University Times

Why do hospitals give baths to newborn babies? Newborns are prone to chilling. Their core body temperatures can plunge suddenly. Is it really a good idea to soak them, then expose them to room temperatures?

Susan Albrecht asks questions like that in her nursing education classes, made up mainly of practicing nurses who are seeking graduate degrees in order to teach.

"The idea is to inspire students to question inconsistencies and critically examine issues in nursing," says Albrecht, an associate professor in Pitt's School of Nursing. "You want them to ask themselves, What's the best way? Maybe it's not the way we've always done it."

For example, it might be better to bathe newborns with a new, anti-bacterial soap that doesn't require rinsing, Albrecht suggests.

"I'm a firm believer in active learning, in which students get involved in their own education," says the recent Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award winner.

Albrecht's classes feature role-playing and exercises intended to show future teachers that what they say in class isn't always what their students hear.

She encourages undergrads and doctoral students alike to participate in research projects such as the Pregnant Teen Smoking Cessation Intervention, of which Albrecht is principal investigator. (The project, aimed at finding the most effective approach to help pregnant girls quit smoking, is the largest funded research study in the Pitt nursing school's history.) Albrecht works with her students to write contracts spelling out each student's goals for a given semester — or decade, in some cases.

Caroline Armfield, who teaches pediatric nursing at Pitt, credits Albrecht with helping to make her dream come true.

"When I started taking nursing education classes, as electives, I did not realize what doors it would open for me," Armfield wrote, in nominating Albrecht for the chancellor's teaching award. "The first day of class, Dr. Albrecht asked us to write down where we saw ourselves, professionally, in 10 years. I am now on the career path that I wrote down that day: the path of a tenure-track professor, who does research, at a major university.

"Dr. Albrecht gave me confidence and encouragement….She had the insight and experience to guide me in the right direction, and I may not have discovered my passion for teaching if it were not for her."

Students and colleagues describe Albrecht as a caring mentor, inspiring role model and innovative teacher. For example, Albrecht divides her "Design and Process of Instruction" class into groups of 3-4 students and asks them to act out clinical nursing issues for their fellow students. Each group picks its own issue, subject to Albrecht's approval.

"One of the groups did a presentation on domestic violence," she recalls. "One of the female students played the role of a woman patient who had been kicked in the stomach, but who pretended that she'd fallen down some steps. A male student played her overbearing husband, who insisted on trying to make all of the decisions for his wife.

"A third student played a nurse who interacted with the couple. Eventually, she got the injured woman to tell her what had really happened, that she hadn't really fallen down the steps but had been kicked by her husband.

"The point is, that kind of exercise gets students involved in their own learning. After the scene was acted out, the whole class discussed how to deal with issues of domestic violence in a clinical environment."

Other role-playing scenes make use of the nursing school's learning laboratory, which features IVs, oxygen tanks and other operating room equipment. "It allows our students to learn in an environment where they can make mistakes without risk to anyone's health," Albrecht says.

To give students insights into the nature of classroom learning, Albrecht employs a method of active learning called constructivism. In one constructivist exercise, Albrecht let her students glimpse the following sentence on a blackboard: "You can put the the saddle on the horse." Then she covered the sentence and asked students to repeat what they had read. No one noticed the extra "the" between the words "put" and "saddle."

"It's an exercise intended to show how the mind comprehends things, and that you have to be careful of the speed at which you teach," Albrecht says. "What you teach in the classroom is not always what is heard by your students."

Research indicates that it takes the average student — or hospital patient — five repetitions before information is retained in short-term memory, she points out.

Albrecht became interested in nursing education when she worked as a critical care staff nurse for the South Hills Health System after graduating with a B.S.N. degree from Pitt in 1975.

"When I worked as a full-time nurse right after graduation, I regularly saw 45-year-old nurses falling asleep after 12-hour shifts," Albrecht recalls. "Or, they'd sit down for a break and just look exhausted. I saw that I needed to continue my education in order, later on in life, to not have to pound hospital floors for 40-plus hours every week."

Albrecht returned to Pitt for her M.N. in maternity nursing (1978) and Ph.D. in curriculum and supervision (1981). In 1991, she received her master's of public management from Carnegie Mellon University.

She started teaching here in 1977 and worked with undergraduates for 10 years before moving on to teach in the graduate program.

To keep up-to-date with the clinical world, Albrecht works part-time at South Hills Health System's Jefferson Center in West Mifflin. She loves the work, Albrecht says, although she witnesses scenes that seem to validate the old saying, "Nurses eat their young."

"Veteran nurses can be the worst critics of new nurses," Albrecht explains. "They can be very impatient. I think that's unfortunate."

The adjective "compassionate" appears consistently in reviews of Albrecht's teaching.

Katherine J. Perozzi, a former student and current nursing school instructor, says she was a 32-year-old "uninspired sophomore" and mother of two when she met Albrecht. Albrecht took time to discuss Perozzi's misgivings about a career in maternity nursing. She even invited Perozzi to visit her clinical site (offering to carpool with Perozzi to the site, to shorten the student's commute).

Perozzi says Albrecht later approached her about seeking a Pitt undergraduate teaching fellowship.

"With her help, my proposal was accepted, and with her support and guidance I produced a teaching module and videotape on supporting the breastfeeding mother, for exclusive use by the undergraduate nursing students," Perozzi recalls. "Without Sue's encouragement, I would never have attempted such an endeavor."

"What have I learned in 23 years of teaching?" Albrecht ponders. "Well, I've learned that every person who comes to a classroom or clinical setting has their own field of experience, and they have so much to offer.

"Sometimes, faculty members will tell young students that they don't have what it takes to become a good nurse. That's so difficult to say, whether you're talking about undergraduates or even graduate students. Students who appear not to be interested, or seem anxious to get out the door, are frequently the ones who end up becoming the best nurses and nurse-educators.

"It may be that they're frustrated with the lecture situation — they need to be more involved, in a learning lab or clinical setting. If I've learned anything, it's to be a better listener and try and understand the background my students are coming from."

— Bruce Steele

This is one in a series of Pitt Teachers on Teaching stories that appear periodically in the University Times.