Improving Health Starts with Education - Amy Zang, Chinese Nurse Leader
The WHO CC UTS acknowledges use of key language from The WHO Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery (2021–2025).
Dr Amy Zhang is the Deputy Dean in the School of Nursing at Shandong University in China. Having completed her Bachelor of Medicine (Major in Nursing) and Masters in Clinical Medicine (cardiovascular surgery) at Shandong University, she then completed her PhD at Hong Kong Polytechnic University before returning to Shandong University to work as an academic.
Many nursing graduates from Chinese universities have limited opportunities for professional exposure on an international level. Dr Amy Zang is a unique example of a nursing graduate who has an extensive involvement with international stakeholders through her work as an Executive Director for the WHO CC Nursing Care and Vulnerable Groups and involvement as a core member of the Asia Pacific Emergency and Disaster Nursing Network and Asia Pacific Emergency and Disaster Nursing Network (APEDNN) as well as the International Council of Nurses (ICN). She is committed to building institutional capacity in cerebro-cardiovascular care, disaster nursing, adolescent health and development, and care for people with disabilities within her institution. Her work primarily focuses on enabling positive change to nursing education. Additionally, Dr Zang’s involvement in her community has paved the way for student internships at accredited hospitals and community health centres.
In China, graduates who have studied overseas, particularly in Hong Kong, Taiwan or Macau, are highly regarded and seen to have
a broad and open mind about the important role that nursing plays as well as put what they learnt from other countries into the practice in the educational setting.
Dr Zang utilises her overseas experience to bring change to nursing education that is ultimately seen as an investment in quality health service provision. As the Deputy Dean of the School of Nursing in Shandong University, she is responsible for designing the nursing curriculum and assisting with student development. To broaden the experience of Chinese nursing students, Dr Zhang attempts to integrate components from the WHO and United Nations, including the Sustainable Development Goals, into the educational program at a graduate and undergraduate level to provide a well-rounded quality learning experience. She utilises material from post-graduate fellows in nursing to
train our students from first year so they “can have a broad understanding what nurses can really contribute to the development of [the] country and for the individual person and the world.
Furthermore in 2017, the Quality Standards document for the Bachelor of Nursing was formalised – signalling a big achievement for the university and nursing students.
Shandong University School of Nursing attracts graduates from a variety of backgrounds including physical, medical and pathological studies with a reputation for producing well-trained graduates. Dr Zang witnessed the limitations of traditional education in nursing and has encouraged cross-disciplinary research, allowing researchers to “share their experiences and learn from each other”.
Since Chinese nurses have limited experience in an international environment, only “a few nursing professionals know the details about the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030”. Dr Zang attempts to alleviate this by incorporating relevant content from WHO and the United Nations into the nursing curriculum at Shandong University.
Dr Zang’s strong connections with local hospitals and community health centres enabled Shandong University School of Nursing students the opportunity to gain clinical experience in an accredited environment. Furthermore, she promotes cross-disciplinary research among post-graduate students to improve study outcomes. Her contributions also attribute to enhancing health systems and resilience by improving the quality of nursing graduates.
