Presenting theory and practice
By Matt Eisenberg '08
During her interview with Alumni Connect, a number of students knocked on Alison Dura's door. Teaching more than 300 students, it's no wonder she gets so many visitors. However, what amazes this Decker School of Nursing clinical lecturer is that even after her students hear her talk extensively in class, they still come back for more.
This could be the result of Dura's belief that "professors should be role models," and should connect with students on as many levels as possible. She believes in connecting with all of her students, regardless of whether they're fresh out of high school, or are older than she is herself.
"The point is to give students something to use when they leave this place," she says.
Dura teaches classes in pharmacology – the study of administering medicine – as well as pathophysiology, a branch of nursing that analyzes how the body can malfunction and why specific treatments are used. She relies on her own nursing background to keep students engaged with the material.
"Classes can be very factual, so I try to bridge the gap by connecting how they'll use these facts in practice," she says. "Spouting facts does not make a good nurse."
Though she currently teaches lectures and online courses, Dura looks forward to returning to the clinical area, and supervising students as they treat patients. To Dura, nursing is more than textbooks and memorization, it is making connections.
"I love when something I teach connects with them," Dura said. "[Students] will remember 'a family member had that,' and then they'll say 'so that's why they were given that treatment.'"
For more than a year, Dura has been working with a team, researching the heart health of women in Delaware County.
"Rural women don't have access to the same dietary and fitness options that women in cities have, and this impacts their hearts," says Dura.
Research is important to Dura, because it informs what she teaches in classes.
"Medications change. The job of a nurse is different. What I teach today is not what I taught ten years ago."
Staying connected with alumni is yet another way for Dura to bring nursing out of the classroom. Dura says when former students think about Binghamton, they often contact her, writing about what they're doing now.
"The nursing profession can take you so many places," she says. "If you're happy with what you're doing, tell people about it."
Alumni looking to re-connect with Professor Dura are welcome to e-mail her.
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