Our Nurse of the Week is Amanda Ward Braswell, a 2017 graduate from Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing and recent recipient of a Fulbright grant to India. The Fulbright Program is an international educational exchange program sponsored by the US government to increase mutual understanding between people of the US and people of other countries.
Beginning in the fall, Braswell will temporarily leave her post as a registered nurse in the Bone Marrow Transplant unit at Medical City Dallas to live in Bengaluru, India, on the Bangalore Baptist Hospital (BBH)/Rebekah Ann Naylor School of Nursing (RANSON) campus. Braswell will conduct her research project with residents from DJ Halli, the largest slum in Bangalore, where rates of illiteracy and a variety of health disparities run high.
Braswell tells Baylor.edu, “The No. 1 cause of death in India is non-communicable disease, such as cardiovascular disease, and this is something that can be prevented if people have the knowledge about modifying certain aspects of their diet, for example. So my project will study the perception of food, dietary habits and the accessibility of food and find the link to cardiovascular disease with the goal of bridging the knowledge gap.”
Braswell became interested in Bengaluru, India on a mission trip in July 2017 with two of her nursing professors and a few peers from Baylor’s nursing program. Through a partnership with BBH/RANSON, Braswell and colleagues taught 200 nurses at the hospital how to initiate intravenous punctures while reducing the risk for infection and conducted research on the effectiveness of their teaching.
After finishing her Fulbright year, Braswell hopes to publish her research findings and return to Medical City Dallas, with graduate school a strong possibility in the future. Braswell is considering earning her DNP or PhD while continuing in the field of nursing research.
To learn more about Braswell’s work as a Fulbright scholar in India and future plans for her career in nursing, visit here.
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