Nursing Brings International Conference on Culturally Focused Care to Bemidji

September 18, 2018

Faculty and students from Bemidji State University’s Department of Nursing have rare opportunity to participate in an international conference without leaving home, as the Society for the Advancement of Modeling and Role-Modeling brings its 17th Biennial International Conference to Bemidji beginning Sept. 19.

The conference, “Facilitating Holistic Nursing Care Through a Cultural Lens,”aims to help nursing practitioners better understand their patients’ unique world views and approach their health, healing and well-being from a cultural perspective. All conference activities will be held at Bemidji’s Hampton Inn.

Dr. Misty Wilkie, associate professor of nursing at BSU, will provide a keynote address on the university’s Niganawenimaanaanig program for indigenous nursing students. The program, now in its second year, provides American Indian and indigenous students with academic, financial and cultural support needed to increase their likelihood of graduating from the BSU nursing program. Her presentation is one of two keynote addresses on Oct. 20; it begins at 10:30 a.m.

Wilkie will also present an Oct. 21 session on her research into the American Indian experience with organ donation and transplantation.

Conference Program

Other BSU faculty presenting at the conference include Dr. Mary Fairbanks, professor of nursing; Dr. Jeanine McDermott, associate professor of nursing; and Dr. Rochelle Scheela, professor emerita of nursing. In addition, Bill Blackwell Jr., executive director of the American Indian Resource Center, will participate in cultural immersion drumming experiences to both open and close the conference, along with David Northbird from Leech Lake Tribal College. Their presentations are included in an excerpt of the complete conference schedule below.

Providing the conference’s second keynote address is Dr. Helen Erickson, a world-renowned nurse educator who has taught at the University of Michigan, the University of South Carolina and the University of Texas, where she retired as a professor emeritus in 1997. She is the founder of the modeling and role-modeling theory of nursing, which enables nurses to care for patients with an awareness of and respect for their individual needs and backgrounds. She was the first president of the Society for the Advancement of Modeling and Role-Modeling, which was founded in 1986.

Erickson’s keynote lecture, “Is There Such a Thing as Transcultural Nursing in Modeling and Role-Modeling?” begins at 9:15 a.m. on Oct. 20.

The conference aims to provide attendees with a forum for inter-cultural conversations about Erickson’s modeling and role-modeling theories of nursing. Nurses and nurse practitioners in attendance will be encouraged to develop a better understanding of the unique cultural backgrounds of their patients in order to provide the best opportunities for healing, health and well-being. Participants also will be encouraged to share the knowledge they gain about modeling and role-modeling theories of nursing through their own research, practice and teaching.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE (excerpt)

A complete conference schedule is available online; a link is provided below.

Oct. 19

  • 6:15 p.m. — Opening cultural immersion drumming experience, Bill Blackwell Jr., executive director of Bemidji State’s American Indian Resource Center, and David Northbird, Leech Lake Tribal College.

Oct. 20

  • 9:15 a.m. — Keynote lecture: “Is There Such a Thing as Transcultural Nursing in Modeling and Role-Modeling?” by Dr. Helen Erickson.
  • 10:30 a.m. — Keynote lecture: ”Niganawenimaanaanig Program: A Model for American Indian Nursing Student Success” by Dr. Misty Wilkie, associate professor of nursing, Bemidji State University.
  • 1 p.m. — ”Modeling the World of Six Shoeshine Boys in 1998-1999 in Vietnam and Finding Them Again 20 Years Later,” Dr. Rochelle Scheela, professor emerita of nursing, Bemidji State University.

Oct. 21

  • 10:30 a.m. — “American Indian Health Issues & Nursing Care Dimensions,” Dr. Mary Fairbanks, professor of nursing, Bemidji State University.
  • 10:30 a.m. — “The Aims of Modeling and Role-Modeling Interventions: A Path to Developing a Mutually Beneficent Sino-American Nursing Education Collaborative to Facilitate Holistic Nursing Care Practice, Critical Thinking, and a Deepened Understanding of Our Clients’ Worldview,” Dr. Jeanine McDermott, associate professor of nursing at Bemidji State University, and Guiyuan Chen.
  • 10:30 a.m. — “Organ Donation and Transplantation: The American Indian Experience,” Dr. Misty Wilkie, associate professor of nursing, Bemidji State University.
  • 3:30 p.m. — Closing cultural immersion drumming experience, Bill Blackwell Jr., executive director of Bemidji State’s American Indian Resource Center, and David Northbird, Leech Lake Tribal College.

About Dr. Misty Wilkie

Dr. Misty Wilkie is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and grew up on multiple reservations in North and South Dakota. Wilkie earned her associate’s degree in nursing from Hibbing Community College, a bachelor’s degree from Bemidji State University, a master’s degree from the University of North Dakota and her doctorate from the University of Minnesota. Before returning to her alma mater to join the BSU faculty, she taught for eight years at Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Wadena, Minn. Prior to teaching, she had professional nursing experience in emergency care, medical-surgical and maternal-child health.

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Bemidji State University, located amid the lakes and forests of northern Minnesota, occupies a wooded campus along the shore of Lake Bemidji. Enrolling more than 5,100 students, Bemidji State offers more than 80 undergraduate majors and eight graduate degrees encompassing arts, sciences and select professional programs. BSU is a member of the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities and has a faculty and staff of more than 550. The university’s Shared Fundamental Values include environmental stewardship, civic engagement and international and multicultural understanding. For more, visit bemidjistate.edu or find us at BemidjiState on most of your favorite social media networks.