PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (April 20, 2022) – Nadia Harris stands behind a table in the parking lot of the Welcome Center at Prairie View A&M University dressed in crisp purple and white scrubs and in PPE that consists of a face mask, face shield and shoe covers—a familiar sight these days.
Nadia Harris, Senior, College of Nursing
With a deep breath, she surveys the carefully labeled COVID-19 vaccines before her and mentally prepares for the day. Though she hasn’t started her career yet, today, she’s volunteering at a vaccine clinic held on PVAMU’s main campus.
Being ready for anything is a critical part of nursing, said Harris. The past years’ pandemic has jumpstarted her experience and given her valuable—and historic—opportunities to put what she’s learned in the classroom into practice.
As a student in PVAMU’s College of Nursing, Harris dreams of one day being a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit in a hospital and ultimately becoming a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. As she said, it exposes her to “anything and everything.”
“The vaccine clinic really heightened my confidence in giving intramuscular injections and also providing patient education to those receiving the vaccine,” Harris said. Through classes at the simulation lab or clinical rotations at the hospital, students in PVAMU’s College of Nursing are learning skills like this; however, it’s often in the context of just training.
It’s different when there is a real need, such as during a pandemic. Harris remembers that she felt a full range of emotions during her volunteer shifts: joy at having the skills to help others receive this vaccine, purpose, hope—but also exhaustion.
This is where Harris highlighted what she considers one of the most important and valuable aspects of PVAMU’s program.
She’s ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work where she’s needed.
“One statement I remember from a community member who was receiving the vaccine was, ‘Thank you all for doing this. Continue to work hard and make a difference,’” Harris recalled. “Those words of encouragement helped me then, and they will continue to help me strive to make a difference for the rest of my life as a nurse.
“At the end of the day, my body was physically tired,” she continued. “I was exhausted. However, I was fulfilled and so thankful for the learning experience. It was a great opportunity to be surrounded by people that have the same desire as I do to help others. I felt like I made new friends and also gained confidence and hope to carry back with me.”
This motivated spirit to help others is a catalyst to the university’s culture of preparing students—in every department or area of study—to take what they’ve learned and make a real difference in the world.
This year, the College of Nursing is celebrating 100 years since the first cohort graduated from the program, marking many decades of “making a difference in defining and actualizing a positive experience for many fine individuals who choose nursing as their career,” said Betty Adams, Ph.D., [former Dean of the College of Nursing at PVAMU, who served from 2000 to 2022 before retiring last fall.]
In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the work PVAMU is doing to prepare and equip nurses has never been more important. They are sending out new generations of nurses who are confident and courageous in the work they do.
But PVAMU’s College of Nursing also has a legacy of nurses of generations past who have worked tirelessly over their careers. These nurses lean on their training and support from the university while strengthening PVAMU’s presence in the medical field.
Located in the Texas Medical Center, the College of Nursing has a long history of preparing nurses for careers where they can contribute to quality and excellence in nursing and health care delivery throughout Texas, the nation and the world.
PVAMU remains competitive in the quality and variety of programs they offer by including technological advances, offering students smart classrooms and transforming laboratories and study and research rooms. Mutual partnerships provide excellent learning opportunities in the classroom and beyond.
The College also continues to celebrate its growth and enhancement through the expansion of programs and 24-hour access to online libraries and other electronic programs and operations.
PVAMU Nursing Alumni Shape History
From PVAMU alumna Denise Smith’s perspective, she is “once a nurse, always a nurse.”
Denise Smith ’78
After graduating from Prairie View in 1978, Smith’s training launched her into a three-decade career in public health with the City of Houston, where she worked on the oncology floor at St. Joseph Hospital. Back then, her career guided her through a different sort of health crisis: the HIV/AIDS outbreak in the 1980s.
As a retired healthcare worker who lived through several historic medical events over the years, Smith reflected on the memories and lessons she learned over her career. Those experiences gave her a perspective on the mental strength, quality training and confidence in the skills she would need to handle whatever nursing brought her way.
“COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS are very different, but at the same time, they are both infectious diseases,” Smith said. “I worked in the clinic where I was the manager and head nurse and supervised the whole clinic—all the nurses and doctors.
“The thing that struck me the most about AIDS that is similar to COVID is that you consider everyone positive until you know they aren’t,” Smith said. “When clients came in, you had to draw blood and figure out what they came in for. PPE and protocols were incredibly important because you didn’t know. Gloves were very important during the HIV/AIDS crisis, and masks are really important now.
“When the COVID-19 pandemic happened, I knew my past experience with HIV/AIDS would help me and, more importantly, other nursing students. It reminded me of a lot of experiences.”
PVAMU alumna Bridget Brumfield, Chief Clinical Officer at AccessHealth, leaned on the knowledge that she was called to be a nurse to get her through the past year. Brumfield oversees operations and leads a team of nurses at five clinical locations. Over the last year, she has also been heavily involved in the COVID-19 testing and vaccine efforts in Waller and Fort Bend counties.
