Like the Bering Strait links the United States to Russia, Dickinson State University nursing staff hopes to form a bridge with a delegation from the Krasnoyarsk region.
The Russian delegation consists of Krasnoyarsk State Medical Academy professors, students of the academy and the chief nurse of the Regional Clinical Hospital.
"The initial plans we have in mind, it's to learn better how the system of providing care to patients works," said Dr. Yury Pats, dean of the nursing faculty in Krasnoyarsk.
A few of the delegation members present on education and nursing in Russia at 3:30 p.m. on Monday in DSU's Beck Auditorium. The presentation is open to the public and free of charge.
The purposes of the trip, though, are many. Pats, who spoke through a translator, said along with understanding the health care system, the delegation wants to learn to utilize something similar to DSU's extended campus offerings.
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"This is the new trend on how to train and professional develop students, to understand what direction to take and how we might avoid making some of the mistakes that are unavoidable when starting," Pats said.
Another aspect of the trip is to allow students the opportunity to see how nursing works in other countries, in the hopes they take the best of what they learn back to their classmates.
"It might be a tool to attract other people into this profession, because we do have the problem in terms of training people in the nursing profession," Pats said.
Like the U.S., Russia has a similar difficulty in attracting people to the nursing profession.
DSU's nursing department Chair Dr. Mary Anne Marsh said that's not the only similarity between the two countries.
"Physicians there have too much to do; it's hard to focus on their medical care," Marsh said. "It's interesting because that's how health care evolved in the U.S. too."
She said doctors needed to be able to see more patients, which led the nursing faculty to take on additional roles.
For Natalya Fomina, chief nurse of the Regional Clinical Hospital, helping professional nurses take on new responsibilities is why she came along with the delegation.
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"I would like to find out, which is of major concern and interest to nurses, is to see ways to organize care, the system of care, to see how professional development works after students get their degree," Fomina said through an interpreter.
Fomina came on behalf of the regional hospital and the chief hospital Administrator Dr. Boris Machtakov. The hospital serves the entire Krasnoyarsk region, which is about the size of the U.S. and has a population of 3 million.
While the group is here, it plans to go to hospitals and long-term care facilities here and in Bismarck. Pats said the delegation opted to tour long-term care facilities because Russia doesn't have such services for its elderly population.
"They just stay in hospitals," Pats said. "The problem with that is those types of patients occupy beds that are for people with emergencies."
Dr. Tatiana Kamaeva, who is a professor at the medical academy and a gynecologist, said she is interested in collaborative research. Kamaeva, who visited DSU with a delegation last year, said she would also like to learn the social reasons couples in the U.S. choose to reproduce.
The group also plans to visit the North Dakota Board of Nursing on Wednesday. Marsh said the group is interested in learning how the U.S. certifies its nurses.
This trip is sponsored by the medical academy, with the support of its Rector Ivan Artyukhov. The delegation stays for about a week.
