Let's Talk: UNLV School of Nursing with Dean Angela Amar

Our hosts chat with Dean Angela Amar about the UNLV School of Nursing

Find out more and access the full show archive at https://therebelhd2.com/shows/letstalkunlv/

What is Let's Talk UNLV?

Rebels, tune in to 'Let's Talk UNLV' with Dr. Tanya Crabb and Dr. Sammie Scales. Your express pass to everything UNLV — campus highlights, programs, and the latest buzz. Join us weekly as we chat with student leaders, administrators, and faculty, diving into the core of what makes us Rebels.

The program brings guests from different areas of UNLV every week to discuss campus highlights, programs and services, research interests that are essential to being a Rebel. Let’s Talk UNLV places its emphasis on connecting with student leaders who represent the voice of students on our campus. Guests also include administrators, faculty and staff responsible for upholding the mission of the university, which is teaching, research and scholarship.

Short, sweet, and Rebel strong – subscribe now for the inside scoop!

0:00:00
Welcome to another segment of Let's Talk UNRV on KUNV. You are co-host Keith and Renee. Renee, how was your weekend?

0:00:15
Oh, it was fantastic. My mother came to see me along with my mentor from Texas. And we went to Pahrump for the winery. We did the spa treatment at Green Valley. We went to the Seven Magic Mountains.

0:00:30
Now the Seven Magic Mountains, they were not convinced that was art. They said, what is this?

0:00:36
He's like, primary colors?

0:00:37
I've been here 26 years.

0:00:40
I've not even heard of that location.

0:00:43
Okay, so they loved everything about the trip. And then we ended the trip with David Copperfield. But the Seven Magic Mountains, that was not a go.

0:00:51
Take it off the list.

0:00:53
Take it off the list. Take it off the list.

0:00:55
What about your weekend? I had, you know, I took some inspiration from you. You know, you've been, you know, you've been impressing me with all these outings you've been doing the past few weeks. So I had some family in town. Okay. And you know, Vegas just reopened. Yes. So they called me like, hey, hey cousin, I'm in town. Can you come? So I said, okay, I'm gonna come and hang out. And I had not been out. And you know, I didn't realize, you know, you know, you read that Vegas is open, but it was open It was open. So capital Opie. I'm telling you like maybe one out of a thousand people. Yeah had a mask on and I was the one So, you know you people look at you strange like man, what's wrong with this dude with a mask on but you know Then we went, you know, we didn't plan it So we went out to a few places trying to get something to eat to our weight hour and a half wait. So yeah, we ended up eating some fast food. And then they told me that I owed them a cookout the next day, so they ended up coming over and we cooked out and hung out. So yeah, it was good just to be out again. But you know, speaking of just the pandemic and safety protocols and sort of how we reopen and safely, and you know, I'm glad to invite our guest today, you know, Angela Amar, who's the Dean of the Nursing School. So, Dean Marr, thank you for joining us today.

0:02:07
Thank you for having me.

0:02:09
Could you tell us just maybe a high-level overview, like how long you've been in Vegas, how you ended up becoming the Dean of the Nursing Program, and then we'll go from there with other questions.

0:02:20
Sure. So I've been here three and a half years now. I was in Atlanta at Emory, minding my own business when recruiters called me. And as they described UNLV and the mission and the journey that UNLV was on, I found myself pretty captivated and really liking what UNLV was trying to accomplish, the flavor of the place, interviews, got the job. And it's been all that I thought it would be. There's so much possibility, so much promise, so much good. I'm really happy to be here. Yeah, so talk to us about coming to be the Dean at UNLV. What were some of the things that you looked for, some of the programs that you were hoping to start? What was that experience like when you first settled at UNLV? So I love that UNLV had that top-tier mission and vision. I like that the university aspired to become a better top place and I love that the university was committed to doing it with the student body that it already had because those are students that don't always get to experience the top-tier education. So this idea of having a lot of first-gen, diverse, underrepresented students. I love the fact that the university also was committed to helping the problems of the region. And in my school, I feel like we've been able to and have plans to affect change within the region. So increasing the number of undergraduate students that we take, we had over a 40% increase. So that means more nurses are available to work. And even in the pandemic, every student who's graduated has immediately gotten a job. And even with the pandemic, the increased interest in nursing has only increased. So I think right now we're the most popular major of the incoming students because lots of people want to be a nurse. We started a psychiatric nurse practitioner program, and that responds to huge needs in the state where we don't have enough mental health providers. And so through this program, we'll increase access to mental health care. We're also starting, we're planning, working on starting a certified nurse midwifery program, so there will be nurse midwives available who can assist with all the maternal child needs in the state, which we're also not doing well on those kind of metrics. And finally, we're going to start a certified registered nurse anesthetist program. And that program means that surgery wait times will hopefully decrease because we've got a cadre of prepared nurses who can administer anesthesia in surgery and other procedures. So lots of big plans and lots of stuff we've already done.

