As we close out 2015, we at University of Maine at Augusta are looking forward to an exciting spring 2016 semester, which begins Jan. 19.

Our academic theme for this year is “interdisciplinarity,” or how multiple disciplinary approaches can be used to address and solve real life issues.

One of the great events planned for the spring 2016 semester is the undergraduate research day, with emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches. On April 29, students and faculty will gather to share their research and creative endeavors through presentations, posters, and round tables or panels.

The call for participation in this event will go out to out students at the beginning of the semester, and we are certain that students and the entire UMA community will benefit from this sharing of knowledge. Additionally, many academic programs will host end of the year celebrations and presentations designed to highlight the academic capacity of both graduating and continuing students. These events are often attended by friends, families, and interested members of professional communities.

In RN-BSN nursing education, we draw upon the interdisciplinary fields of science, art, and the humanities to support the growth of nursing students toward growth as professional, safe, caring-healing bedside presences. We look forward to a great semester as many of our senior RN-BSN students complete their community health clinical rotation and capstone experiences.

These experiences enhance the students’ knowledge of caring for people and communities beyond the walls of the acute care or long term care inpatient settings where many RNs work. It is the wave of the future that more care will be provided outside of the confines of acute care, and an emphasis on preventative care will be the norm. Our students use an interdisciplinary approach as they care for communities; they use their knowledge of leadership theory, psychoneuroimmunology, and preventative care to address real life issues that emerge from their community assessments. The students research what sort of evidence-base is available to address these issues and they design and implement interventions to address these issues. They work with interdisciplinary teams in the community that may include school nurses, principles, and teachers, or social workers, doctors, and nurse practitioners.

The students hone their communication and presentation skills, all while they experience the greater world of health care and healing.

Several of our students will also be making a trip to the Dominican Republic this summer to complete their community health clinical. We have partnered with the University of Southern Maine to allow several RN-BSN students each summer to have this unique opportunity to broaden their global perspective on humanity, health, and healing. These students will also be afforded the opportunity for interdisciplinary experiences as they care for the vulnerable population in the Dominican Republic, and they will form lifelong bonds with those who journey with them.

We look forward to an exciting continuation of the academic theme of interdisciplinarity at UMA, and we encourage others to explore problem solving from a multiple discipline perspective.

Carey Clark is committed to supporting the growth of caring-healing capacity of health care providers, and the healing of the patients they serve. She is an assistant professor of nursing in the University of Maine at Augusta’s RN-BSN Program, where she has been teaching since 2010.