Embracing Community and Belonging

In this episode of the Spartan Nurse podcast, Harley Brown and Dr. Mike Martel sit down with Camila Rios and Dr. Larissa Miller. Camila Rios is a first-year undergraduate student at Michigan State University from Chicago, Illinois. As a first-generation daughter of immigrants, she currently navigates the pre-nursing path. Camila has been volunteering at Rush Hospital's Cancer Survivors Week since a young age.

Her senior year of high school saw her working as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at Rush, where she collaborated with RNs and CNAs on the med-surg floor, engaging in essential tasks like providing bed baths, cleaning wounds, and assisting patients with daily activities. 

Camila is driven to pursue a nursing career with a dual goal of representing minorities in the medical field and improving healthcare access in underserved communities.

At Michigan State University, she has immersed herself in clubs aligning with her aspirations, including the Latino Medical Student Association and is the President Multicultural Nursing Student Association.

Eager to deepen her understanding of nursing, Camila anticipates her journey of growth and learning within the College of Nursing at MSU.

Dr. Larissa Miller, an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Professional Development at Michigan State University's College of Nursing, has over two decades of experience as a nurse educator.  

Her extensive career includes roles as a clinical hospital educator, lead professor, campus curriculum chairperson, and simulation program coordinator. Larissa holds certifications as an ANCC Board Certified Nursing Professional Development specialist and an NLN Certified Nurse Educator.  

Her academic journey involves earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing at Michigan State University, a post-master’s in nursing education at Northern Michigan University, and a PhD at Concordia University in Chicago, where her research focused on compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress in nursing. 

Appointed to the Michigan Board of Nursing in 2021, Larissa contributes her expertise to its Administrative Rules and Nursing Education subcommittees.  

She is a key figure in Michigan's nursing development, serving on the steering committee for Michigan Professional Nursing Development [MIPND], the executive board of the Michigan Health Council, and the Michigan Nursing Action Coalition.  

Recognized as a 2022 MSU STEAM Power Arts Fellow, she remains committed to integrating the arts into nursing education, showcasing her dedication to a holistic and innovative approach in shaping the future of nursing.  

Currently, she is the faculty advisor for the College of Nursing’s 2024 Multicultural Nursing Student Association.

To find your breaking news and latest updates within the College of Nursing, please refer to our website at nursing.msu.edu. You can also find us on all social media platforms @MICHSTNursing

