Newswise — "As a nurse-researcher of Lithuanian ancestry, I wanted to see what improvements could be made to the Soviet Union-imposed healthcare systems in both Lithuania and Ukraine. I wanted to help improve the quality of life of the people of these countries as they struggled to once-again enter the global community."
So says Dr. Patricia A. Cholewka, a nursing professor at New York City College of Technology (City Tech) explaining the thrust of the doctoral research she undertook in the 1990s, when she traveled to Lithuania several times and lived in Ukraine for a year.
Now she is back in Eastern Europe to continue her research in Lithuania with support from a prestigious Fulbright Scholar grant awarded by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
What is her connection with that part of the world? "My mother's parents lived through the hardships and deprivations caused by the Russian occupation of Lithuania. The socioeconomic effects of that occupation sparked their immigration to the U.S.," she explains. "Their plight, combined with the fact that my husband is of Ukranian ancestry, helped shape the focus of my doctoral studies, which compared the healthcare systems of the two countries."
Dr. Cholewka, a New York State Registered Professional Nurse, is spending the first half of the 2007-08 academic year at Vilnius University in Lithuania, lecturing and conducting research on the application of information technology (IT) to nursing education and clinical practice.
"This award," says Dr. Cholewka, "will enable me to dialogue with nursing colleagues in Lithuania about nursing practice standards and to observe the effective use of information technology in nursing education and patient care within the Lithuanian healthcare system.
"According to the World Health Organization, the post-Soviet Union healthcare systems still have neither adequate capabilities for financial and management accountability, nor the ability to monitor and evaluate national and local healthcare operations appropriately," she adds.
Through interdisciplinary interviews, discussions with practicing nurses, and observation of Lithuanian clinical and academic environments, Dr. Cholewka will gather information about the impact that IT has on nursing practice in Lithuania in managing, monitoring and improving healthcare outcomes.
Dr. Cholewka expects the collaboration to be mutually beneficial. "It will give me the opportunity to then compare the application of IT to the healthcare systems of the United States," she says. "I believe that our discussions will produce useful insight into the different means of applying IT to nursing that might improve both healthcare systems."
Another goal of her Fulbright research is to determine which healthcare system improvements, including IT implementation, were successful after Lithuania's independence and subsequent accession into the European Union in 2004.
"The Lithuanian people were eager to be free of the Soviet shackles and to bring their healthcare systems into the modern world," she says. "They continue to be open to improvements to their quality of life."
Dr. Cholewka was chosen to receive the Fulbright award on the basis of her academic achievements, which include a master's degree in public administration from New York University (NYU)'s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, a master of arts in nursing informatics from NYU College of Nursing and a doctorate in international education development from Teachers College, Columbia University, as well as extensive international travel and demonstrated leadership in her profession.
She was one of the first researchers and educators to introduce the concept of applying the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) management model to healthcare systems of the post-Soviet transitional nations of Bulgaria, Lithuania and Ukraine. CQI is a structured organizational process for involving interdisciplinary personnel in planning and executing a continuous stream of improvements in systems in order to provide effective, efficient and safe, client-centered healthcare.
In addition, she has written extensively on healthcare system improvement in post-Soviet transitional economies, and is expecting her co-authored book Health Capital and Sustainable Socioeconomic Development (working title) to be published in 2008.
At City Tech, Dr. Cholewka teaches the course "Leadership in the Management of Client Care" in the baccalaureate nursing program. She and her colleagues in the Department of Nursing are in the process of introducing into the nursing curriculum a clinical simulation laboratory that incorporates computerized mannequins/patient simulators and Personal Digital Assistants. Patient simulators provide a valuable hands-on learning environment for nursing students that complements their classroom theory lectures by exposing them to virtual illness scenarios.
The purpose of the Fulbright program, which operates in over 150 countries worldwide, is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the rest of the world. "I think that my research goals and professional network development plans fit very well into the guidelines of the Fulbright program," says Dr. Cholewka. "I am deeply grateful for this generous grant that is enabling me to study and conduct research in my ancestral homeland."
Dr. Cholewka resides with her husband, a civil engineer, in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. They have two grown daughters.
The largest public college of technology in New York State, City Tech enrolls more than 13,000 students in 57 baccalaureate, associate and specialized certificate programs. Another 15,000 students enroll annually in adult education and workforce development programs, many of which lead to licensure and certification. Located at 300 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn, City Tech is at the MetroTech Center academic and commercial complex, convenient to public transportation.
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