玛丽塔·法莉玛琪：在中国实现了“护理梦”

中南大学湘雅护理学院芬兰籍教授玛丽塔·法莉玛琪因其知华、友华、爱华，克服艰难险阻毅然投身中国护理事业的感人事迹，获得2022年度中国政府友谊奖，成为湖南省首位获此荣誉的护理学领域外国专家。

从“背包客”到中南大学湘雅护理学院教授

1986年，玛丽塔刚刚大学毕业，怀揣着对中国文化的好奇和向往，她以“背包客”的身份在中国旅行了两个月。在那段时间里，她领略了中国的大美风光，了解了中国文化，并爱上了这个在她看来“神秘的东方国家”。那时起，她的心中就有一个关于中国的“梦”，将来一定要回到中国。

2011年起，玛丽塔教授担任护理学领域的顶级期刊International Journal of Nursing Studies副主编，她关注到中国的护理科学正逐渐发展起来，杂志收到了越来越多的来自中国护理学者的投稿。于是，怀着促进中国护理科学发展的“护理梦”，玛丽塔教授于2013年担任了同济大学的兼职教授。

2016年，她开始将工作重心放在中国。她在香港理工大学做了四年的大学教授，并担任副院长负责研究生教学工作，主要关注于开发护理博士生培养课程以及促进公共精神健康服务。在香港期间，玛丽塔教授多次来到中南大学湘雅护理学院开展学术交流活动，并与中南大学湘雅护理学院研究团队建立合作关系，推动我国首个护理学领域的国际化学院的申报工作。在结束了香港的工作合同后，她来到长沙、来到中南大学工作。

The Finnish professor Maritta Vaelimaeki at Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, was awarded the 2022 Chinese Government Friendship Award for her touching story of dedicating herself to nursing in China despite difficulties and her profound knowledge of, friendship with, and deep love for China.She is the first foreign nursing expert in Hunan to receive this honor.

From “backpacker” to professor at Xiangya School of Nursing,Central South University

In 1986, when Maritta had just graduated from university, she traveled to China for two months as a backpacker full of curiosity about and longing for Chinese culture.During that time, she enjoyed the incredible beauty of China, learned about Chinese culture, and fell in love with the mysterious Oriental country.Since then, she had been dreaming about China, believing she would come back to China one day.

Since 2011, Prof.Maritta has been working as the associate editor of theInternational Journal of Nursing Studies, a top journal in the nursing field.She noted that nursing science gradually developed in China as the journal received more submissions from Chinese nursing scholars.Therefore, with the “nursing dream” of promoting China’s nursing studies, Prof.Maritta took up an adjunct professorship at Tongji University in 2013.

In 2016, the focus of her work began to shift toward China.She had worked as a professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University for four years and served as Vice President in charge of teaching postgraduates.Her main interests were the development of a Ph.D.nursing curriculum and the promotion public mental health services.While in Hong Kong, Maritta paid multiple visits to Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, for academic communication activities.She established a cooperative relationship with the research team at Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, promoting the declaration of China’s first international demonstration school in the nursing field.After the termination of the work contract with the university in Hong Kong, she came to Changsha to work at Central South University.

玛丽塔·法莉玛琪（Maritta Vaelimaeki，芬兰籍），中南大学湘雅护理学院全职教授、护理领域专家、美国护理科学院院士，曾就职于芬兰图尔库大学护理学院（世界排名前30），任英国伦敦大学客座教授、香港理工大学护理学院副院长及研究委员会主席等职位。2018年荣获“芬兰白玫瑰勋章一等骑士奖”（芬兰政府三大勋章之一），2022年荣获中国政府友谊奖。

Maritta Vaelimaeki(Finland).She is a full-time professor at Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, an expert in nursing, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.She once worked at the school of nursing at Turku University in Finland (ranked among the top 30th worldwide).She was also a visiting professor at the University of London and the vice president and the chairperson of the research committee at the school of nursing of Hong Kong Polytechnic University.In 2018, she was awarded Knight First Class of the Order of the White Rose of Finland.In 2022, she was awarded the Chinese Government Friendship Award.打造国际化英文网站传播湘雅声音