0:05:26
And just thank you for sharing that overview of all the new programming that's going to be coming online. And one of the things that I'm always interested in, I know we work with a lot of students through our various programs, and I know there's always a lot of students who are interested in nursing. And I know that it's very competitive. Could you speak to just how competitive, you know, it is to get accepted or admitted into the nursing program?

0:05:48
That's a challenge. I think everywhere, as I said, we're the most popular major now. We've had more incoming wanting to be a nurse than in other degrees. And unfortunately, there's no way we can meet the demand. The students who are interested in nursing are all smart, bright, talented. They've done well in high school. They meet all the benchmarks. Ultimately, our program trains them in the classroom as well as in the clinical setting. And so all students have to go to clinical experiences and they go to multiple hospitals, so they get everything, all of the medical, surgical stuff, the pediatric, the OB, labor and delivery, geriatric care, surgery usually they see, and then a variety of different community placements. And that's really where the stopgap comes, because there's only so much that's available for us to be able to expose students to and so many students we have caps and numbers that we're kind of regulated with and so that becomes a stopgap. But I say to all the students who are interested to pursue your dream, another program we are starting, just started this month, is a second fast track so students who have a degree in something else but want to be a nurse can come through that program. It's 58 weeks. It's designed for kind of the student who's already grounded and centered and gets education and so they do everything at a really fast pace, but it's another option for students who don't get into the undergrad, but they can do that program.

0:07:38
So talk to us about how important it is for there to be diversity in the number of nurses that we have and in their practice.

0:07:48
I mean, how does that enrich healthcare?

0:07:50
Oh, I got that.

0:07:51
That's such a great, great, great question. Our student body is 60, over 60% identify as non-white. So we've got students from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds and diversity in major ways. And for patients, when you look at Las Vegas, part of what fit me here too was that this city, we always talk about the changing demographics of America and where this country is, the browning of America, and this city is already there. It's already at the place where first city and it looks like what the face of the country will look like. So for patients coming into the hospital, they need to see people who look like them. They need to be cared for by people who look like them. There's enough data evidence to suggest that people get better care from people who look like them. There's also data that says that students of diverse backgrounds typically go into practice settings that reflect their background and where they are. So, they really are giving the care to people who need it and who also need it from a person who understands their perspective, who understands, really cares and wants to be there. So it's hugely important that we are graduating all of these students and that they are going out into this community and providing excellent care.

0:09:27
And so along those lines, maybe tell our viewers, our listeners rather, how do you go about selecting the right medical care provider, the right hospital, the right doctor, you know, are there things that you should look for that would, you know, give an indication of how well, you know, the facility or the healthcare workers are going to be good caregivers and good, you know, medical care providers?

