Oct. 18, 2017
Nursing professor travels to China as part of Foreign Experts Program
Donnelly, PhD, RN, is a professor at the Faculty of Nursing.
For 30 days this past summer, Tam Truong Donnelly travelled across Hunan, visiting six universities and seven hospitals, all in the name of knowledge and research sharing and collaboration, consulting and teaching graduate nursing students in China.
Donnelly (RN, PhD) a professor in the Faculty of Nursing and adjunct professor in community health sciences at Cumming School of Medicine was one of two successful awardees of the 2017 Hunan Foreign Experts Scholars Program award. As a result of the collaboration between the University of South China (USC) and 91快色鈥檚 Faculty of Nursing, she visited the Chinese province from June 11 to July 11, 2017.
During her whirlwind month, she presented at the China-Canada research conference hosted by USC, participated in a national research forum with a keynote lecture, toured health facilities and even attended the USC School of Nursing convocation.
鈥淲e鈥檝e all heard that China has grown so much but until you see it with your own eyes, you can鈥檛 believe it,鈥 says Donnelly. 鈥淚t blows your mind.鈥
She describes seeing hundreds of 20-storey buildings in every city and noted, 鈥渁t several of the universities and health care institutions I visited, there were brand new facilities. At one university, in addition to other SIM labs, there were four rooms where students can learn basic nursing care. They had the capacity to train 3,000 nurses alone in that one facility.鈥
Donnelly, PhD, RN, presenting "Paradigms Theoretical Frameworks Research Approaches"
Donnelly鈥檚 series of presentations and meetings took her to campuses like Shaoyang College, Jishou College, Central South of University 鈥 Xiangya School of Nursing, Changsha Medical College, Hunan Traditional Chinese Medicine University. She also toured nursing units at Shaoyang Hospital, Zhangjiajie Hospital, Huaihua Hospital, Hunan Cancer Hospital, Hunan Women and Children鈥檚 Hospital, USC 1st, 2nd Affiliated Hospitals and community health centres.
鈥淎lmost all institutions want to have more connection and collaboration with the 91快色,鈥 says Donnelly. 鈥淪ure, they definitely get a lot of benefit from my knowledge and expertise but I walked away knowing there are a lot of opportunities for us to contribute: from teaching graduate students to consulting with colleagues and researchers at different universities and hospitals.鈥
鈥淭he most standout thing for me was how motivated and how hardworking, and kind the people I met were,鈥 she says. 鈥淓verywhere I went, there were open arms.鈥
Donnelly says there was interest from USC to explore the possibility of a teachers鈥 exchange program and a students鈥 exchange program with U91快色 for cross-learning opportunities between both campuses. Many students were also curious about the U91快色 international students program, especially for the master鈥檚 and PhD in nursing programs, and post-doc program.
On Monday, Oct. 23, Donnelly is giving a lunch presentation 鈥淩eport on Hunan, China 鈥 Foreign Expert Scholars Program: Activities and Opportunities.鈥 This event is only open to faculty and staff at U91快色 Nursing. Please RSVP to nursdean@ucalgary.ca.
Donnelly, PhD, RN, at a nursing clinic during her travels in China.