Bridget Brumfield ’04
Brumfield agreed with Smith that her rigorous training at PVAMU helped her see her chosen career in a new light. It went from a career option to a calling because the program truly taught her the definition of perseverance and determination.
“As I look back on my educational experience, I can say that I have been inspired to give my all,” Brumfield said. “I see the younger nursing students coming into our clinics during their clinical rotations, and I know that they are paying attention to what we as nurses are doing. I see myself as a representative of PVAMU, and I must set a good example.”
Current students like Harris look to seasoned nurses like Smith and Brumfield with many questions as they encounter new situations and learn new skills, especially as the pandemic began.
“During my first year of nursing school, I had to lean on God so much and ask for his protection as we eventually were placed in hospital agencies for more experiences,” Harris said. “Being a nursing student in the uncertain times of the pandemic forced me to realize that we have to adjust to any situation, which is one of the attributes of being a nurse.
“Nurses face so many uncertain and unplanned situations. However, nurses learn how to adapt and use critical thinking skills to encounter any situation that may come forth. Though this pandemic was a challenge to my mental health and academics, it helped me learn how to operate as a nurse, which overall prepared me to have a career in the medical field.”
Although Brumfield has more experience, she agrees with Harris that nothing replaced her need to lean on her faith during the uncertain times of the pandemic—or at any other time during her career. Brumfield, a veteran nurse of more than 16 years, also worked through the Ebola outbreak in 2014.
“So much happened at such a fast pace during the last year that I did not have a moment to stop and look back,” Brumfield said. “I jumped right into the testing efforts, not knowing if I was going to contract the virus or not. I knew I signed up to give a part of myself to help others, but I did not want to take anything home to my family and friends or get the virus myself.
“There were days that I would literally cry on my way to work. Not because I was worried about myself, but because I was worried about my team. I knew that I had a team that was working on the front lines. They were encountering someone with COVID daily, and I often thought, ‘What if something happens to one of them?’ I just stayed prayerful and stepped out of faith to do what I was chosen to do.”
PVAMU Nurses Excel in the Real World
PVAMU has established a culture of building up students throughout the university’s academia, Smith pointed out. Professors are there to encourage, equip and empower students before sending them out on their own.
Sometimes, that comes with difficult classes or challenging experiences. Smith noted that her experiences—she came from her native country of Guyana to the United States to attend PVAMU—introduced her to professors who made a lasting impact with the wisdom and lessons they imparted.
“As a nurse, you never get used to death, but you work through it anyways. You go into a mode of care and comfort,” Smith said. “It’s the same with COVID-19. You remember who they are as a person — someone with a family and a personality and a whole life to them.
“From my toughest professors, I learned empathy and how to show kindness while doing my job with excellence. Someone’s life is in your hands, and you have to sustain life, but you also can’t decide who gets to live or die. You resolve that you’re going to do the best job you can. In an event like COVID or HIV/AIDS, a nurse may be the last person someone sees or talks to or holds their hand. You have to be courageous to do that. I learned that from many of my professors; I remember that Dr. Blake and Dr. Goodman were instrumental for me.”
Brumfield mentioned that problem solving, multitasking and good communication are essential skills for nurses. In her role at Access Health, she is involved in strategic planning, quality performance improvement initiatives, cost control, implementation of policies and procedures, identifying best practices bases, workflow analysis, expansion, retention and networking outside of the organization.
At the heart of all that, however, are things that aren’t necessarily learned in a classroom, Harris said. Instead, she is learning those things from her professors, mentors and fellow students in settings like the vaccine clinics, labs and clinical rotations. The real core of the work is hands on.
“It takes grit, determination, purpose, and accommodation to be a healthcare worker,” Harris said. “Not everything in the healthcare field is great. I think you have to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, develop new or additional positive personal attributes, and learn how to problem solve in situations to the best of your ability.”
Although Smith is retired now, she still holds a nursing license and believes fervently in her call to train—and encourage—other PVAMU nursing students like Harris. She’s been involved in some of the vaccine clinics on campus as well, overseeing students as a licensed and experienced nurse.
Her approach is no-nonsense and tough love. “I like to tell students that failure isn’t an option,” Smith said.
But that’s because she knows that the training they receive at PVAMU—just as she did—will make them more than capable of handling full-time nursing work.
“I love working with the students; it’s a great opportunity to teach and refresh them with what they have already learned,” said Smith. “I tell them: ‘This is what happened to me…learn from my experiences.’ I go over the highlights and important points with them and remind them: ‘Make sure you have this down.’
“They have four years of their life here at PV, and after that, it’s time to concentrate on their career. Nursing is a calling, and it’s not easy. After you graduate, you have others’ lives in your hands. PV is the place to learn—but they leave, and they are ready.”
This story by Meredith Mohr originally appeared in the Winter 2022 edition of 1876.
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