0:09:58
That's a really good question. I think healthcare has gotten so complex that it's often difficult for patients to navigate. I've had health issues myself and I often think if I wasn't a health care provider how would I make it through the system? There was an article in the New York Times that said going to the hospital bring a nurse with you. You really need I think reading all the reviews the internet makes that easy to see what people are saying about a provider. I went to someone that I thought was semi awful and when I went after and looked at the reviews on the person I would have known that before I went had I read it. It was an urgent care center, but I would have known it before. So I think taking advantage of the internet, getting recommendations from people, getting multiple recommendations. And the other thing I think that when you're there, I often, you know, you listen to your provider and it's really hard to have, to cover everything. So there's nothing wrong with making your list of all the things that you want to address and the questions you have beforehand. And making it beforehand means that you've got everything, not just, and I don't mean beforehand like just before you get in the car, the week before, kind of adding things to that list. So going in with your list and you have your list of things to be answered. Sometimes I advocate too to people to write stuff down when you get the answers, or have someone with you who writes stuff down when you get the answers, because it's really hard to digest all of that info at one time. So writing it down means that you have what they said, you can hear it clearly. If you've got someone that's dismissive of what you're saying, that doesn't give credence, sort of to what you're saying,

0:12:00
I would say that's enough.

0:12:01
You need to have someone who listens to you, who hears you, and even if your concerns aren't rooted in science and aren't accurate, you need someone who explains to you why that's so and who still validates that yes, they would be concerned to feel this too. However, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh. So anyone who doesn't, that you don't feel listened to, heard to, don't continue to go back to that person because that's an important part of the relationship, an important part of getting your health needs met.

0:12:36
My mind stuck when you said, you know, go seek help assistance, but have a nurse with you, right? I'm thinking that could be a business model. I tell you. I know, my whole entrepreneurship stuff was kicking in hearing you, after you said that was

0:12:53
Dina Mar the additional fee because a nurse and a Dean. I don't know if we want to do that but there is something about I mean I've had that in my own family like my husband he goes home and they're telling his grandmother something and I'm thinking boy I wish I was the one in the room because you have no about or what they're saying and if you've ever been in hospitals, it's just hard to get. I mean financial models have really taken over and we have such rising spiraling out of control health

0:13:47
costs that make it really difficult. And so having someone, when you're sick

0:13:38
over pain medicine, over food, over anything. Having someone with you is really helpful for that.

0:13:44
Well, I know it take me back to when my mom

0:13:46
had her knee replacement surgery here in Vegas, and she's not listening, so I can talk a little bit. But yeah, it was challenging, not for us, but my mom's older, so she has her mind made up on what she wants, how she wants things done. So I appreciate whatever training that they provide to nurses and patients and just care. It was amazing because I was thinking if it was me as the nurse, oh, I would have pulled my hair out dealing with my mom, you know, because even the siblings, we were fighting over the stuff. But I appreciate all the nurses do.

0:14:22
But see, now I have a plan. I'm going to say, go find me a UNLV nurse. I know Dena Mar did not teach them this.

0:14:31
This. As an appropriate response.

0:14:33
So I will not be seen unless you find me a UNLV nurse.

0:14:38
Yes. But one thing I would.

0:14:40
We got a lot of good ones out there, too. Lots of good ones.

0:14:43
And because nursing is so popular among youth, What would be advice you would give to maybe high school students who are aspiring to apply to be in a nursing program, how they can make themselves more competitive?

