

20:16

I think nursing education is starting

20:16

to really pay attention

20:21

to advanced degrees

20:21

as a place for diverse nurses to shine.

20:27

So statewide

20:27

we've seen an increase in nurses

20:29

that are pursuing graduate education,

20:29

and that's really encouraging.

20:33

It's encouraging

20:33

because that means that our providers

20:37

might start to really start

20:37

representing their communities.

20:39

It means that they're moving

20:39

into those leadership roles

20:42

where they have more of a voice.

20:44

And I think that's, that's

20:44

kind of the biggest trend

20:48

that'll have the biggest influence

20:48

in some upcoming years.

20:50

What's one of your goals

20:50

as an advisor for our multicultural group?

20:56

I think my biggest goal is just

20:58

to encourage these students

20:58

to find their own voice

21:02

and to use this as a place to- to test out

21:02

and learn some of those leadership skills

21:07

so that they feel confident, so that they

21:07

feel confident as a part of the community

21:12

and that they can take those skills

21:12

post-graduation.

21:14

So I just want to make sure

21:14

that they feel involved

21:18

and that they feel that they have input.

21:21

And that's,

21:21

you know, that can also be input into

21:24

how the college functions

21:24

and what they need as students.

21:27

So I think it's a real entry point

21:27

for them to really start

21:30

having closer dialog with faculty

21:30

and with the administration.

21:35

Do you have anything you want us to know?

21:38

I think one of the other things to pay

21:38

attention to is definitely what's

21:43

what's going on here in the college,

21:43

what's going on in our state,

21:46

but also what's going on nationally. And I know that when we're

21:48

paying attention to reports like

21:51

from the National Institutes of Health

21:51

and the Institute for Medicine,

21:55

we have reports coming out

21:55

that are really giving us

21:58

some of that guidance. In 2020,

22:02

there was only 5.4% of RNs

22:02

in our nation that are Latinx.

22:06

But the greater population

22:06

coming up here in 2060

22:10

is going to be

22:10

28% of the population is Latinx.

22:14

So knowing that and kind of understanding

22:14

that, we really can see what's needed.

22:19

Institute of Medicine

22:19

The Future of Nursing Report.

22:22

The same thing,

22:22

that one of their kind of core

22:25

reporting items was to increase

22:25

the diversity of nurses

22:29

through advanced degrees

22:29

and higher education.

22:32

So I think making sure that we're aligned

22:32

with some of that great data

22:35

that's out there,

22:35

being able to reflect on some

22:39

some really national level data will help

22:39

keep us informed.

22:42

So, you know, as far as student diversity

22:42

here in the College of Nursing,

22:47

can you expand a little bit on the

22:47

admissions process and how we're trying to

22:52

adapt that to promote diversity here in the College?

22:56

Yeah, I think the key point there is

22:56

that we're looking at it right?

23:00

We are knowing that we have to approach

23:00

admissions a different way

23:04

and that can be done a bunch of-

23:04

a variety of ways, a variety of methods.

23:09

It's everything from personal interviews,

23:09

hearing people's stories and backgrounds,

23:15

not something that's been traditionally

23:15

included in student admissions,

23:19

even personal essays and understanding

23:19

that, you know, maybe that's

23:22

not the best way for someone to represent

23:22

themselves in the written format.

23:26

So to really look

23:26

at some different metrics for admission.

23:30

If that succeeds

23:30

and if we are encompassing more students

23:34

from varied backgrounds, understanding

23:34

that that may mean that the support

23:39

may need to look differently

23:39

if we do get more diversity,

23:42

we want more diverse

23:42

student support as well.

23:44

Absolutely. Because we want to set everybody

23:45

up for success.

23:48

That's right. So, you

23:49

know, we talked a bit about these student

23:52

engagement groups that we have here

23:52

at the College of Nursing.

23:55

What do you see as an additional next step? Because I know that we're- now

23:57

we've got these things up and going here.

24:00

What are some additional next steps

24:00

as far as working towards a more diverse

24:05

community here at the College of Nursing?

24:08

I think it's just to continue to recruit

24:08

students to join these groups, to feel

24:13

that place of belonging, communicating

24:13

what the missions of those groups are.

24:18

The mission of the Multicultural Student

24:18

Nurses Association is to foster

24:22

a supportive and inclusive environment

24:22

that celebrates diversity and to promote

24:26

cultural competence and empowering

24:26

future nurses from all backgrounds.

24:31

And that's not, you know, not language that every nursing student

24:32

has been able to come across.

24:34

So just making sure that that's visible

24:37

and that that is accessible

24:37

to all of our students

24:39

so that they can come and find out more

24:39

about how they can belong.