Transcript

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[Music} We are honored to have Dr. Larissa Miller and Camila Rios join us on this episode of the Spartan Nurse podcast. Camila Rios is a first year undergraduate student at Michigan State University, is from Chicago, Illinois. She's a first generation daughter of immigrants currently navigating the pre-nursing path. Camila, with a unique background in the medical field, has been volunteering at Rush Hospital's Cancer Survivors Week since a young age. Her senior year of high school saw her working as a certified nursing assistant at Rush, where she collaborated with RNs and CNAs on the Med-surg floor, engaging in essential tasks like providing bed baths, cleaning wounds and assisting patients with daily activities. Camila is driven to pursue a nursing career with a dual goal of representing minorities in the medical field and improving health care access in underserved communities. At Michigan State University, she has immersed herself in clubs aligning with her aspirations, including the Latino Medical Student Association and is the president of the Multicultural Nursing Student Association here at the MSU College of Nursing. Camilla eagerly anticipates her journey of growth and learning within the College of Nursing at MSU. We have four different student engagement groups here at the College of Nursing. We have the Black Student Nurses Association, the Multicultural Student Nurses Association, the Men in Nursing Student Association. I'm actually the advisor for the Men in Nursing Student Association and then the LGBTQIA+ Allies Student Nurses Association. So we have these four different student engagement groups where those individuals that identify with those groups can join those particular groups. Camila, thank you for joining us here today on the Spartan Nurse podcast. Thank you for having me. Can you share more about your role and responsibilities of the Multicultural Student Group and how it relates to nursing and health care? So basically, my role as the president of the Multicultural Nursing Student Association is to help Dr. Miller plan events and like schedule, like what we're going to do for our next meetings. And also I help to, like help new, like, members of the group, like get involved and give them all the emails and include them in the group meetings and try to just like talk with everyone to get the club moving. The good old GroupMe, huh? These clubs are pretty new here at MSU, right? Yeah, I think just this past semester. Mm hmm. It's pretty exciting. Yeah, we started off with just me and these other two girls, and now we have, like, around six or seven girls now, so it's getting pretty big. It's awesome. I would say there's some pretty good momentum so far. That's awesome. What are you looking forward to most this semester? I'm looking forward to having- I know that we're having a guest speaker for our next meeting, and I know that she's going to help us, like with our resumes. Another thing that I'm looking forward to that I spoke with Dr. Miller about was having someone come in and like help us with our applications and like give us like tips and things to form an application for the nursing program. And I think that would be really helpful and I could definitely use that a lot. And I think the other girls could too. And I think that peer to peer interaction, too, right, to get to know a group of peers that, you know, you can identify with. And you know, and I know that I can speak for our men in nursing group. That's been great because, you know, if you have, you know, kind of a group that's not as well-represented in the college overall, it can seem like there's you know, it kind of- you kind of feel isolated. And so that peer to peer, how does that work? Have you seen any benefits from that peer to peer interaction? I think so. I think it definitely does help. I think like all the girls like as a whole, like in the club, like we all know that we all come from like minorities in that we all kind of like see a little bit of each other, like in all of us. And I think that's one of the most important things about representation is like being able to identify with other people, because that's like one of the goals of the Multicultural Nursing Student Association to promote like diversity and not only like just have people that like are representing minorities in health care, but also inspiring other people to take on jobs in health care because they see other people working there. That's great. Right. Because when you can see somebody who looks like you, it makes you feel like you actually have a space that you can belong in. Exactly. Yeah. How else can these organizations create and foster a sense of belonging here at the College of Nursing? I know when I previously worked at the Center for Gender and Sexuality in the Flint campus of U of M, that it was so important to have that kind of network for other queer students to feel like they had that sense of belonging. But how does it feel from your shoes as a current student? I think one of the most important things that like makes the club kind of give everyone a sense of belonging is that we're all like most of the girls, I think are all pre-nursing students. So we're all kind of like building ourselves up to apply to the program and also coming to MSU like it is a predominantly white, like, campus. And I think it's good to like have those networking skills and connection with other like minority groups. I think it's one of the good things that comes out of being in the club. I think they also provide like a safe space for all of the girls to kind of just be able to talk about like racial issues and not feel like kind of like there's any judgment. Also, like, we can relate on a lot of like things like a lot of I know a lot of the other Hispanic girls like we all talked about, like our family traditions. And I think that that's something that kind of like makes you feel more at home, more at ease, like being away from your family and everything, having like a separate family, part of the club. It's awesome, that sense of community, you know, that's really important. So important to have that sense of community. You know, as far as like, you know, increasing our diversity, equity, inclusion. What do you see as ways that we can foster that and create some more diversity here in the College of Nursing or even at MSU? Mm. I think that some of the events, like I remember when I first came to campus, I remember seeing an event about like Latino student like Welcome Week and I thought that was really cool. And they had like tacos and they showed like all the different, like, um, fraternities and sororities that were like Latino. And I thought that was really interesting. I thought maybe like something like that, similar to like the College of Nursing, like maybe a welcome week for all, like students of color or like