“The most important practical lesson that can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe—how to observe—what symptoms indicate improvement—what the reverse—which are of importance—which are of none—which are the evidence of neglect—and of what kind of neglect.” – Florence Nightingale The reform of the educational system for the health professions must connect the professional nursing abilities alluded in this quotation with the mastery of scientific knowledge of environmental health ideas from multidisciplinary studies. Environmental influences on people’s health and welfare are becoming more complicated and diverse on an individual, family, and community level. All health professions education must include integrated education on environmental health consequences prevention and mitigation. New nurses today require more than just technical processes. They must be able to assess knowledge and be competent in areas such as health policy, system development, and practice in the field that are based on the evidences. In addition to excelling at critical analysis and decision-making, they should value teamwork across disciplines. Choithram College of Nursing focuses on preparing outstanding clinical nurses, top-tier nurse academicians, and top-tier nurse researchers in order to meet the industry’s growing need in the nursing and health sciences fields. The students are well-prepared, so they can offer top-notch nursing care services not only in hospitals but in all areas of the health care industry. We came across Choithram College of Nursing while looking for The Pre-eminent Nursing and Health Sciences Institutes in India, 2023, and interviewed Prof Dr Aradhana Michael the Principal of the institute. In an interactive conversation with The Knowledge Review she shared institutes history, vision and mission, and future objectives. To learn more about the institute, scroll down. A Historical Overview Choithram College of Nursing is a unit of Choithram Charitable Trust. The trust was founded by Sh. Thakur Dasji Pagarani in the fond memory of his father Late Sh. Choithram Vishandasji Pagarani in the year 1970. Under this trust, two other institutions are: Choithram Dispensary and Choithram Hospital and Research Centre. Choithram Dispensary was started in 1972 where patients are given all the health care services including investigations consultation and medicines totally free. The aim of starting health care services in Indore was to provide world-class medical facilities at an affordable cost to the people of Madhya Pradesh, who earlier had to go to Mumbai and Chennai for such services. The hospital started progressing rapidly with the addition of new specialities and super-specialities. As a result, bed strength increased from hundred beds in 1979 to 350 beds. And being a super-speciality hospital need was felt to prepare a cadre of nurses with high standards of education and clinical training for providing quality nursing care services. The aim was to start B.Sc. nursing but due to some bureaucratic hurdles, the institute had to be satisfied with getting permission to start a General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM Diploma) program. The institute started GNM program with 20 students in 1982. The first batch completed its course in 1985 and to the college’s great pride and satisfaction all passed in first class and one of them, Annamma Samuel got the top position in the State Council Exams. The tradition of topping in the state exams was maintained for many years. Till 1999, when the last batch of GNM passed out, the institute trained 396 diploma nurses, who after working in Choithram Hospital for a number of years have been working in reputed hospitals in India and many have gone abroad. Apart from that, College was also the first to start Masters in Nursing in the year 2004. College got recognized as a study centre by DAVV for a Doctoral program in nursing in 2014. It was a proud moment for them and the University to be the first in Central India to initiate PhD in nursing. The institute is affiliated with INC, MPMSU and MPNRC. Currently, CCON is running with the enormous support of the Chairman and management team – Shri Satish Motiani. The strategic priorities are aptly reflected in its emblem, which are Education, Service, and Research. A Value Statement When asked about the vision of the institute, Dr Aradhana states, “The vision of Choithram College of Nursing is to focus on the all-round development of nursing students and empowering nursing profession through an integrated education, holistic health care services and clinical research.” After stating vision, she also mentions the mission of the institute and says, “Our Mission is to develop a dedicated; committed; service-minded nursing community with a passion for excellence in every field of their endeavour and to provide an exemplary and innovative education, practices, research, and leadership that would result in improved health of populations locally, nationally, globally.” Further, Dr Aradhana also asserts the Goals and Core Values of the institute, and notes, “Goal of Choithram College of Nursing is to provide quality nursing education, achieve academic excellence and ensure holistic development of students and prepare proficient nurses well versed in EBP, equipped with critical thinking, humane and technical skills, as well as leadership qualities to provide comprehensive services to populations and contribute effectively towards improvement in the nursing profession.” “In pursuit of this mission, Choithram College of Nursing will:

• Develop skilled human resources to serve the nation.
• Create a scientific culture of humanitarian as well as evidence-based practices.
• Recognize teaching as a unifying activity with a spiritual touch.
• Willingness to apply innovative teaching methodology.
• Nurture integrity creativity academic freedom and a holistic environment.
• Quality Policy: Choithram College of Nursing is committed to practising global standards of excellence in its all endeavour namely teaching, research, consultancy, and leadership, and to remain accountable at our core to serve society through the process of collaborative function, self-evaluation, and continuous improvement.”