0:14:56
So, in high school, taking the challenging math and sciences does help. You come into nursing and you've got a heavy dose of science math courses that prepare you for what you need. And then when they get to college, one of the things I always say to students is there's very little in our curriculum. So I'm not talking gen ed, but there's very little in what we require that you don't need. So we make people take, you know, anatomy and physiology. We refer to anatomy and physiology all the time. So a lot of times students get used to this idea of you can kind of walk into class and you have a test and you can just sort of memorize all the information and it's sort of like you're balancing a big book on your head and when you get to the test you can just tip your head over and sort of dump all the knowledge on the test and walk out. And I would say that in nursing you've got to because you're going to need it. We're going to talk about where things are located in the body when we're teaching you how to assess for problems. We're going to talk about how things are supposed to work in the body when we talk about how they're not working. We're going to talk about how medicine works based on where it affects the body. So all these pieces, so this really very it's very it's different from a lot of other majors where you kind of can do the head tilt dump. You've got to remember all of that stuff and you've got to really learn it and kind of integrate it because you're going to need it repeatedly on the job. So taking the heavy sciences in high school sort of starts to train your brain for thinking that way so that when you get to college and you again take all those heavy sciences, you remember and then the information you receive from us because we're teaching everyone how to be a generalist nurse, you could go into any field when you graduate with your Bachelor of Science in Nursing, the BSN, so you learn it all, you take support exam on it all and then people typically So let's segue to COVID and talk to us about how did you prepare, you know, the faculty and the other administrators in your college to prepare for COVID and, you know, what were some of the big takeaways and moments of pride and joy even during this terrible pandemic that you experienced? COVID was a good one. I mean, I think at every graduation or completion ceremony we've had, I've talked about how students had a front row seat to the biggest health care challenge or health challenge of our lifetime. And there will probably not be another one like this if history's right for another hundred years. So I think the whole change and managing change was very important. Early on I talked with faculty. We had a lot of town halls. We had a lot of open faculty forums. We had a lot of all-school town halls, student town halls, because we really felt it was important to communicate good information and to get that information out to people in a timely manner. And a lot of times with students and faculty, I found myself saying, I don't have an answer now. We'll have one for you when we need to, but right now we can't predict this. Things are changing, things are different, and I don't want to tell you something that's wrong. The faculty, I was really clear about our main purpose right now was just to educate students. They were homeschooling their own kids, they were in the middle of a lot and I have a lot of women, childbearing age faculty and those are the people that we're seeing will really hit hard career-wise, personally, professionally with COVID because of all the demands and competing demands. And so, I said, we're not going to think about all of our programming. We're not going to think about the research, the scholarship, the other pieces. We're just going to be true to our educational commitment and we're going to educate students and we're going to do it well. And I'm not asking for anything else at this point. And so, we did that for a while. We did go back. We were in our simulation center to leave. I had a COVID coordinator because that made sense because it's got to be someone whose responsibility is to do that. And the COVID coordinator really worked with all of the protocols for how we would make sure the students could be safe in the SIM center. We had students coming into the building to study or do classes because they didn't have a strong internet at home or quiet spaces. And so we had to work up protocols for that. And then we also were in the hospital still doing clinical. And so we really had to work with our external partners. The students also were a part of the vaccination clinic, a huge part. So much so that when spring break came, the clinic was very worried about how they were going to meet the demand that week because the students had been the main people given the injections. I think the lessons learned from me really come from, I think, it taught us that while we, life may seem predictable because we kind of go to the same places, we drive the same routes, we do the same things, that life really isn't predictable, that we've never really had certainty. And that the thought of not having uncertainty is very troubling and we want to do things to kind of maintain the status quo. But I think that COVID also taught us that where we were probably wasn't where we need to be and that we need to be thinking about a new normal and a new thing that really does prioritize differently about where we put our energies, where we put our time, our treasure, our talents in different ways. And so to me, that's the bigger lesson, this kind of we've never had certainty. And so, this dealing with uncertainty in the pandemic was an interesting challenge that I hope we all learn from and grow from. And the pandemic itself and the quarantine, and I just hope we really look for what is our new normal and that we don't just go back to what we always knew and had because there were pitfalls in what we, what our old normal was.

0:22:06
And I would say related to Renee's question in terms of, you know, getting through now we're reopening for starting July 1 and then be fully open as we return, the students return in the fall. What are some lessons learned through the pandemic in terms of your programming or your to preparing students to be effective nurses in the community and beyond, that you will sort of incorporate into how we bring students back and move forward with how we educate students in the nursing program. Okay, so we're not coming, we're already back.

