Ara Nursing Head Takes Up Prestigious Honorary Position At Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Karen Edgecombe, the Academic Manager/Co-Head of Nursing at Ara, has been invited to take up an honorary position as a ‘Vice Teaching Dean’ at Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (LNUTCM).
She is already in place as ‘joint lead’ of the shared Bachelor of Nursing degree programme which was announced in July 2020, and commenced in September of last year. Even though COVID has issued challenges to students in China who have had to learn via remote technology, students are now onto their third paper, with levels of commitment to furthering their education remaining high.
Ms. Edgecombe will continue to lead and develop the joint curriculum offering shared between Ara and LNUTCM; as well as encourage increasing participation in nursing-related academic exchanges and assist with teacher training programmes for visiting LNUTCM staff when inbound travel becomes possible. In the very near term, Trish Thomson from HPR will be participating in an online academic exchange, during which she will present to staff there the 'disaster preparedness project' which recently won an Ara Teaching Award. Part of this academic exchange will involve LNUTCM formally conferring upon Ms. Edgecombe her new position.
“This recognition through an honorary deanship will further strengthen the collaboration between the two institutions - especially given that our Chinese colleagues and governing bodies place a very high value upon international relationships and education, which helps to position our collaboration even more favourably ahead of any review by the Chinese authorities” says Ms. Edgecombe.
Liaoning University was founded in 1958, and is the only tertiary institution in Liaoning Province to provide training towards the integration of Chinese traditional and Western medicines within the context of clinical practice, nursing and other health practice-related disciplines.
Globally there have been a number of prestigious medical institutions including the Mayo Clinic, the University of California in San Francisco, and Duke University Medical Center, who have teams working to find ways to combine the best practices of TCM and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments originating from with the Western medical tradition. Recently the American College of Physicians has changed its guidelines for first-line lower back pain treatment, now recommending acupuncture and other CAM treatments.
Research is ongoing into the precise ways in which TCM’s wholistic view of wellness and its focus upon imbalances within an integrated system can benefit from Western science and technology. Conversely, as modern Western medical and nursing practices starts to embrace a more precision or personalized approach, the individualised methodology of TCM experts may well be able to inform the education of nurses and their subsequent practice.
Ara and LNUTCM have since 2020 jointly offered a ‘3+2’ joint’ program during which students study for their first three years at LNUTCM before completing their fourth and fifth years at Ara; a process which will result in their receiving two Bachelor of Nursing degrees, one from each institution. This will ultimately increase the number of cross-culturally competent nursing practitioners throughout New Zealand and students’ home countries.
Ara and LNUTCM staff from the relevant departments will also in the future travel between the two organizations, teaching and learning from their international colleagues.
Tony Gray, Chief Executive of Ara, says of the appointment "I’ve worked with over 20 Chinese Universities since 1996 and this is only the second ‘honorary’ position I ever have seen given; this is therefore a huge testament to Karen’s contribution to our joint programme. I trust that it will also lead to even more faculty and learner opportunities with LNUTCM in the future.”