Lisa Day, PhD, RN, CNE, of the Duke University School of Nursing is part of Macy’s 2013 Scholar Class. As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Day developed an interdisciplinary course focused on teaching professional values. We sat down with Dr. Day to hear about her time as a Macy Faculty Scholar.
What has being a Macy Faculty Scholar meant to you?
As a Macy Faculty Scholar I met a lot of wonderful people who remain my friends and colleagues. My cohort was extremely instrumental in helping me shape my project, and that has been a huge bonus. I was able to call or text my new friends when I needed to bounce an idea off someone and that constant flow of feedback made my project what it is today.
I am now also connecting with Scholars from other cohorts. I recently had breakfast with Dr. Giscombé from the 2015 class and Dr. Zomorodi from the 2014 class, and earlier this year hosted an interprofessional workshop with Dr. Dow from the first Scholar class. As the Scholar program grows, so does my network. It is extremely instrumental to my work and I cannot emphasize enough how much this has meant to me.
How did being a Macy Faculty Scholar impact your career?
The program has not only connected me with people who have a like-minded seriousness about education reform, it has also provided me the opportunity to take several Harvard Macy Institute courses. Both of these things have energized me and have helped me clarify what it is I am trying to do in my career. I feel like I now understand more clearly the depth and breadth of the issues we face in health professions education.
What’s next for your project?
Under my Macy project I developed a free standing nursing course focused on values, mindfulness and professionalism in health professions service. I am now exploring other avenues for scaling up the course, and am very interested in the interprofessional world. I want to take what we’re learning with nurses and bring that to other courses and professions.
What advice do you have for educational innovators today?
I would advise others working on education reform to be both persistent and patient. I’ve learned that some changes will take more time than you thought, and moving things along in small steps is still very important. Don’t get discouraged. Even small incremental change, or what you think is small, will be encouraging and make a difference!
Learn more about Dr. Day’s work at Duke.