Sangita Pudasainee-Kapri knew at a young age that she wanted to pursue a caregiving profession.
She developed an interest in medicine while growing up in the Tariphat village in the Gorkha district in rural Nepal, where the only health care available was a health post, a small office staffed with a couple of medical professionals who could only provide basic care. Anyone who needed services for serious issues would need to travel to a hospital located in Kathmandu, if they could afford to make the approximately 12-hour trip requiring a six-hour walk, then a six-hour bus ride.
In her 18 years in nursing, beginning when she was in Nepal, to her nearly 11 years in graduate school and working at hospitals in the United States, Pudasainee-Kapri’s interest has been in pediatric nursing.
In addition to treating children, a significant part of her job is conversing with her patients and their families—explaining medical terms, medical conditions, and pharmacological and non-pharmacological management for best patient outcomes.
“When I’m able to explain to families more clearly what’s going to be happening, and helping them to feel more comfortable, it’s rewarding,” says Pudasainee-Kapri, a first-year student in the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program at Rutgers University–Camden.
A recipient of the prestigious Johnson and Johnson American Association of Colleges of Nursing Minority Nurse Faculty Scholarship, Pudasainee-Kapri received $18,000 to further her research and education at the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden.
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