May 12, 2003

Nurse on a mission at Baylor Nursing School
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___DALLAS--Knowing now what she didn't know then, Amy Roberts prepares nurses today for work as missionaries tomorrow.
___Roberts, senior lecturer and coordinator of the family nurse practitioner program at Baylor University's Louise Herrington School of Nursing, knows first-hand that a nurse must know a lot of things not taught in a traditional nursing curriculum to be ready for missions work.
___Fulfilling a call first felt

NURSING instructor Amy Roberts lets a young patient tug on her stethescope at a mission clinic.

as an Acteen, Roberts served in Tanzania as a nurse practitioner. While there, she developed what she termed "Nissan neck"--the rutted road and worn suspensions jarred people back and forth in a kind of perpetual whiplash. She worked with one missionary whose head veered so far off kilter he hit the side window and knocked himself out.
___Roberts' own case of Nissan neck was exacerbated by a rollover in the Serengeti, but she continued to serve there, waiting for her furlough to the United States for treatment. When she finally was headed home, X-rays in hand, her itinerary home had to be adjusted en route. She awoke in a London hotel after a layover to find she couldn't move. A ruptured cervical disc had suddenly gotten worse.
___Even after surgery, she wasn't immediately able to use her right arm, which prevented her from returning to Africa. Accustomed to working all the time, Roberts began looking around for something to do and decided to return to seminary. While there, she wrote a thesis on the educational needs of missionary nurses.
___"I chose this topic at the seminary because I wished I had this sort of training before I went to Africa," she said.
___A member of the board that reviewed the thesis was so impressed with its content that it was passed on to Baylor University President Robert Sloan. Soon Roberts had an offer to make her thesis a reality.
___The family nurse practitioner program offered at Baylor is a bit atypical, because missionary nurses need skills not deemed crucial in the United States.
___"When you're on the mission field, you have to do advanced practice there whether you are trained or not, so we're giving our students the training they will need," Roberts said.
___"Microbiology isn't something that is typically taught either, but you have to know at least some microbiology because you have to be able to hire someone to run your lab and you have to know if they are worth their salt," she added. "If you don't have a lab, your diagnostic capabilities are cut in half."
___Roberts' students also are given a dose of tropical med

CLAUDIA Aguilar, a Baylor nursing student, takes preliminary health information from clients at a recent clinic in Laredo.

icine and some things that used to be taught in American schools but not longer are needed here--like plaster of paris casting of broken bones.
___"We make them learn not just the latest but what they will actually have access to," she said.
___It's also helpful for missionary nurses to be familiar with British drug names, something seldom taught in other American nursing schools. "This is all stuff I had to learn the hard way," Roberts said.
___Student nurses also are required to prepare a business plan for setting up a clinic, including how to go about getting drugs and medical equipment at reduced prices.
___The nurses get hands-on experience with two trips to Mexico each year. Recently, the nursing school teamed up with Roberts' church, First Baptist Church of Arlington, for a medical missions trip to Laredo.
___Not only did the team provide medical and dental treatment, but the volunteers also showed the "Jesus" video almost continuously.
___"One man accepted Christ through watching the 'Jesus' film," Roberts said. "It was on the TV, and they kept moving the TV to keep it in the shade, and he kept moving with it."
___Health care can provide a pathway for evangelism, Roberts said. She had been concerned, however, that on previous trips the medical team was so occupied meeting physical needs that spiritual needs might have been neglected. This time, two seminary students accompanied the group for the specific purpose of meeting spiritual needs.
___The Baylor nursing school also sponsors a conference in Africa every other year to train missionary nurses in the field. Students are allowed to accompany the missionaries back to their place of service to assist for six weeks as a part of their course work.
___A maximum of 15 students per year are admitted into the nurse practitioner program at Baylor, but the cap has not yet been reached. A total of 25 students currently are enrolled. Scholarships accounting for 75 percent to 100 percent of tuition costs are available.
___Upon graduation, nurse practitioners can diagnose illnesses and prescribe medications. They are able to treat about 90 percent of all pediatric patients and 80 percent of adults, Roberts said.
___Graduates of the nurse practitioner program have landed in a variety of places of service. Some have gone into foreign missions, while others work in doctors' offices or have set up clinics in indigent neighborhoods.
___The program is tailor-made for people with an interest in missions, Roberts said. "We would like to get the word out to people who really would like to go into missions that we have a program designed just for them."
___While she still misses the mission field, Roberts finds an obvious delight in training others.
___

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