first generation students. I think that would be like interesting or like a meet and mingle dinner. I think that would be, um, helpful. What are you looking forward to with your education here at MSU? I'm looking forward to building connections, being able to network with a lot of different people. I'm excited to hopefully maybe one day be part of like the College of Nursing and be able to like actually do clinicals and learn a lot and actually like be able to do hands on like nursing. And I think I'm really excited to learn all of that. And what got you into nursing? Well, my mother, she is an oncology nurse at Rush Hospital in Chicago. And so she definitely has inspired me a lot because since I was young, like, I remember her going through school and like how hard it was on her and then how like rewarding her job is now. And when she would like come home and tell the stories of her patients and like her patients would like give her gifts and stuff and I remember like meeting some of them and like going to her job. And I just remember thinking it was the coolest thing in the world. Like to be at a hospital working with like so many different people. And I always just like, like that scene of like working in the hospital. So when you were talking to your mom about different stories, is there anything as far as, you know, identifying, you know, as a Latino nurse? Is there anything, any barriers or anything that she's faced throughout her career or anything that you've talked to her about? Because it seems like she's a great role model to you. Is there anything that maybe she's talked to you about? I think my mom, like as a Latina nurse, I think she's also helped to like close that gap as well. I think that she like for some of my cousins as well that are like younger, like she's been able to like help them get jobs at the hospital. And I know that she's told us before stories of like when translators haven't been able to get to the patient's room right away. They call my mom in immediately and they're like, Paola, like, help us. Like we don't understand, like what they want. And then my mom will come in and like talk to the patients. And I just remember her telling me that that like the look her patients give her like once they can finally like communicate freely in their native language with her. And she was able to translate and understand for them. I think that's something that is really heartfelt to me. And I've seen I've been at the hospital with my grandparents before and like I see how like they're all like lost, like trying to figure out what's happening and to have like a nurse that comes in, that speaks Spanish, that's able to explain everything in medical terms to them. I think it's really like relieving, and I think that that's another thing that we're trying to get at with closing the gap and making sure that there's no language barriers and health care. That's awesome. That's great. You know, I think as we increase our diversity in nursing and I think that it's great that the patients need to have, you know, people that they can identify with. And, you know, and that's and that goes through all of our, you know, groups and even gender identities and everything else. It's really important that patients have that because sometimes as patients, they really have some you know, it's scary anyway. And then if they are already there and they already feel kinda like isolated, kind of like, you know, you can feel as a student, the same thing as a patient. And I think it's really great that you shared that. That's awesome. And especially like my mom working in oncology, like I feel like there would be nothing scarier than to go into like your first session of chemo and not understanding anything and just being kind of like lost. And so I think that that's like really important that she does that and I admire that a lot. I think another thing that is important to highlight about closing the gap and as one of our goals in the Multicultural Nursing Association is that we also like are hoping that nurses of color and like minority nurses, um, not only are they like going on to like becoming nurses, but we also are hoping that we're promoting students to search for like further education, like getting a Ph.D. or a Masters or anything in nursing. I think that also having like your nursing teachers and like professionals like higher up in nursing is you see yourself in them. I think that that's another important thing to helping to improve diversity and equity. Yeah, I love that you mentioned that. You know, when we look at our faculty, you know, I know we have a goal of being more diverse, but currently it is not diverse. And so I think that there's a lot of opportunity there. So I really am glad that you mentioned that about faculty and leaders, because I think that's really important because as students can identify with those, maybe we'll have, you know, students that then want to become faculty, then want to become nurse leaders. And it really promotes that, which is great. And it just can kind of be like a maybe a snowball effect is what I what I would like to say[Music] We're honored to have Dr. Larissa Miller and Camila Rios join us on this episode of The Spartan Nurse Podcast. Dr. Larissa Miller, an assistant professor and coordinator of professional development at Michigan State University's College of Nursing, has over two decades of experience as a nurse educator. Her extensive career includes roles as a clinical hospital- hospital educator, lead professor, campus curriculum chairperson and simulation program coordinator. Larissa holds certifications as a ANCC Board Certified Nursing Professional Development Specialist and an NLN certified nursing educator. Her academic journey includes earning both Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in nursing at MSU, a Post-Master’s in Nursing Education at Northern Michigan University and a Ph.D. at Concordia University in Chicago, where her research focused on compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress in nursing and pointing to the Michigan Board of Nursing in 2021, Larissa contributes her expertise to its administrative roles and nursing education subcommittees. She's a key figure in Michigan's nursing development, serving on the Steering Committee for Michigan Professional Nursing Development, the executive board of the Michigan Health Council and the Michigan Nursing Action Coalition, Recognized as a 2022 MSU STEAMpower Arts Fellow. she remains committed to integrating the arts into nursing education, showcasing her dedication to a holistic and innovative approach in shaping the future of nursing. Currently, she's the faculty advisor of the College of Nursing's Multicultural Nursing Student Association. Welcome, Larissa. Thank you. Thank you for having me today. All right, Larissa, I have a hard hitting question for you. Can you share with me your roles and