BréAnna Smith cultivates a culture of care

BréAnna Smith, an MLK scholar and rising senior, began her time at Emory intending to follow a traditional pre-med track to become a doctor. But after her first clinic, her goals shifted.

“I realized throughout that experience that I was more interested in what the nurses were doing than what the doctors were doing… The nurses got more of that one-on-one experience with the patients,” BréAnna explains.

While currently leaning towards a pediatric specialty, BréAnna is intent on exploring every option.

As a part of her population health class, BréAnna chose to conduct her clinic hours through immersion trip to Harbour Island in the Bahamas. Though Harbour Island is primarily a tourist destination, the clinic was largely used by local year-round residents.

“That trip really taught me how different nursing is in different places, because there was no doctor, there was no pharmacist, it was just nurses. So, the nurses are the doctors, the nurses are the pharmacists, they’re prescribing medications, they’re making diagnoses, they're doing everything,” BréAnna says.

Through experiences like these and her Korean minor, BréAnna consistently looks to improve her capacity for culturally competent care. “In nursing classes, we touch on it a little bit, but it's really hard to touch on every single culture.”

Her interest in Korean originated from a pandemic past-time: watching K-dramas with her mom. She initially took Korean to fill her language requirement, but subsequently found she didn’t want to stop there.

Enamored with the language and flourishing in the tight knit community, BréAnna declared a minor in Korean.

In the spring of 2023, she applied and was accepted to a summer study abroad program at Yonsei University in Seoul.

Partially funded by an Emory Scholars Program Summer Opportunities Grant, BréAnna spent the summer attending classes, visiting the DMZ, and learning how to navigate Korean public transit and cultural mores.

“There are so many things in Korean culture that would be really foreign to an American, especially in the health care field… so I think I got a lot of education on that,” BréAnna explains.

Inspired by her experiences, BréAnna plans to apply for the bilingual certification that would allow her to use her Korean in clinical settings.

"Sometimes a translator has to be called, which is a barrier [to care],” she says.

After her program in Seoul and hungry for more opportunities to brush up on her technical and patient-focused skills, BréAnna sought out another summer experience.

In the spring, she applied and was accepted to the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital Nurse Externship, a 10-week program for nurse technicians to discover new specialties, connect with seasoned nurses, and explore D.C.

She also received another Summer Opportunities Grant to support her summer experience.

“What I am loving the most about my experience is how comfortable I am getting with talking to patients and building bonds with them. During clinicals, it is a little harder to connect with patients because we are only there for one day a week and under heavy supervision. However, this externship has given me the opportunity to learn so many skills, both socially and medically (such as drawing blood),” she says.

BréAnna's dedication to building connections and serving patients goes beyond her studies in nursing.

This fall, she’s eager to return to campus as a senior and continue her roles as NAACP Community Service Chair and an Admissions Tour Guide and Outreach Fellow.

Whether it’s participating in a service project with her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sisters, organizing the annual NAACP Black Image Awards ceremony, giving presentations on college and scholarship opportunities at her former high school, or giving a tour to prospective students, BréAnna strives to contribute to varied communities she’s come to call home at Emory.

As an Emory scholar, BréAnna says, “something that I found extremely rewarding – I honestly didn't think I would like it that much – was hosting [scholar finalists].”

In the past two years, she has hosted three prospective scholars from Atlanta – all of whom were offered and accepted an MLK scholarship.

“I really took pride in making those connections between these young women… and creating a good base of community between a lot of the Black girls in the program,” BréAnna says. “The concept of hosting someone has turned out to be really beautiful.”