“She who dares nothing ...”
She Who Dares Nothing ...
Who dares nothing,
need hope for nothing. –
J.C.F. von Schiller
By Kathleen Freimuth
Daring and sacrifice characterize the journeys of Amal Abu-Awad, Shamim Usman, and Sasithorn
Laimek — three international students enrolled in the PhD program at the University of Wisconsin–
Madison School of Nursing.
“If you want to improve life for your children, you must improve yourself,” says Abu-Awad, a Fulbright
Scholar who knew opportunity would entail sacrifice. She left Jerusalem, where her husband and two
children live, taking a leave of absence from Ibn Sina Nursing and Midwifery College in Beitunia,
Palestine, in order to pursue her goals.
Abu-Awad’s research aims to improve the skills of public health nurses in Palestine in order to
provide community-based health care for mothers and infants discharged from the hospital. “In Palestine,
there is a high mortality rate of infants below five years of age,” Abu-Award says. “Both moms and
children experience a high rate of anemia, malnutrition, and diabetes. Families need more awareness
about the foods they eat.”
As dean at Ibn Sina and with prior practical experience as a neonatal nurse, Abu-Awad understands
not only the compelling needs of infants and children, but the need to improve nursing standards of
practice in order to better health outcomes. “Quality improvement of health practices remains a big
challenge to the nursing and education professions,” says Abu-Awad. “We have no national licensure
exam, like the NCLEX in the U.S., to guarantee the quality of education.”
Who dares nothing,
need hope for nothing. –
J.C.F. von Schiller
By Kathleen Freimuth
Daring and sacrifice characterize the journeys of Amal Abu-Awad, Shamim Usman, and Sasithorn
Laimek — three international students enrolled in the PhD program at the University of Wisconsin–
Madison School of Nursing.
“If you want to improve life for your children, you must improve yourself,” says Abu-Awad, a Fulbright
Scholar who knew opportunity would entail sacrifice. She left Jerusalem, where her husband and two
children live, taking a leave of absence from Ibn Sina Nursing and Midwifery College in Beitunia,
Palestine, in order to pursue her goals.
Abu-Awad’s research aims to improve the skills of public health nurses in Palestine in order to
provide community-based health care for mothers and infants discharged from the hospital. “In Palestine,
there is a high mortality rate of infants below five years of age,” Abu-Award says. “Both moms and
children experience a high rate of anemia, malnutrition, and diabetes. Families need more awareness
about the foods they eat.”
As dean at Ibn Sina and with prior practical experience as a neonatal nurse, Abu-Awad understands
not only the compelling needs of infants and children, but the need to improve nursing standards of
practice in order to better health outcomes. “Quality improvement of health practices remains a big
challenge to the nursing and education professions,” says Abu-Awad. “We have no national licensure
exam, like the NCLEX in the U.S., to guarantee the quality of education.”
Political unrest in Palestine’s Gaza Strip threatens the activities of daily life. “For the patient, just getting to the facility is difficult; for
the health care nurse, getting to the residence is very conflicted,” Abu- Awad says, adding that the turnover of key personnel because of
government upheaval makes improvements to practice difficult.
Under the mentorship of Susan Zahner, DrPH, RN, associate professor of nursing, Abu-Awad will examine methods of public health
nursing education and ways to improve practice. “Research provides opportunities to investigate what is best for societies based on
evidence, culture, needs, and personal values,” says Abu- Awad. “My Ph.D. education can prepare me to participate in reforming
Palestine’s health care system, which is suffering from a shortage of health planners and a very complex political situation.”
Like Abu-Awad, classmate Shamim Usman is a distinguished Fulbright scholar. Because Pakistan offers no doctoral nursing program,
Usman also dared to leave family and career to seize educational opportunity.
Completing her baccalaureate degree from the Aga Khan University (AKU) in Karachi, Usman began as head nurse in the AKU Hospital’
s newborn ICU. She later accepted the role of pediatric nurse manager.
Participating in strategic conversations with hospital decision makers, Usman says, “made me want to better understand the terms of
finance, economics, and hospital administration.” She decided to pursue her MBA at the International University in Missouri/Pakistan
Campus. Leadership roles ensued as associate director at Children’s Hospital Quetta and as director of quality management at Karachi’s
Patel Hospital, from which she has currently taken leave of absence.
Under the mentorship of Mary Ellen Murray, Ph.D., RN, who studies health care systems using economic analysis strategies, Usman is
examining the building of effective health care systems through prudent use of human resources. Leadership development within the
nursing profession is crucial to the infrastructure, notes Usman, adding that nursing leadership is lacking in Pakistan’s hospitals.
“Pakistan is, historically, a patriarchal society,” Usman says, “but female doctors exude leadership skills, assertiveness, and
confidence, as do women in other professions. Therefore, I believe the challenge does not necessarily lie in socio-cultural factors, but
within the health care environment.
“Most of the schools of nursing are under hospital administration,” Usman says. “Nursing curriculum and infrastructure need to meet
the requirements of the growing demands of the nursing profession. When a robust, quality educational environment exists, nursing
leadership skills are cultivated.”
Usman’s pursuit of learning, she says, has also exacted a toll on those closest to her. “My father sacrificed to give me a quality
education as a young girl. My husband and children, Asma and Muhammad Farhan, have sacrificed as well to advance my career. I hope
that I am able to give back through the research I’ll conduct here at UW–Madison.”
Also under Murray’s guidance, Sasithorn Laimek left home and family to research ways of improving health care services in Thailand.
Her early experiences as an RN in the early 1990s triggered concerns over ineffective use of resources in delivery of care.