responsibilities as the advisor of the Multicultural Student Group and how it relates to nursing and health care overall? Oh, sure. So this is a new role for us here in the College of Nursing at MSU. And my role is really just to facilitate the group, to help the students get connected to us, to make sure that they have a meeting platform and that they have encouragement to set their own agendas. So mine is really just kind of a helpful role, and I've really enjoyed watching them grow into their own leadership roles. How do these groups play into DEI here at the College of Nursing? That's a good question. I know that these groups have not existed before this year in the College of Nursing. So these are new initiatives. And I really feel that that goes along with our new leadership here in the College. We have an assistant dean for Diversity, Equity and inclusion here in the college, Dr. Krista Walker. And this was really her brainchild to really not just have a nursing student association that welcomed everyone, but to break that down even further and make these, you know, these little bit deeper places for people to find connections. So this is one of our four nursing student associations that are new this year. And you're working with the state task force in the Michigan Nurse Survey. What are some key findings or insights regarding diversity in nursing education and practice? Yeah, that's a great question. I really applaud the work that is being done by the Michigan Nurses Survey here in Michigan. It's an annual survey. It goes out to every licensed nurse in Michigan. So one of the challenges there is just to get our nurses to respond. And in the last couple of years, we've noticed that there's some- some kind of really positive trends. And then there are some things really to continue to watch. One thing that we found in the 2023 survey of Michigan nurses is that our ethnic minorities are underrepresented overall in our nursing workforce here in Michigan. For instance, our black nurses at 4.4% of the overall nurses in Michigan, American Indian, 1.2% and our Hispanic or Latinx nurses at 1.9% of our overall population. And that doesn't really line up with the percentage of those populations in our general communities. So that's- that's kind of the great insight to have, but also kind of sets the stage for the work to be done. Great. So, Larissa, you're kind of an expert at you roll your eyes, but we know you're an expert and a leader here in the Michigan community as a whole, not just here at the college. So can you talk to me a little bit about the challenges for nurses in diverse backgrounds? Yeah, I think the overall challenges for nurses of diverse backgrounds is really to- to be encouraged to- to continue to move into educational systems, into licensure, and then to retain them in practice. I think that we are getting better at being more more devoted to encouraging that. It's not just about encouraging people to become nurses. We want them to to stay in our profession and become those future leaders. What are some initiatives that are helping to bridge those kind of gaps that you see, especially in higher education, education and leadership roles throughout Michigan and the country? Yeah, that's a great way to put it because it really points at so many different places where we can have impact. So here at the MSU College of Nursing, you know, we're looking at things like our admissions and trying to approach things differently and digging into that, knowing that traditional systems may not really benefit us anymore. I think that's occurring at lots of schools of nursing nationwide. So it's cultivating that sense of belonging that- that students that come here can find their place. It's also looking at, you know, retaining them once they are a student that that persistence, helping them get to graduation. And then right after that, taking the NCLEX, our national certification exam and helping them get the success that they need. That is one of those pieces that's also kind of being collaborative- collaboratively worked on. So the national councils of State Boards of Nursing, NCSB, and they're the ones who write that licensure exam and they have really rewritten that exam to be more accessible, to be a better measure of student success, and to pay attention to what that means for students of different cultures and backgrounds. How is continuing education playing into filling these gaps that we're seeing? That's a great question. It does mean that we definitely have a place in educating our nurses and educating faculty and also our communities that we're interacting with, so nurses out in practice, on topics like what does implicit bias mean? What- what is the- how can we influence the care of LGBTQ patients? How can we be more welcoming to- to men in nursing? So professional development, we can put together learning modules that address some of these disparities. What is is there anything being done at the state level? I think there's a lot of attention being paid right now to transition to practice. I know at the state, we- we have a learning module on that transition of practice and that's important for our nurses of color and nurses of diverse backgrounds because it helps them not only acclimate to those, those changing nursing roles, but to have success in that role. So paying attention to the post education world is important as well. How have you seen the progression of nursing education with regards to diversity? I think nursing education is starting to really pay attention to advanced degrees as a place for diverse nurses to shine. So statewide we've seen an increase in nurses that are pursuing graduate education, and that's really encouraging. It's encouraging because that means that our providers might start to really start representing their communities. It means that they're moving into those leadership roles where they have more of a voice. And I think that's, that's kind of the biggest trend that'll have the biggest influence in some upcoming years. What's one of your goals as an advisor for our multicultural group? I think my biggest goal is just to encourage these students to find their own voice and to use this as a place to- to test out and learn some of those leadership skills so that they feel confident, so that they feel confident as a part of the community and that they can take those skills post-graduation. So I just want to make sure that they feel involved and that they feel that they have input. And that's, you know, that can also be input into how the college functions and what they need as students. So I think it's a real entry point for them to really start having closer dialog with faculty and with the administration. Do you have anything you want us to know? I think one of the other things to pay attention to is definitely what's what's going on here in the college, what's going on in our state, but also what's going