0:22:38
And in large part, we're back on campus this summer because we have been, and we've been face-to-face in our Sim Center. So we're, but I think that the pandemic has brought a lot of lessons in terms of the teachable moments and so a lot of our curriculum sort of shifted because we had this opportunity to do this teachable moment. I think the mental health connectivity needs of our students really became apparent. I mean, that was part of why we're back on campus this summer, because the students really did feel this vacuum in terms of all the classes being delivered remotely. And faculty did a lot of work at putting them in groups and all these things, but they wanted more of that connectivity. The simulation center gave them some of that in small groups of eight, but being on campus to do that. I think from a public health nursing perspective, we've always done public health nursing, although the public health system hasn't always been designed for nurses to graduate and want to work there. The pay is lower, all these other pieces. I think the pandemic policy-wise, when I look at the infrastructure bill that's being proposed, is about building up the public health infrastructure so that it could be a stronger and a more preventative way that would have helped people. And then as I think there have been shifts, I think it's shifting the what we teach because we're geared at helping people think about crisis and sort of big population health issues in a different way. And then the other part has been the sort of mining of what worked well during the pandemic that we may want to keep because we did this emergency rush off to doing things virtually and making change but are there things that worked really well that we don't want to get rid of just because we can. So the threefold kind of thing I think lots of areas for change and for growth from it. Does that answer what you want?

0:24:55
Yes.

0:24:56
So I'm going to get you on to hear this last question. So what's in store for Dean Amar in the future? What do you see your career trajectory going?

0:25:04
Have you thought that far? Oh, gosh, people ask you that all the time, like, what do you want to be when you grow up? So from a school perspective, I'll say that our school is one of few in the country where we have, we're recognized as a center of excellence in nursing education for environments that promote student success. We've applied for a second center of excellence, which is about faculty pedagogy and faculty excellence. We'll find out fairly soon if we get this. I think the continued growth of this school is important because when I look at the health care needs of the state, so those new programs that we identified, I think are incredibly important. And the other piece is growing or building of the academic health center. And so with the School of Medicine graduating its first class and them being complete, we have all the components to develop an academic health center. And for those of you, people who've lived outside of Nevada could possibly have seen an academic health center. And so it does bring the promise of a comprehensive system that all your care needs can be met for you and your family in one kind of place under one umbrella. for research that really does help drive change in terms of new treatments, new self-care things, new ways that people can help themselves to be better, medicines, all kinds of things. And I think the Economic Health Center will also be an economic driver in terms of creation of jobs, creation of more patients. We look at Las Vegas as being able to be a sort of destination medicine place, destination health care, and are really excited by that. So I'm really excited by all of the growth and potential that I see here and if the next three to five years for me are all about this growth trajectory and really helping. This school is a good school. We're a top 50 school in the country. Our online programs are number 7 in the country. We're a good school. Got a lot of good going. I look forward to continuing to make UNLV the best UNLV School of Nursing it can be. I look forward to continuing to educate the leaders and scholars, nurses of the future that really have the ability to change healthcare in a positive way and affect the health of the community and the people, citizens in Las Vegas.

0:27:56
Well, Dean Amar, thank you for joining us today and enlightening us on all the great opportunities that are emerging through the UNLV School of Nursing and just bringing us up to speed on just all the amazing things that are underway there. Renee, what are some of your takeaways from today's segment?

0:28:15
So much he's accomplished in the last three years with the new programs and now this onslaught of a different way of looking at Las Vegas as a destination place for medicine. That is very exciting to be a part of. And so just looking forward to seeing what's next to come. I also like that she touched upon how her department, her college, her faculty, staff are resilient during this time, but also saw this as a growth opportunity for the nurses to be a part of this pandemic and major health crisis. So what a great opportunity for growth and development of our nurses. Yeah.

0:28:55
And I guess for me, in addition to, you know, one of the most important takeaways is when I go to the doctor, I need to have a nurse on speed dial or at least with me. Right. But outside of that, outside of that important nugget, you know, but I think, you know, in particular, I was very intrigued, you know, just hearing about some of the new programs that are coming online, you know, the certified nurse midwife program, and in particular, like the second steps track that's like 58 weeks for those who may have earned a degree that's looking to maybe reinvent themselves or go to another career field. I thought that was important. And then the other thing that was, that resonated well with me was just the, that data supports the better care can be associated with having more diverse caregivers. So that was something that was unexpected. So, but it was just great to hear. So I took a lot away from it.

0:29:46
Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of KUNV Let's Talk UNLV. For my co-host Keith,

0:29:53
Jazz and more. Jazz and more.

0:29:54
That's a wrap.

Transcribed with Cockatoo