A snapshot of nursing in Qatar

Between September 2002 and February 2003, shortly before the military action in Iraq. Virginia Nehring served on the faculty of the College of Science in Doha, Qatar. For her second experience as a Fullbright scholar--she taught nursing in Africa in 1994--Dr. Nehring sought to experience an entirely different region of the world, one where English would be spoken and understood. When she made her decision to work in Qatar, a small peninsula nation off the coast of Saudi Arabia, the country was not well known to Americans. Now it is known as Central Command headquarters for the American military during the Iraq military action and as the home of Al Jazeera, the influential television news and opinion station for the Middle East. During her stay in Qatar, Dr. Nehring became the fourth, and only non-Egyptian, doctorally prepared faculty person in the nursing unit of the College of Science. Besides teaching courses such as ethics and issues and trends, she carefully assessed the nursing program, much as an accreditation site visitor might do, with feedback to university administration as well as the nursing unit. She left the region shortly before the military action began.