2020年2月，玛丽塔教授与中南大学正式签订合同，然而原定的行程由于2020年新冠肺炎疫情暴发而不断延期。2020年9月，面临外国人员入境困难、国际航班数量骤减、国内隔离时间长的重重困难，玛丽塔教授毅然决定克服重重难关来华全职工作，任中南大学湘雅护理学院教授，协助中南大学筹建国际化示范学院。玛丽塔教授的签证是在中南大学多次与湖南省外办协调下办理的。当时国内外疫情严重，入境检测相当严格，为了进行起飞前规定时间内的核酸检测，玛丽塔教授不得不连夜驱车至芬兰首都赫尔辛基的指定核酸检测机构，进行核酸检测并等待结果。飞机落地上海后，又经历了严格的入境检测、落地核酸等一系列防疫措施。到达隔离酒店时，年近60岁的玛丽塔教授已经近30个小时没有休息。

刚刚来到中南大学湘雅护理学院工作时，她说国外的朋友没有在中南大学湘雅护理学院的网站上看到有关她的资料。因此她意识到，要扩大中南大学湘雅护理学院的国际影响力，首先需要一个好的宣传“窗口”。于是，她牵头帮助中南大学湘雅护理学院打造国际化英文网站，通过各种途径宣传，并向国外的各学校及科研机构展现中南大学湘雅护理学院；她积极促进中南大学湘雅护理学院与芬兰图尔库大学护理学院的合作，并借助芬兰图尔库大学护理学院的社交媒体，积极发布两院校的合作进程，宣传中国抗疫故事，传递中国好声音，将中国文化不断向外传播。

Building of an international English website and conveying voice for Xiangya School of Nursing

The contract between Prof.Maritta and Central South University was officially signed in February 2020.However, the initially planned trip to China was repeatedly delayed due to the pandemic.In September 2020, despite the difficulty for foreigners entering China, the sudden decrease in international flights, and the long quarantine periods in China, Prof.Maritta determined to overcome all those obstacles.She came to work in China as a professor at Xiangya School of Nursing,Central South University, assisting Central South University in planning the building of an international demonstration school.Her visa was issued due to the coordinated effort of Central South University and the Foreign Affairs Office of Hunan.Back then, the pandemic was particularly severe both at home and abroad, with strict entry testing.To complete the nucleic acid test within the defined time before the flight, she had to drive overnight to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, to an appointed nucleic acid testing facility to do the test and wait for the result.When the plane landed in Shanghai, she went through a series of quarantine procedures, including strict entry testing and nucleic acid tests upon entry.When she finally made it to the quarantine hotel, Prof.Maritta, almost 60 years old, had not rested for nearly 30 hours.

When she began to work at Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, she said her friends abroad did not see her information on the school website.This event made her realize that to expand the global influence of Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, a good “window” for promotion must first be available.Therefore, she led the building of an international English website for Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, publicized it in various ways,and presented Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, to universities and research institutes in other countries.Furthermore, she actively promoted cooperation between the Xiangya School of Nursing,Central South University, and the school of nursing of the University of Turku in Finland.Through the latter’s social media, she actively updated the progress in cooperation between the two schools, publicized China’s story of battling the pandemic, conveyed China’s extraordinary voice, and continued to spread Chinese culture to the rest of the world.

Developing international nursing talents was her original intention

Prof.Maritta always believes an international teaching platform is key to training nursing talents with good qualities and high standards for the new era.Having come to Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, she actively contributed to the cooperation with the school of nursing of the University of Turku regarding postgraduate course sharing, joint training, and communication and exchange visits.After over a half-year’s work, Prof.Maritta introduced and made availablefor free the quality courses of the school of nursing of the University of Turku to the Ph.D.students at Xiangya.“Empowering Learning Environments in Nursing Education” aims to incorporate social media into the studying environment of nursing education, providing high-quality, evidence-based nursing education to postgraduates from different countries.The course “Clinical Instruments for Evaluating Health - Development, Evaluation, and Implementation” aims to introduce frontier research instruments and the main methods of developing, evaluating,and implementing the devices in the medical environment.The courses have a unique process and form of teaching comprising course preregistration, online lectures in English, workshops, independent reading materials, seminars, and others.

