EDITORIAL
SCHOOL OF NURSING: 65 YEARS IN THE FORMATION OF HEALTH- AND LIFE-CARE PROFESSIONALS
With this special number by the Colombia Médica journal, we wish
to participate in the commemoration of the 65 years since the creation
of the School of Nursing at Universidad del Valle. This journal,
official organism of scientific diffusion at the University, joins this
celebration to manifest recognition and gratitude to the founders,
directors of the School and to the faculty staff who with their
tenacity, vision, and sense of pertinence have contributed to placing
this Academic Unit at the highest levels. There have been many
contributions during these six and a half decades, but perhaps, one
that gives us the most satisfaction is that of having been able to
contribute to the high-level formation of human talent in nursing, not
only at the local level but regionally, nationally, and
internationally. The graduates from the different undergraduate and
graduate programs can attest, through their outstanding professional
performance, of this contribution to society. This supplement seeks to
gather, besides the history of over half a century of our raison
d’être in nursing, some of the paths that have been marking
the perspective of the School. For this reason, we are presenting
themes like disciplinary development in nursing, which reflects the
multiple searches for the construction and projection of the exercise
of the profession noting that the future raises complex and unavoidable
challenges; likewise, the themes of student leadership and counseling
make us encounter the tensions experienced on a daily basis as an
institution dedicated to the formation of human talent in nursing,
given that we are urged to reflect and join efforts to question
ourselves critically on what type of human beings are being formed at
the University and what society will be built with them. Finally,
another path the School has been developing is the use of innovation
and communications technologies. This has been one of the bastions that
for over two decades have guided our teaching activities. In this
supplement, we present the experience that has facilitated the
formation in higher education of students with difficult access to
classroom education because they have to comply with different roles in
society, along with perspectives seen in this area. Readers will
also find in this supplement, texts that address the field of research
challenges in nursing and reflections on its social responsibility, as
well as call to delve into the work process and its relationship with
healthcare to permit analyzing the contributions from the different
components in the health of nursing workers. Possibly, Reading this
supplement will instigate readers’ thoughts, while contributing
to solve some of their doubts, but surely and most importantly is that
it will move them toward new challenges to think of and act in favor of
nursing.
Martha Lucía Vásquez Truissi, PhD
Full Professor, School of Nursing
Universidad del Valle
e-mail:maluvasq@gmail.com
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