Upliftment of Health Care Education Some of the major contributions made by institution for upliftment the health sciences education in India. STUDY CENTER FOR CCH PROGRAM NHM, (MPMSU AND IGNOU) Choithram: Choithram College of Nursing has been selected as a study center from NHM for IGNOU and MPMSU University for Certificate Course in Community Health (CCH). The aim of the program is to improve the knowledge, skills and competencies of registered nurses (RNRM) Ayurveda Practitioners for strengthening primary healthcare services at the peripheral level. Research Project –1. ICMR – National Center for Disease Informatics and Research & 2. WHO: Choithram Hospital and Research Center has undertaken a research project on Hospital Based Cancer Registries-Data Management Software under National Center for Disease and Informatics, ICMR and Laboratory support for detection of Diphtheria and Pertussis bacteria from throat swabs, and serum (WHO Project) where Faculty from Choithram College of Nursing is associated in data collection and entry in the portal. NQOCN – Mentoring and Quality visits to SNCUs- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW): In this context, MoHFW requested that NQOCN and other developmental partner’s collaboration with Choithram College of Nursing conduct Mentoring and Quality visits to SNCU. These visits would help start the rollout of the Musqan Initiative of MoHFW. Prof. Shreeja Vijayan, Choithram College of Nursing appointed as National Quality Improvement Coach/Mentor. Nurse Led Initiatives: Healthy Mother Healthy Baby Cell (Antenatal and Postnatal Counselling), MDBI (Multi-disciplinary Behaviour Intervention Unit). These are the incubation centre run by OBG and the Mental Health Nursing Dept, Choithram College of Nursing through which people can benefit. Simulation Lab for OSCE/OSPE: College is also having a well-designed simulation lab to provide an immersive learning experience to students. Prof. Prachi Awasthi, Choithram College of Nursing is trained from INC in collaboration with UNFPA for Skill Standardization and Simulation Vaccination Drive during COVID and Faculty worked as frontline Healthcare Worker in RED ZONE: Faculties and staff of Choithram College of Nursing actively involved in the vaccination drive and also worked as frontline Healthcare Worker in RED ZONE organized by parent hospital during the COVID pandemic and serve their services to 1000’s of people. Practice to Perfect: Clinical education program for student trainee nurses to enhance the clinical skills of trainee students Choithram College of Nursing in Collaboration with Choithram Hospital and Research Center conduct Induction Program every year. Overcoming the Challenges Mainly challenge faced by the institution during the time of pandemic for shifting traditional classroom teaching to the online platform. It was a major challenge for both teachers and students to get accustomed to this new platform. For the proper engagement of students in teaching-learning activities faculties of the institute adopted varied methods like quizzes, games, real-world-based simulations, discussions led by students as moderators, icebreaker activities etc. Especially for online courses taught for the first time, formative evaluation is important to check how students are responding to the structure, navigation, activities, and peer interaction. Another challenge faced by the institution during COVID faculties and staff has to act as frontline workers and serve the people to keep the health of the nation utmost for that faculties actively participated and provide their services in various zones, vaccination drives and screening the cases. A Pearl of Wisdom When we ask Dr Aradhana to give a piece of advice to nursing students while stating her advice, she asserts, “Nurses should provide care with compassion is the main advice to nursing students. Compassionate nursing care is the main element in providing quality health services to patients, and it maybe is the best and most valuable gift that a nurse can give the patient in health systems. Compassion is a virtue and a necessary trait of nursing and being a nurse. It is a feeling evoked by witnessing others’ pain that leads to taking measures to help them. Compassion is the human and moral part of care, and according to many nursing literatures, compassion is the philosophical foundation and centrepiece of the nursing profession. Being compassionately responsive to the care needs of patients is one of the professional standards of nursing.” Institutes Foresight Nursing education at all levels needs to provide a better understanding of and experience in care management, quality improvement methods, systems-level change management, and the reconceptualized roles of nurses in a reformed healthcare system. Nursing education should serve as a platform for continued lifelong learning and include opportunities for a seamless transition to higher degree programs. Accrediting, licensing, and certifying organizations need to mandate demonstrated mastery of core skills and competencies to complement the completion of degree programs. To respond to the under-representation of racial and ethnic minority groups and men in the nursing workforce, the nursing student body must become more diverse. Sliding down Dr Aradhana postulates, “Nurses must be prepared to meet diverse patients’ needs; function as leaders; and advance science that benefits patients and the capacity of health professionals to deliver safe, quality patient care. At the same time, nursing education needs to be transformed in a number of ways to prepare nursing graduates to work collaboratively and effectively with other health professionals in a complex and evolving health care system in a variety of settings.” “Entry-level nurses, for example, need to be able to transition smoothly from their academic preparation to a range of practice environments, with an increased emphasis on community and public health settings. And registered nurses need graduate programs that can prepare them to assume their roles in primary care, acute care, long-term care, and other settings, as well as speciality practices,” Dr Aradhana concluded.