Nursing and the Importance of a College Education
The underrepresentation of Latinos within the university system is highly demonstrated and something that has been discussed for quite some time. One university who is breaking these statistical barriers is The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.
Dr. Villarruel’s passion and commitment to nursing first began at an early age. Her parents really instilled in her the values of education. “Since I’m the only girl in the family, my parents gave me the choice of becoming a nurse or a teacher,” Villarruel said. “What my parents wanted me to make sure I do, was that I had a job where I wouldn’t have to depend on a man.”
The degree of nursing is not easy, and this Dean believes that there are many opportunities for nurses to grow beyond the profession.
“Nursing is a career that has evolved. The whole area of research has just blown up, so nurses are making extraordinary changes and impacted how to manage pain, how to improve systems of care in the hospital, how to ensure good patient outcome to nursing, and how to ensure good care as people are transitioned from the hospital to their home,” Villarruel said.
With COVID in full-effect, Dr. Villarruel wants her nurses to continue trying diverse strategies and adapt to whatever challenge may come their way. If there is any profession that can adapt to change, it is the nursing program at Pennsylvania University. She holds to the belief that the school has evolved in the past six months.
“How we engage with students, has been both a challenge and an opportunity. In some ways, access has been easier and we’ve been able to bring our international colleagues into the classroom, we’ve been able to attend a lot more meetings because we’ve been able to do so virtually,” she said.
One area the Nursing Dean hopes to make an impact on is within the Latino community. She truly stays strong to the idea that with the Latin population growing, more opportunities will be presented for them.
“When I was a faculty member at Penn before I became a Dean, I formed the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. We brought Latina nurses together to celebrate nursing, to celebrate their heritage, and to think about how we could collectively make an impact in the community,” said Villarruel. Today, the chapter is still striving.
“I want opportunities for my students, I want opportunities for my college, and we want opportunities to lead in the way we’re prepared to lead,” she said. “Nurses are actually being included in leadership positions, here in Philadelphia we have three nurses of the largest hospitals in the Philadelphia area who are the Chief Executive Officers and they’re running the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Veterans Administration. Why? Because they have leadership capabilities they know how to run teams, they understand the patient experience, and they use evidence to instill their practice.”
Dr. Villarruel leads and calls for a different future. “The sky is the limit,” she says. In the next years, “you’re going to see a lot more nurse entrepreneurs who are making money and who are doing good products and delivering great patient care.”