At onset of pandemic, University St. Thomas launched new health college

For the first time, University of St. Thomas students can earn a nursing degree, thanks to a new health college that quietly launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. The public health crisis added urgency and purpose to the nascent program, named the Morrison Family College of Health.

Today, 46 new graduate nursing students are enrolled, working toward a degree that is urgently needed in a health care system upended by the pandemic.

“There’s been excitement for a long time, and now that it’s become a reality, it’s a point of pride,” said Martha Scheckel, founding director of the School of Nursing.

The Morrison Family College of Health, located in the Summit Classroom Building on UST’s St. Paul campus, was named and formally established in late 2019 with a $25 million gift from John M. Morrison and Susan Schmid Morrison, a Florida-based couple who have been generous, longtime donors to St. Thomas. They shared the university’s vision for a wholistic college that trains health care providers and leaders to address the physical, mental, social and spiritual needs of their patients, administrators said.

The college is comprised of four departments, three of which already existed at St. Thomas: social work; psychology; health and exercise science; and nursing, the new addition. This fall, the nursing program launched at a graduate level. Next fall, it will begin offering undergraduate courses. Leaders hope to add a physician’s assistant program to the school in the future.

Once the nursing program is fully operational, the college expects a total combined enrollment of 1,250 undergraduate and graduate students, which would double the enrollment of the three pre-existing programs and make the Morrison Family College of Health the third largest college at St. Thomas. The college is directed by MayKao Hang, the founding dean.

Morrison was designed to be cross-curricular, allowing students in one program to learn from the others. Hang and Scheckel are designing coursework that integrates these programs. For example, the new nursing students join social work students for a whole-person well-being course.

“Now we’re co-located with social work, so we see social work faculty in the hallway and there is cross-collaboration occurring even in day-to-day communication,” Scheckel said. “It’s poking holes in the silos. We can inspire one another.”

Nurses who have a well-rounded, interprofessional education are linked with patient safety and quality outcomes, she added.

Shaped by COVID

This was made clear during the pandemic, which shaped every element of the nursing school’s development.

“It fueled the passion and the purpose and the urgency,” Scheckel said.

For starters, COVID exacerbated the nursing shortage, reaching a level she has never before seen. “It’s perfect timing for the School of Nursing,” she said.

On a subtler level, the pandemic guided their planning. “It informed how we’re going about our work and the way in which we are preparing students to enter practice,” Scheckel said.

For instance, the new nursing students are learning about self-care and resilience, an important education at a time of widespread burnout among nurses. Scheckel is practicing what she preaches: She’s working with the YMCA to launch a health-coaching program for faculty and staff. “It’ll be part of a broader initiative to say, ‘Here’s the tune-up we need in order to model this for students.”

For Scheckel, who has steady practices around adequate sleep, healthy diet and regular exercise, that “tuneup” can center on spiritual renewal.

“I try to find ways to re-energize,” she said. “They have Mass here at noon, so there are days where I’m going to Mass. It’s very centering. If you’re connecting spirituality, you’re always getting recharged on the mission and the purpose and why you’re here, at this particular time in your life, doing what feels like God’s work.”

Another biproduct of the pandemic: It brought about a smoother adaptation of technology. The nursing students are benefiting from an iPad program that gives them “everything they need at their fingertips,” Scheckel said.

Wholistic learning

From the onset, the aim of the Morrison Family College of Health has been to train health care professionals who understand that the body, mind and soul are connected — a Catholic belief that resonates for nurses, Scheckel said.

“That’s always been a given for us,” she said. “Nurses take care of the whole person. Because there seems to be a significant focus on acute care, we’re increasing our emphasis on community, public health care across all the dimensions. That creates a different way of looking at people, an expanded worldview that isn’t just confined to one course but very intentional partnerships.”

For example, the nursing students are partnering with the Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District, a nonprofit that aims to create a clean, safe, vibrant downtown. “By having students on site to help with public education or do a community assessment we can increase our engagement and visibility with an eye toward health,” Dr. Scheckel said.

For the nursing school’s first students, that wholistic emphasis was a big draw.

It’s a big reason Christopher-Jerell Edwards, a 28-year-old nurse aide from Missouri, enrolled. “A wholistic view of health care is something I strive to provide to my patients, even now as an NA. It’s all intertwined — treating a person physically, spiritually, psychologically. I appreciate that St. Thomas is taking the lead in integrating these dimensions, as they were meant to be.”

Edwards said he is guided by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a pyramid of needs starting with basic physiological needs such as food, shelter and sleep, and reaching up to self-actualization. Sometimes a patient who arrives at the ER needs a sandwich or warm clothes, he said. When he was caring for a man nearing death, for instance, he sensed the primary nurse was busy and took it upon himself to be present with that patient. “He wanted someone to sit with him and just be in that moment. I was there when he passed away. Not everyone who goes into health care is given the gift to be able to just listen to a patient, to have an open-posture demeanor where patients feel accepted and able to talk to you.”

COVID underscored the need for this approach, he said. “Let’s look at this person as a whole, not as a series of check boxes before we can send them on their way. I want to be a leader who understands that we’re here to treat patients as persons. COVID showed me how broken of a system we have. I want to be part of creating a system that’s better.”

His classmate, Sarah Abuisnaineh, a 25-year-old from Brooklyn Park, agreed. “There needs to be a huge change, a more wholistic approach to health care,” she said. “I feel compelled to be part of the solution.”

Abuisnaineh has a child psychology degree and currently works as a nurse aide, working in assisted-living settings and nursing homes. Her instructors this fall are teaching her how to really see her patients. “We’re learning about the well-being of the patient and how to notice the small things that other nurses might not notice, how to really be there for them emotionally and how to communicate with them,” she said.

The emphasis on collaboration among other departments is also appreciated, said Abuisnaineh, who makes a point to communicate with the social worker on site.

She aspires to get her doctorate after completing St. Thomas’ nursing school. “I know this program will set me up for that,” she said. “It feels amazing to be in the very first class. It feels better than I even imagined.”

Scheckel shares her enthusiasm. “To see this spectacular group of students come in has been very rewarding, to help write this chapter of life at St. Thomas. I want to give so much thanks to the university and everyone who saw this through.”