Gail Petersen, MS, RN
Arizona State University College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation
National Nursing Centers Consortium
July 19, 2006
Breaking the Cycle Community Healthcare (BTC), one of four of Arizona State University College of Nursing's Nurse Managed Health Centers, has become the partner agency of Manal Al-Zadjali from Oman, a Fulbright Scholar who is working on her Master of Science degree in Community Health Nursing.
BTC Provides clinical rotations and mentorship for over 50 graduate students each academic year, yet the opportunity to work with Manal is special. Manal completed her diploma in nursing at the Muscat Nursing Institute in Oman; in 2002 she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Villanova University in Pennsylvania. She served as nursing faculty at the Muscat Nursing Institute until she came back to the United States as a Fulbright Scholar. When she completes her Master of Science degree at ASU, she will return to Oman as the first Master's prepared community health nurse in her country.
Manal is interested in population interventions that reduce chronic disease, particularly diabetes. She is presently involved with a project that looks at body mass index (BMI) of the women who obtain reproductive health care at BTC. Her plan is to work with the program director, Gail Petersen, and design a culturally specific intervention to reduce BMI and ultimately diabetes and heart disease in the BTC population. Manal intends to bring her program-planning experience to Oman and develop a population intervention that will help reduce the incidence of diabetes in her country.
Nursing Centers can have a global impact. Our willingness to work with advanced practice nursing students and provide rich educational experiences advances our profession beyond U.S. borders and facilitates health for populations across the globe.