on nationally. And I know that when we're paying attention to reports like from the National Institutes of Health and the Institute for Medicine, we have reports coming out that are really giving us some of that guidance. In 2020, there was only 5.4% of RNs in our nation that are Latinx. But the greater population coming up here in 2060 is going to be 28% of the population is Latinx. So knowing that and kind of understanding that, we really can see what's needed. Institute of Medicine The Future of Nursing Report. The same thing, that one of their kind of core reporting items was to increase the diversity of nurses through advanced degrees and higher education. So I think making sure that we're aligned with some of that great data that's out there, being able to reflect on some some really national level data will help keep us informed. So, you know, as far as student diversity here in the College of Nursing, can you expand a little bit on the admissions process and how we're trying to adapt that to promote diversity here in the College? Yeah, I think the key point there is that we're looking at it right? We are knowing that we have to approach admissions a different way and that can be done a bunch of- a variety of ways, a variety of methods. It's everything from personal interviews, hearing people's stories and backgrounds, not something that's been traditionally included in student admissions, even personal essays and understanding that, you know, maybe that's not the best way for someone to represent themselves in the written format. So to really look at some different metrics for admission. If that succeeds and if we are encompassing more students from varied backgrounds, understanding that that may mean that the support may need to look differently if we do get more diversity, we want more diverse student support as well. Absolutely. Because we want to set everybody up for success. That's right. So, you know, we talked a bit about these student engagement groups that we have here at the College of Nursing. What do you see as an additional next step? Because I know that we're- now we've got these things up and going here. What are some additional next steps as far as working towards a more diverse community here at the College of Nursing? I think it's just to continue to recruit students to join these groups, to feel that place of belonging, communicating what the missions of those groups are. The mission of the Multicultural Student Nurses Association is to foster a supportive and inclusive environment that celebrates diversity and to promote cultural competence and empowering future nurses from all backgrounds. And that's not, you know, not language that every nursing student has been able to come across. So just making sure that that's visible and that that is accessible to all of our students so that they can come and find out more about how they can belong. So, you know, I'm interested as far as like the meeting format, how- what's usually talked about at the meetings, you have guest speakers, how does that kind of go with a multicultural group? Yeah, that's- we have switched to a hybrid format so students can attend from their dorm rooms or if they're off campus or even they can join us in person on campus. And that's just really promoting that accessibility piece. And then coming up in our next meeting, we actually have a guest lecturer from here at MSU in Career Services, who's going to come and talk about how to represent your background in your materials. So that could be anything from how to represent your culture and diversity in a job interview or in, you know, an application for a job and just really to celebrate and really bring that to the forefront for students as a part of them and who they represent and helping them communicate that. So that's coming up at our next meeting. That's great. And that goes hand-in-hand with that student support, right? Creating that supportive environment. So that's awesome. That also sounds like it's eliminating the barriers so it can be more equitable here at the College of Nursing. I know we have a long way to go, but from your eyes, what are kind of your goals to see equitability play out for our future nurses? I think it's really about hearing their stories and understanding their points of view, and that's to incorporate that into education and to incorporate that into our working as staff and as faculty and administrators. I think that's really just, you know, a change that's occurring. And I think that's, that's a great move for the College. So, Larissa, now that we're talking about holistic admissions, why is that so important to train nurses that have diverse backgrounds to impact our communities? Yeah, that's- that's a great question. And it's kind of really a big subject. Nurses traditionally have been kind of overrepresented as white females, and we know that that's not true for all the communities where our people live. Certainly here in Michigan and also nationwide. And so ethnic minorities and diverse populations are underrepresented in the nursing workforce. And we know that that is, it's a concern because we have such large health disparities. We want our communities to feel to feel represented, but also to feel recognized and understood. And we saw that with COVID, when COVID really showed us the disparities between different populations and that access to care piece. So it's encouraging our nurses that are diverse to stay here in Michigan, to practice here, but to get connected back to the community. And then the communities see themselves reflected in the health care workforce. You know, and as a patient in the health care environment, you know, it can be very you know, trust can be an issue, right? So, you know, you can have issues with trust. And if you have, you know, provider that you can identify with that's so, so important for patients to be able to have that from a trust standpoint. Mm hmm. You know, whether that's, you know, racial, ethnic identity or, you know, gender identity as well, I think that's really important. So, Larissa, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you, Harley. And thanks, Mike. This is really just my delight and I'm just so thrilled to be a part of this initiative and to to offer anything I can to our students. It's something I didn't have when I was a student here. I really struggled when I was an undergraduate, and I'm just so grateful that I can pass some of that forward to today's students. Well, thank you for sharing that with us today. And thank you for sharing with all of our listeners on our Spartan Nurse podcast. And we're grateful for your impact here at the College. Thank you. Thanks a lot. Who will? Spartan Nurses will! To find your breaking news and latest updates within the College of Nursing. Please refer to our website at nursing.msu.edu You can also find us on our social media platforms at MichStNursing[Music]