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By January 2021, Alison Reiling ’20 will be a newly published scholar. New research by the School of Nursing student has recently been accepted for publication in Nurse Educator, a peer-reviewed journal for faculty and administrators of nursing and nurse educators. Reiling’s article “Teaching Global Health Competencies with Helping Mothers Survive Simulation” examines today’s inequities in maternal health care around the world.
Globally, low and middle-income countries account for almost all of the pregnancy-related mortalities that are mostly preventable through essential maternal health care services. “The article describes how to teach nursing students about the gaps in access to maternal health care and summarizes the variables that can make expecting mothers more at risk to complications of pregnancy and childbirth,” says Reiling. “My research focuses on teaching nursing students these variables but with a focus on what we can do regardless of the resources or socioeconomic settings. In a rural town, you may not have the required medical equipment, but you can help a woman giving birth by facilitating a fundal message or the lift of her legs.”
Reiling started the research last spring and continued the work through the summer and fall semester as part of the Honors program. She will also present her findings at an industry conference in April. Time studying abroad in Argentina, coupled with an interest in the field of labor and delivery, inspired her to select the topic for her independent research project, and she credits her faculty mentors for her success with the publication.
“I have always found labor and delivery exciting, and I also had an amazing opportunity abroad during my junior year at Curry. My passion for helping patients in other countries is strong, and I wanted to combine all of these aspects for my Honors project,” she says. “Both the Honors program and School of Nursing supported my passion and helped me learn immensely throughout the entire research process. The willingness Curry faculty have to teach and their eagerness to watch me succeed helped me accomplish my goals.”
After graduating this spring, Reiling will begin her career in nursing with the hope of serving vulnerable populations. “I would like to specialize in labor and delivery or emergency medicine, but I am so excited to start my career that I feel I would be happy in any specialty,” she says. “If you told me freshman year that I would be published in a nursing journal, I would not have believed you. It feels like the perfect end to my chapter at Curry and the beginning of a new one as I start my nursing career.”