Gudelia J. Torres, APRN

I chose to attend Florida International University because it was highly recommended by other colleagues. I'm a medical doctor from Venezuela, and I was looking to transition in the healthcare field. It was one of the schools that helped foreign-educated students make the transition. I remember a class on cultural competence very well. I still have the book in my library. The transcultural approach to healthcare is very important because, in the United States, we see patients from all different backgrounds. In the medical field, we often don't take that much time and consideration into how culture influences how patients are approached and treated, so it was crucial to learn about it. Because I was going into a new profession, I also enjoyed the classes on nursing science. It was really focused on how we treat and advocate for our patients. It was nice being able to integrate the nursing aspect into my scientific medical knowledge. Attending FIU was a wonderful opportunity, and I'm not a family nurse practitioner. I know I made the right choice. It was a nice experience working with other foreign education physicians to see how different specialties integrated into one. I studied with surgeons, cardiologists, dialysis and kidney specialists, and psychiatric. It was a different level of experience compared to a generic nursing program. My time at FIU gave me a lot of satisfaction, especially knowing I was one of the pioneers who went when the program was first started. I was happy and excited to graduate, and it was nice to meet all the wonderful doctors I went to school with. We were aiming for the same goals, and we were all experiencing something new. I highly recommend the program to my friends who come from other countries in the healthcare field. It's the best approach to entering healthcare in the United States.