Amira Hussein is a rising senior at the College of Nursing, Rutgers University, where she has served as the Newark representative for the College of Nursing senate for two years. Amira, a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician, realizes the importance of research because nursing is evidence-based practice. Project L/EARN seemed to be the perfect opportunity in which she could link her practical knowledge in nursing with research. Amira hopes to use the research experience she has gained to become an instrument of change in her field. Amira’s career and educational plans include completion of her nursing degree and pursuing a master’s degree shortly thereafter.

Through Project L/EARN, Amira recognized the challenge of using statistical models to answer complex research questions and the practice and time involved in building these models. As a nurse, Amira will need to have a strong ability to manage her time wisely, prioritize, and multitask, skills she believes Project L/EARN has allowed her to develop. She appreciates having the opportunity to attend a research conference, having learned both how other researchers present their work and making important connections. Knowing that the possibilities are endless, Amira wishes to take her skills as a nurse and researcher overseas and one day establish a nonprofit healthcare organization in a third world country.

Amira worked with her mentor, Dr. Charlotte Thomas-Hawkins, evaluating the relationship between safety culture and adverse patient outcomes in hemodialysis settings and how the patient-nurse ratio affects safety culture in the dialysis unit. She appreciates her mentor’s supportiveness and ability to connect the research findings to their practical implications. Amira is grateful for the opportunity to participate in Project L/EARN.