Nurses among this year's first Western University graduates
PASADENA -- Ivy Yen will use her master's degree in nursing training to provide health care to people in underserved countries.
With his doctor of nursing practice degree Lance Wilcher will continue educating future nurses. He'll also work to develop policies and help patients access the care they need.
Although their career paths are different Yen and Wilcher have something in common. They are among the 67 men and women who graduated Thursday from Western University of Health Sciences College of Graduate Nursing in ceremony held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
The nursing graduates weren't the only ones taking part in the morning commencement. Also taking part in the ceremony were physician assistants and physical therapists who graduated from the university's College of Allied Health Professions.
Wilcher was among the first 14 students to earn a doctor of nursing practice degree at Western University.
The class includes nurses who are moving up into management as administrators as well as educators. They are the future leaders in health care, said Karen Hanford, dean of the College of Graduate Nursing.
Yen is among the enthusiastic new nurses joining a profession that continues to be in need of more people among its ranks.
Across California and the country there is still a shortage of nurses even though academic institutions are accepting more students, said Hanford.
For many years, when it has come to hiring nurses, "we have relied on everyone moving to California," Hanford said.
As a result California has the highest percentage of foreign-educated nurses in the country, she said.
Nursing programs continue to look for ways to accommodate more students but there are still hurdles such as limited numbers of slots and limited space for students moving into clinical setting for training, Hanford said.
Yen who came to Western University with degrees in art and music said at first she was a little nervous about her limited science background.
"But I did very well in school...Now I'm a public health nurse working in Orange County," she said.
Yen is working with the homeless which under the current economic climate includes growing numbers of families, she said.
Her work is exciting and at times "it is very heart wrenching but so rewarding," Yen said.
Yen plans to continue working as public health nurse for a year before returning to school to become a nurse practitioner.
She plans to start a non-profit organization one day and through it provide health services to places in China, Africa and Latin America.
For Wilcher, nursing is a field that allows him to care for the sick and teach others to do the same.
Wilcher is chairman of the Mt. San Antonio College Registered Nursing Department but he continues to work with patients as an emergency room nurse practitioner at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland and Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster.
"I think I'm a much better teacher because I'm on the front lines in the (emergency room)," he said.
Wilcher said his work in academia prompted him to further his preparation and seek the advanced degree.
As he continued his studies he came to a realization, he said.
"It opened my eyes...I saw how we could change health care at the state and national level, and even globally," he said.
His training allows him to work directly with patients but also play a role to bring better treatment to them, Wilcher said.
While researchers work in the laboratories to develop new treatments the doctors of nursing practice work to advocate and bring those advancements to their patients and the patients of nurses in other parts of the world, he said.
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