PICTURED (L-R): Jeffrey Kwong, professor, Division of Advanced Practice Nursing; Linda Flynn, professor and interim dean; Norman Carl Swart, lecturer, University of Botswana School of Nursing; and Suzanne Willard, clinical professor and associate dean for Global Health, during Swart’s visit to Rutgers School of Nursing in Newark, New Jersey.
As part of its continued efforts to build care capacity through advanced nursing education, Rutgers School of Nursing recently hosted a visit from Norman Carl Swart, faculty member at the University of Botswana School of Nursing, on the school’s Newark campus. Swart presented a lecture entitled, “Cancer Nursing in a Resource-Limited, Middle-Income Country: The Case of Botswana” to the Rutgers nursing faculty.
Rutgers Global Health Institute core faculty member, Suzanne Willard and colleagues at Rutgers School of Nursing’s Center for Global Health organized Swart’s visit to the school’s Newark location. Willard, clinical professor and associate dean for Global Health at Rutgers School of Nursing, first met Swart in Botswana this past August during a working tour and two-day cancer prevention and care workshop presented by Botswana’s Ministry of Health and Wellness, the University of Botswana, and Rutgers Global Health Institute.
At the University of Botswana, Swart is leading the creation of a new advanced practice nursing master’s program in oncology and palliative care. The new program is expected to launch in fall 2020.
“We are desperately in need of this new MSN program,” Swart said. “In our entire nation, we have only seven, or at most 10, advanced practice nurses specializing in oncology and palliative care.” Swart noted that the new MSN program presents a perfect opportunity for Rutgers School of Nursing faculty to collaborate with their counterparts in Botswana through joint research projects, visiting scholar and student exchanges, and sharing innovative teaching methods and strategies for course design.
Following his lecture, Swart participated in small-group brainstorming sessions with key leaders from the School of Nursing, Rutgers Foundation, Rutgers Global Health Institute, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to discuss next steps to advance collaborative efforts to improve cancer care in Botswana. Health care leaders in Botswana are hoping that they will have similar success with cancer screening, treatment, and prevention to what the nation has seen with HIV/AIDS.
Read more about the visit and the ongoing efforts of the Rutgers-Botswana Partnership for Health.