Netherlanders stop off at White Plains Hospital

Several students from one of the Netherlands”™ first nurse practitioner (NP) programs toured White Plains Hospital Center last week to get a glimpse of how those in the profession function in the U.S. health-care system.
The 14 students and two faculty members of Zuyd University in Heerlen, the Netherlands, were on a one-week tour of New York metro area hospitals and medical colleges. The group was staying in Manhattan.
“They have very limited opportunities (in the Netherlands) to learn more about how nurse practitioners have been integrated into U.S. health care,” said Mirjam Norris-Nommensen, an NP at White Plains Hospital.
Nommensen, who is Dutch, earned a bachelor”™s degree in nursing from Zuyd University. She studied at Pace University as an exchange student in 1987 where she earned a master”™s degree.
A NP generally has completed advanced education, usually a master”™s, and is trained in the diagnosis and management of common medical conditions, including chronic illnesses.
Nommensen said the NP profession is relatively new in the Netherlands; the students touring the hospital were part of the first graduating class of NPs in the southern part of the country. In the northern Netherlands, the first NP program began in 1998.
In 2003, Nommensen attended a conference at Zuyd that focused on starting an NP program. She agreed to help develop it and began teaching some of the courses online.
She then arranged the visit for the first group of graduating students in the program to come to the hospital and learn how NPs function in the workplace.
“I hope it gives them a commitment to professional development and a global perspective of the nurse practitioner practice,” she said. “They are the pioneers and they have the responsibility to further the profession in The Netherlands.”
One of the students, Ron Sleegers, hoped to learn from watching NPs at work firsthand.
“It”™s very interesting,” he said. “We wanted to see (the NPs”™) relationships with the doctors and (how) they worked.”
Dr. Gerrie JJW Bours, who traveled with the students from the Netherlands and helped organize the event with Nommensen, said that since the profession is a relatively new one in that country, the students could hopefully take back some of what they learned and share it with others.
“We hope they have a critical reflection on the expectation of the position,” she said.
Nommensen hopes the NP profession will continue to grow in her native country.
“I hope they see some of the accomplishments we made.”