Serving society through Nursing

Service to humanity is service to God. Nursing profession is one of the service oriented requiring zeal and interest. One of the most exciting aspects of nursing is that it is always changing; providing new opportunities to influence the direction of health care delivery. This is what propelled a medical-surgical nurse and a nursing faculty for the past 23 years. Basava Raja Kumari Jitta appreciated the values of nursing that has given her a strong desire to contribute to this profession.

Her most significant influence in getting into the nursing profession has been her mother Susheela Devi, who had served thousands of needy in the same nursing profession for over 40 years at Guntur Government hospital in various capacities. Academic competencies, dedication, and hard work facilitated her ambition to become a nurse.

Hailing from Guntur, Basava Raja Kumari after graduating inNursing from KGH, Visakhapatnam, started her professional journey with Guntur Government Hospital as a staff nurse and won the hearts of many with her dedicated service with human touch. Later, she did her Masters in Nursing from Osmania University.

She also went to the US in March 2008 as a nurse educator. For past several years she has educated several nurses at Radians College, The Catholic University of America in Washington DC, and later at Washington Adventist University, Maryland. "Teaching is my passion, I always believe each student has unique capabilities, and as an instructor it is my responsibility to bring out the potential of the students."

To be one of the best nurse educator, she has challenged herself by enrolling in part-time PhD programme in Nursing on September 2012 at Catholic University of America. She is currently a Doctoral Candidate, working on dissertation entitled, "Diabetes self-management practices among Asian Indians residing in the USA".

Despite the alarming prevalence of diabetes in Asian Indians residing in the U.S, nursing research focusing self- management practices among Asian Indians is limited. Studies and findings in the field will assist health care providers to understand patients' self -management practices and the difficulties experienced by the patients in the day-to-day management of a life-long condition from patients' perspective.

Therefore, the findings from the present study may contribute for the development of successful, patient centered and patient tailored diabetic self-management interventions. "I have received Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing organization's Research award for the abstract of this study," she shared.

Her ambition is to improve knowledge in nursing to the extent possible while serving the humanity. "It is my ambition and goal to spread the pious profession of nursing and to inculcate a sense of faith and confidence in the public over the profession of nursing by preparing the competent future nursing leaders."