December 6, 2002

Nursing professor impacting healthcare in the state of Louisiana

by Joe Hughes, A'03, Intern in the Offices of Public Affairs and Publications

Dr. Gail Tumulty has 20 years' experience in nursing administration, work ing at such prestigious institutions as Oschner and the Bethesda Eye Institute in St. Louis. She has lived and taught in Chicago and North Carolina, and has even worked as a consultant for hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Her most recent accomplishment allows her to share this valuable experience with her students.

Tumulty, along with colleagues Dr. Barbara Bihm and Dr. Cathryn Glanville, obtained a $661,490 federal program grant from the Health Services Research Administration, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, allowing them to set up a Health Care Systems Management degree program that will educate nurses for leadership positions.

Approval came "because Louisiana has the lowest rankings in health and access to health care in the United States. There is a shortage of nurses, but particularly of nurse leaders and managers. The government is interested in developing nurse leaders. In our new program, nurses receive a master's of science degree in nursing with a specialty in management. The grant gives the department resources to develop our program, enabling us to hire a secretary and recruiter to support faculty, and to develop distance education and online courses," notes Tumulty.

Tumulty's research focuses on system and job redesign. Currently, "hospitals are not conducive to advancing professional nursing. Inability to advance and perform their jobs the way they would like, the lack of resources, and regulations hindering patient treatment leave many nurses frustrated," she observes. Recent reports have linked these problems with declines in the nursing population. "Hopefully nurses from our program can help address these problems by being prepared to assume leadership positions," Tumulty says.

This is not Tumulty's first time coordinating an effort to advance nursing practice. In 1993, she worked with the U.S. State Department and the Joint Economic Commission, an organization designed to facilitate government exchange, to work in Saudi Arabia as a consultant for the Ministry of Health. "My job was to promote the professionalization of nursing, to develop structure, policy and procedures; to improve the quality of care; and implement licensure. I assisted with health care for the royal family, and served as executive director of King Faisal Specialist Hospital, which functioned as a mentor hospital for Saudi Arabia's 180 hospital system," Tumulty recalls. After five years in this environment, she discovered that "nurses everywhere are very caring and very eager to learn, but constrained by circumstances."

Tumulty had to work within the cultural norms of the country. "The role of women there is so diminished that to improve the image of nursing was a big challenge. Nurses go to school for five years, while doctors go for six; however, the income discrepancy between them is much larger. In addition, only about 15 percent of the nurses are Saudi, all the others are expatriates," she asserts. "Saudi Arabia is a young country with tribal roots. About half of the population is under age 20. With high unemployment and no industrialization, the country is still very dependent on Western consultants," Tumulty notes. "It was an educational experience." Tumulty's experiences in Saudi Arabia have made her a frequently called-upon resource for information about life in the Middle East. She has spoken to classes at Loyola about being a female working in a conservative Muslim country.

When Tumulty returned to the United States in 1998, she was looking for positions all over the country. "One of my sons graduated from Loyola in 1991 in business. He really liked Loyola, and later earned his MBA here. I applied to Loyola at the urging of my youngest son, who was an undergraduate at the time; he's now finishing at the law school," she reflects. "Since I've been here, I've found it to be a very collegial, very caring environment. It has been a good experience for all of us."