24:42

So, you know, I'm interested

24:42

as far as like the meeting format,

24:46

how- what's usually talked

24:46

about at the meetings, you have guest speakers,

24:49

how does that kind of go

24:49

with a multicultural group?

24:52

Yeah, that's-

24:52

we have switched to a hybrid format

24:55

so students can attend

24:55

from their dorm rooms

24:58

or if they're off campus or even

24:58

they can join us in person on campus.

25:02

And that's just really promoting

25:02

that accessibility piece.

25:05

And then coming up in our next meeting,

25:05

we actually have

25:08

a guest lecturer from here

25:08

at MSU in Career Services,

25:12

who's going to come and talk about

25:12

how to represent

25:15

your background in your materials.

25:17

So that could be anything from

25:17

how to represent your culture

25:20

and diversity in a job interview

25:20

or in, you know, an application for a job

25:25

and just really to celebrate and really

25:25

bring that to the forefront for students

25:30

as a part of them and who they represent

25:30

and helping them communicate that.

25:33

So that's coming up at our next meeting. That's great.

25:35

And that goes hand-in-hand

25:35

with that student support, right?

25:38

Creating that supportive environment.

25:38

So that's awesome.

25:40

That also sounds like

25:40

it's eliminating the barriers

25:43

so it can be more equitable

25:43

here at the College of Nursing.

25:46

I know we have a long way to go,

25:46

but from your eyes, what are kind

25:50

of your goals to see equitability

25:50

play out for our future nurses?

25:55

I think it's really about hearing their stories

26:00

and understanding their points of view,

26:00

and that's

26:03

to incorporate that into education

26:03

and to incorporate that

26:07

into our working as staff

26:07

and as faculty and administrators.

26:12

I think that's really just,

26:12

you know, a change that's occurring.

26:15

And I think that's, that's a great move

26:15

for the College.

26:19

So, Larissa,

26:19

now that we're talking about holistic

26:22

admissions,

26:22

why is that so important to train

26:26

nurses that have diverse backgrounds

26:26

to impact our communities?

26:30

Yeah, that's- that's a great question. And it's kind of really a big subject.

26:36

Nurses traditionally have been kind

26:36

of overrepresented as white females,

26:41

and we know that that's not true for all

26:41

the communities where our people live.

26:46

Certainly here in Michigan

26:46

and also nationwide.

26:48

And so ethnic minorities and diverse

26:48

populations

26:52

are underrepresented

26:52

in the nursing workforce.

26:55

And we know that that is, it's a concern

26:58

because we have such large health

26:58

disparities.

27:01

We want our communities to feel

27:03

to feel represented, but also to feel

27:03

recognized and understood.

27:07

And we saw that with COVID, when COVID

27:07

really showed us the disparities

27:12

between different populations

27:12

and that access to care piece.

27:15

So it's encouraging our nurses

27:15

that are diverse to stay here

27:20

in Michigan, to practice here, but

27:20

to get connected back to the community.

27:23

And then the communities see themselves

27:23

reflected in the health care workforce.

27:28

You know,

27:28

and as a patient in the health care

27:31

environment, you know, it can be very

27:31

you know, trust can be an issue, right?

27:35

So, you know, you can have issues with trust. And if you have, you know, provider

27:36

that you can identify with that's so,

27:40

so important for patients to be able

27:40

to have that from a trust standpoint.

27:44

Mm hmm. You know, whether that's,

27:45

you know, racial, ethnic identity

27:48

or, you know, gender identity as well,

27:48

I think that's really important.

27:52

So, Larissa,

27:52

thank you so much for joining us today.

27:56

Thank you, Harley. And thanks, Mike.

27:58

This is really just my delight

27:58

and I'm just so thrilled to be

28:01

a part of this initiative and to to offer

28:01

anything I can to our students.

28:05

It's something I didn't have

28:05

when I was a student here.

28:08

I really struggled

28:08

when I was an undergraduate,

28:11

and I'm just so grateful that I can pass

28:11

some of that forward to today's students.

28:16

Well, thank you for sharing that with us today. And thank you for sharing with all of our

28:18

listeners on our Spartan Nurse podcast.

28:21

And we're grateful for your impact

28:21

here at the College.

28:24

Thank you. Thanks a lot.

28:26

Who will? Spartan Nurses will!

28:29

To find your breaking news and latest

28:29

updates within the College of Nursing.

28:33

Please refer to our website at

28:33

nursing.msu.edu

28:38

You can also find us on our social media

28:38

platforms at MichStNursing

28:45

[Music]