“I worked in a tertiary care setting that served eight provinces,” Laimek says. “One doctor took care of more than 100 patients a day in an
outpatient care unit. Not only was access to care difficult, because many patients traveled long distances, but many were Muslim and
could not speak Thai — a real challenge to quality care.”
Some years later, Laimek moved to Madison as the spouse of a visiting faculty member to the UW. During her two-year stay, she
earned an MBA from Edgewood College. While putting together a year-end team project, recalls Laimek, one of the team members raised
the issue of nurses’ pivotal role in effective health care systems. “This was key to the direction I would take,” she notes.
Returning to Thailand, she secured a lecturer position in the Department of Administration of Nursing Education and Nursing Services
at Prince of Songkla University. Here, she researched the relationship of stress, coping, and quality of life with quality of nursing services
among clients in the Yala and Narathiwat provinces.
“As nurses, we can influence the level and effectiveness of received services, but it takes managing of resources differently,” says
Laimek. This conviction drove her to search for a suitable Ph.D. program in nursing.
Laimek found what she wanted at the UW–Madison — a program providing a strong scientific base in nursing theory and early and
continuous training in the conduct of research. “Change is guided by research,” says Laimek. “I’m just a tiny part of a large profession,
but the research gained at this university will serve me well in helping to improve nursing services in Thailand.”
(Reprinted with permission from Nursing Dimensions, vol. 5, no. 1).
the health care nurse, getting to the residence is very conflicted,” Abu- Awad says, adding that the turnover of key personnel because of
government upheaval makes improvements to practice difficult.
Under the mentorship of Susan Zahner, DrPH, RN, associate professor of nursing, Abu-Awad will examine methods of public health
nursing education and ways to improve practice. “Research provides opportunities to investigate what is best for societies based on
evidence, culture, needs, and personal values,” says Abu- Awad. “My Ph.D. education can prepare me to participate in reforming
Palestine’s health care system, which is suffering from a shortage of health planners and a very complex political situation.”
Like Abu-Awad, classmate Shamim Usman is a distinguished Fulbright scholar. Because Pakistan offers no doctoral nursing program,
Usman also dared to leave family and career to seize educational opportunity.
Completing her baccalaureate degree from the Aga Khan University (AKU) in Karachi, Usman began as head nurse in the AKU Hospital’
s newborn ICU. She later accepted the role of pediatric nurse manager.
Participating in strategic conversations with hospital decision makers, Usman says, “made me want to better understand the terms of
finance, economics, and hospital administration.” She decided to pursue her MBA at the International University in Missouri/Pakistan
Campus. Leadership roles ensued as associate director at Children’s Hospital Quetta and as director of quality management at Karachi’s
Patel Hospital, from which she has currently taken leave of absence.
Under the mentorship of Mary Ellen Murray, Ph.D., RN, who studies health care systems using economic analysis strategies, Usman is
examining the building of effective health care systems through prudent use of human resources. Leadership development within the
nursing profession is crucial to the infrastructure, notes Usman, adding that nursing leadership is lacking in Pakistan’s hospitals.
“Pakistan is, historically, a patriarchal society,” Usman says, “but female doctors exude leadership skills, assertiveness, and
confidence, as do women in other professions. Therefore, I believe the challenge does not necessarily lie in socio-cultural factors, but
within the health care environment.
“Most of the schools of nursing are under hospital administration,” Usman says. “Nursing curriculum and infrastructure need to meet
the requirements of the growing demands of the nursing profession. When a robust, quality educational environment exists, nursing
leadership skills are cultivated.”
Usman’s pursuit of learning, she says, has also exacted a toll on those closest to her. “My father sacrificed to give me a quality
education as a young girl. My husband and children, Asma and Muhammad Farhan, have sacrificed as well to advance my career. I hope
that I am able to give back through the research I’ll conduct here at UW–Madison.”
Also under Murray’s guidance, Sasithorn Laimek left home and family to research ways of improving health care services in Thailand.
Her early experiences as an RN in the early 1990s triggered concerns over ineffective use of resources in delivery of care.
“I worked in a tertiary care setting that served eight provinces,” Laimek says. “One doctor took care of more than 100 patients a day in an
outpatient care unit. Not only was access to care difficult, because many patients traveled long distances, but many were Muslim and
could not speak Thai — a real challenge to quality care.”
Some years later, Laimek moved to Madison as the spouse of a visiting faculty member to the UW. During her two-year stay, she
earned an MBA from Edgewood College. While putting together a year-end team project, recalls Laimek, one of the team members raised
the issue of nurses’ pivotal role in effective health care systems. “This was key to the direction I would take,” she notes.
Returning to Thailand, she secured a lecturer position in the Department of Administration of Nursing Education and Nursing Services
at Prince of Songkla University. Here, she researched the relationship of stress, coping, and quality of life with quality of nursing services
among clients in the Yala and Narathiwat provinces.
“As nurses, we can influence the level and effectiveness of received services, but it takes managing of resources differently,” says
Laimek. This conviction drove her to search for a suitable Ph.D. program in nursing.
Laimek found what she wanted at the UW–Madison — a program providing a strong scientific base in nursing theory and early and
continuous training in the conduct of research. “Change is guided by research,” says Laimek. “I’m just a tiny part of a large profession,
but the research gained at this university will serve me well in helping to improve nursing services in Thailand.”
(Reprinted with permission from Nursing Dimensions, vol. 5, no. 1).
International graduate
students (from left) Amal Abu-
Awad, Sasithorn Laimek, and
Shamim Usman.
— Photo by Brad Fedie
students (from left) Amal Abu-
Awad, Sasithorn Laimek, and
Shamim Usman.
— Photo by Brad Fedie