Nursing prof keeps in touch

While most students are not used to seeing their professor outside the classroom, for the students in Nursing 370, this is just part of the curriculum -- a curriculum that Nursing professor Patricia Rogers makes extremely enjoyable.

In fact, the students in this required senior seminar seem to think so highly of Rogers that she received a perfect score -- that's the ideal 4.0 -- from them on the end-of-semester evaluation.

But just what makes a professor so utterly and completely "perfect"?

It's probably not the fact that she teaches a mandatory senior seminar that is worth three credits and requires 22 hours per week of class time.

But it could be that she refuses to lecture at her students, preferring to engage them with questions and focus on their needs. It might be because she pushes her students to the limit with hours in the field, making sure that they are ready to go out into the real nursing world. Or, it could also be that she guides them and nurtures them as mentees, always ready to write a recommendation or give them advice for an upcoming interview.

According to her students, it's a combination of all of the above.

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But in addition to being perfect -- at least according to www.penncoursereview.com -- she's perfectly modest.

"Absolutely not," she exclaims of alleged perfection, shaking her head as she attempts to not miss the right exit off the highway. "There's a lot of things I could do if I had the time."

Instead of her teaching, Rogers thinks that it is the nature of the class that students love.

"This course just lends itself to students loving it," she says, explaining that the students pick a specific interest in which they do their fieldwork training.

She is on her way to visit one of her current students who is working with outpatients at Living Independently for Elders in South Philadelphia. Rogers goes to visit her students weekly at their place of choice for the "fieldwork" component of Nursing 370, which includes clinical and classroom learning.

"I love working with new people transitioning into the workplace," Rogers says.

She thinks it's her friendliness and "flexibility to meet them halfway" that makes her students like her.

"I'll cut short what I have to say so that they can go get the experience that they need," she says. "Fieldwork is most important."

And that is exactly what she does on this visit. Her student, Nursing senior Barbara Squeri, needs to leave to go visit some patients alongside her nursing mentor, so Rogers attempts to cut short her visit with Squeri.

But that seems relatively hard to do, at least in light of their great and amiable student-teacher relationship.

While going over Squeri's logs -- she has to write weekly logs on her clinical experience at LIFE -- the two chat about classes, future plans, patients and a planned lunch with Squeri at the end of the semester.

In addition to these logs, Rogers may also choose to quiz her students about their clinical experiences.

"It's hard to quiz somebody without being threatening... but it's essential for the patient's safety," Rogers says.

And while Rogers may be flexible, she doesn't cut her students much slack. Her goal is to get them like working nurses by the end of the semester and she will "push, push, push" to get them there.

"I think I would like to see you get pressured... that's what real nursing is... having to make a choice," Rogers says to Squeri.

"She has to make sure everything's hard," Squeri adds with a laugh.

But although Rogers likes to challenge and push her students, the relationship is far from one-sided -- Rogers claims that she gains as much from her students as she imparts.

While Squeri is going over one of her log entries, Rogers comes across a procedure with which she is unfamiliar.

"What's an AIMS test?" she asks.

And as Squeri clarifies that it is simply an Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale that tells the nurse exactly how to test a patient, Rogers nods her head, while uttering a drawn out, "Ohhh."

"I've never seen one and it's wonderful," she adds, taking a copy for herself.

The elasticity of this student-teacher relationship is just another aspect of the job that Rogers loves, and her willingness to allow this to happen is probably why students think she's "perfect."

"I don't know everything, so that's one way to get students thinking," she says. "They teach me stuff."

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"She's a great teacher," Squeri says.

Rogers is busy scribbling down appointments in her overfilled planner, but she raises her head with a quizzical smile.

"I really do think you're wonderful," Squeri adds.

"She makes sure you do things that are important," Squeri says.

"She reminds you of the things that you did wrong without making you feel bad about it."

According to Squeri, Rogers concentrates on progress. As long as you show progress, you'll do just fine.

Now, with Rogers' visit wrapping up, Squeri tells her about a trip that occurred last week at LIFE. The nurses took a group of seniors to the dollar store, a daunting task because of the amount of care that goes into every single patient.

"Omigod... how cute is that?" Rogers exclaims as Squeri reminisces about how one of the patients couldn't decide what to purchase.

"That's great!"

"It's a very mentoring relationship," Rogers says of her job. "I try to get to that level with all my students, but sometimes, it's hard if I think they're not working hard."

Her students work hard, but Rogers works just as hard.

A demanding and yet understanding woman, she will return to her New Jersey home where writing an exam, grading papers and checking e-mail all await her.

Later that day, she will be with her husband, to whom she has been married for 15 years and her two children, an 11-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son.

In addition to her teaching position at Penn, Rogers also works as a nurse practitioner in an abortion clinic once a week.

"You have to keep your hands in," she says as she pulls up to Penn's campus in her blue Subaru station wagon. "That's just part of being a good nurse."

About this series Each year, the Penn Course Review ranks Penn's top professors. And throughout this week, The Daily Pennsylvanian has decided to take a look behind the scenes at a handful of professors from all four undergraduate schools to determine what makes these noted men and women so perfect.

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