以培养国际化护理人才为初心

玛丽塔教授始终认为，国际教学平台是培养新时代高素质、高质量护理人才的关键。来到中南大学湘雅护理学院后，她积极促进中南大学湘雅护理学院与芬兰图尔库大学护理学院就研究生课程共享、联合培养及交流互访开展合作。经过半年多的努力，玛丽塔教授为湘雅护理学院博士研究生引进并免费开放了芬兰图尔库大学护理学院的高质量课程。护理教育学习环境的提升（Empowering Learning Environments in Nursing Education），该课程的目的是在欧洲多元文化的背景下，将社交媒体融入护理教育的学习环境，对不同国家的研究生开展高质量循证的护理教育。“用于健康评估的临床工具——开发、评估和应用”（Clinical Instruments for Evaluating Health—Development, Evaluation and Implementation），该课程的目的是介绍前沿研究工具，以及在医疗环境中开发、评估和实施研究工具的主要方法。课程涉及课程预注册、全英文线上讲座、工作坊、独立阅读材料、研讨会等别具一格的教学流程和教学形式。

对于首次通过线上方式参与全英文国际课程的学生而言，这颇具挑战。带着帮助学生更好地理解国外的教学流程和形式，培养国际化的护理人才的初心，玛丽塔教授想学生之所想，未雨绸缪，在课程正式开始前，对选择了该课程的同学进行手把手教授，讲述课程流程，还对国外授课平台MOODLE的操作方法进行了示范，对学生的每一个问题都进行了悉心的解答。课程进行期间，为了确保学生们能够跟上课程讲述，玛丽塔教授主动提出要陪着学生们一起学习。由于芬兰与中国有6个小时时差，课程结束时，经常已经到了深夜11点了，长沙的深秋寒风凛冽，但玛丽塔教授一直坚持陪伴学生学完了此次课程。她说，对于第一批代表中南大学参与国际化课程的学生，一定要保证他们能够真正理解国际化教学的意义，跟上教学进度，同时也要向国外大学展示我们中国学生的风采。学生们无一不被她严谨的学术作风折服，将她视为学习和工作中的榜样。

为了进一步开阔学生的国际化视野，促进中南大学湘雅护理学院学术论文的国际化进程，玛丽塔教授邀请了护理学领域的顶级期刊International Journal of Nursing Studies主编、伦敦国王学院Lan Norman教授为中南大学湘雅护理学院师生线上作题为“学术论文的发表：来自编辑的建议”（Writing for publication: Top tips from an editor）的学术分享。Lan Norman教授与参会人员围绕论文写作及投稿中经常遇到的困难与瓶颈进行了交流与探讨，并形象生动地向大家传授了论文成功发表的“金点子”。为了进一步促进学生的学术交流能力，玛丽塔教授积极为学生寻求交流机会，并协助组织中国—爱沙尼亚博士研究生科学研讨会（Joint PhD Candidates' ScientificSeminar between Estonia and China，PhD-SSEC），目前该研讨会已举办两届。在为期两天的科学研讨会中，学生们就自己的课题、科研方法、学习生活等多方面展开讨论，这促进了学生的国际交流能力，开阔了学生的国际化视野。

为了帮助学生了解学术前沿，培养严谨的学术作风，提高学生科研写作能力。玛丽塔教授为湘雅护理学院博士研究生开设了《学术论文写作》《随机对照研究设计》等课程，均受到了学生们的广泛好评。其中《学术论文写作》课程内容包括学术论文写作原则、写作技巧、科学的文章结构、期刊选择、写作指南等方面。玛丽塔教授不仅介绍Epistemonikos、Covidence等一系列前沿文献检索及管理工具，还邀请了Nurse Education in Practice杂志主编Roger Watson以及Journal of Advanced Nursing杂志主编Mark Hayter以编辑的视角，对学术论文写作进行了严谨且前沿的阐述。同学们纷纷表示，该课程不仅拓展了国际化视野、提升了自身英语水平，也为他们在后续相关领域的研究打下了扎实的基础。

It could be a challenge for international online in international online courses taught in English for the first time.With the original intention to help students better understand how teaching is done abroad and develop international nursing talents, Prof.Maritta tried to put herself in the students’ shoes.She helped the students prepare for the course, telling them about the process, demonstrating the operation of the MOODLE teaching platform, and answering every question asked by the students in detail.During the course, to ensure the students could follow the teaching in the class, Prof.Maritta offered to study with the students.There’s a time difference of 6 hours between Finland and China,so it was often 11 pm at the end of the class.It was cold in late autumn in Changsha, but Prof.Maritta stayed with the students throughout the course.She said, “for the first group of Chinese students taking an international course representing Central South University, it must be guaranteed that they understand the meaning of international teaching and can keep up with it.We also must show how excellent Chinese students can be to foreign universities.” Students were impressed by her meticulous attitude to academic work and began to follow her example.

