Instructors in medical schools and nursing programs around the world hold a unique role in our society, as they are solely responsible for training the doctors and nurses who treat patients and help them live longer and healthier lives. The care that we receive for our ailments, injuries and overall health begins with the instructors who prepare physicians for the roles they play in our lives. This is why National Health Education Week is celebrated during the third week of October, honoring the function that educators play in keeping our communities healthy and safe.
“The faculty and instructors in healthcare programs make a real difference around the world when they train students to care for others,” said Dr. Gabriel Oluwakotanmi, Dean of Hallmark University’s School of Nursing. “Healthcare programs are led by people who have worked in the field for many years and are passionate about what they do. The faculty in our nursing program has spent several decades working with patients, and they bring their expertise to the classroom. We understand how to educate and care for patients, and we train our students to be able to do the same.”
National Health Education Week celebrates this crucial role that instructors hold in caring for our communities. Their decades of experience prepare future healthcare workers to care for patients and bring greater awareness of increasingly common illnesses. By offering their knowledge and skills to their students, educators assist in the treatment of thousands of patients every year as healthcare professionals, particularly nurses, have become increasingly crucial in educating patients and communities on self-care that leads to healthier lives.
“It’s important that nurses are informed about common health concerns because if they are not, how could they care for their patients? This is why we train students in our nursing program to be aware of factors that lead to diseases, their treatments, and prevention. If you treat patients, you need to be able to educate them as well, so they can take a proactive role in their own care.”
Nurses are on the front line of combating illnesses and diseases, their effectiveness in the field comes back to the quality of training and education received from their instructors. The skills, knowledge, and character needed for nurses to connect with their patients for effective treatment will depend on those who trained them. This is why we celebrate National Health Week.
“We never really stop caring for people after we leave the hospital; we are always nurses at heart. We have a responsibility to train our students with our experiences in the field, and we never really stop learning. We continue researching, testing, and seeing how to care for our patients by training the nurses of tomorrow. Nurses are some of the most compassionate people that you will ever meet, and we always look for ways that we can help people once we no longer have a direct hand in their care ourselves,” said Dr. Oluwakotanmi.