To further broaden the students’ global vision and accelerate the globalization process of academic papers at Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, Prof.Maritta invited Prof.Lan Norman, the chief editor of theInternational Journal of Nursing Studies.Prof.Lan Norman is a top journalist in nursing studies and a King’s College London professor for an academic sharing meeting named “Writing for publication:Top tips from an editor.” Prof.Lan Normal and others at the conference discussed the common difficulties and problems of paper writing and submission.Engagingly, they imparted their insights into the successful publication of papers.Furthermore, to further enhance the academic communication skills of the students, Prof.Maritta actively sought out opportunities for communication for the students and helped organize the Joint Ph.D.Candidates’ Scientific Seminar between Estonia and China, Ph.D.-SSEC.So far, the seminar has been held twice.In the twoday scientific workshop, the students discussed their projects, research methods, academic life, etc., which enhanced their international communication ability and broadened their global vision.

“我将谦逊地在中国继续我的‘护理梦’”

来华工作后，玛丽塔教授积极投身中南大学“护理学国际化示范学院”筹建工作，组建了引领亚洲地区精神卫生护理领域的学术团队，协助建成了JBI湘雅循证实践与健康创新中心，全程参与了护理学硕士援外学历学位培训项目工作，开发了5门博士生国际联合课程，并推动湘雅护理与芬兰图尔库大学护理学院签订了合作协议。她身体力行，努力拓展国际合作，获批芬兰政府资助“护理循证领导力”和“职业生涯规划”两个国际教育项目，建立了中国9所顶尖高校和芬兰5所高校的护理国际人才培养联盟。

作为一个不会说中文的人，没有家人的支持，独自适应当地的环境是不容易的。在过去的七年里，玛丽塔教授错过了儿子的婚礼、母亲的葬礼，她也时常表达对家乡及亲人的思念。然而，她始终记得当初让她下定决心来到中国的那个想要促进中国护理科学发展的“护理梦”。她常说，有了对中国护理教育与研究国际化的坚定信念和愿景，有了可亲的同事们和可爱的同学们的支持，她相信她的梦想终会实现。在获得中国政府友谊奖后，玛丽塔教授激动地说：“我希望，中国的护理教育最终能够提升中国公民的福祉和生活质量，并使他们具备全球公民的理念。在这段旅程中，我学到了很多，我将谦逊地在中国继续我的‘护理梦’。”

To help the students understand the academic frontiers, develop a meticulous approach to academics, and improve their scientific research writing, Prof.Maritta established courses like “Academic Paper Writing” and “Randomized Controlled Study Design,” both of which received accolades from the students.Among them, “Academic Paper Writing” covers the principles of writing academic papers, writing techniques, what constitutes a reasonable paper structure, and the selection of journals and writing guides.Prof.Maritta introduced some frontier literature search and management tools like Epistemonikos and Covidence and invited the chief editors ofNurse Education in PracticeandJournal of Advanced Nursingto talk about it from the editors’perspectives in a rigorous manner that also reflects the frontier developments.The students said that the course broadened their international perspective, improved their English proficiency, and laid a solid foundation for their subsequent research in related fields.

“With modesty, I will continue my ‘Nursing Dream’ in China”

After coming to work in China, Prof.Maritta actively devoted herself to planning the building of Central South University’s “Internationalized Model School of nursing” and built an academic team that leads mental health care in Asia.She also helped create the JBI Xiangya Evidence-Based Practice and Health Innovation Center.She also participated in the Sino foreign cooperative program of nursing master’s degree between the Central South University of China and the University of California, San Francisco, developed five international joint Ph.D.programs, and facilitated the signing of the cooperation agreement between Xiangya and the school of nursing of the University of Turku.In addition, she has worked hard to expand international cooperation,and two international education programs have been approved for the Finnish government funds, namely, “Evidence-based Leadership in Nursing” and “Career Planning.” She has also forged an international nursing talent development alliance between nine top universities in China and five universities in Finland.

Speaking no Chinese and without familial support, she must have had difficulty getting used to the local environment in China.In the past seven years, Prof.Maritta missed her son’s wedding and her mother’s funeral, and she often expressed her nostalgia and how she misses her family.However, she has always borne in mind the “nursing dream” of promoting nursing in China, which made her decide to come here.She often says that with a strong belief and vision for the internationalization of nursing education and research in China and with the support of her dear colleagues and lovely students, she is confident that her dream will eventually come true.After receiving the Chinese Government Friendship Award, Professor Maritta exclaimed, “I hope that nursing education in China will ultimately enhance the well-being and quality of life of Chinese citizens and equip them with the concept of global citizenship.During this journey, I have learnt a lot and will humbly continue my’ nursing dream’ in China”.