January Headlines

--UMSN’s Division III has updated its name and curriculum with a focus on leadership and informatics. Now known as Health Systems, Nursing Leadership, and Effectiveness Science (previously titled: Nursing Business and Health Systems), the master's program gives students the opportunity to select a leadership or informatics emphasis area to prepare for complex challenges of today’s health care systems.

 

--UMSN students have a new resource in developing their essential nursing skills. SimMan® 3G was recently installed in the UMSN Clinical Learning Center. The high-fidelity mannequin enables students to practice hands-on skills designed to develop critical thinking and clinical decision making. “Our new simulator has multiple new features including increased interactivity with students as well as more realistic responses to student interventions,” says Betsy Cambridge, a CLC instructor. “UMSN remains committed to providing our students with the latest in technology to incorporate interactive learning.”

 

--A team of University of Michigan health care professionals saw a growing need related to care for vulnerable patients, such as those who are uninsured, unemployed, homeless or otherwise at risk. They created Caring with Compassion, an online resource for health educators, students, and clinicians. “As a provider to patients who are either uninsured or underinsured, I saw an area that needed development in our Nurse Practitioner programs,” says U-M School of Nursing Clinical Assistant Professor April Bigelow, Ph.D., ANP-BC. “Likewise, the Medical School and residency programs at U-M identified a lack of education regarding the process, management, and the unique care that we provide to patients who are thought of as ‘medically underserved.’ We wanted to create a formal curriculum that could be used by multiple disciplines that would teach them not only how to care for patients who are underinsured, but also how to work within teams to deliver the best care.”

 

The free website, which includes a self-guided activities and a game, is designed to help develop essential skills for treatment of vulnerable populations. Now with hundreds of registered users across the country, the website has received accolades from program directors for addressing significant gaps in curriculum that will help students meet national training standards. Support for Caring for Compassion comes from a Graduate Medical Education Innovation grant from the U-M Medical School.

 

--A spiritual experience may be a key reason for recovering alcoholics to improve their sobriety, according to new findings from Clinical Associate Professor Stephen Strobbe, Ph.D., RN. “Spiritual Awakening Predicts Improved Drinking Outcomes in a Polish Treatment Sample” was published in Journal of Addictions Nursing (vol. 24, issue 4). The study followed 118 male and female patients at four treatment centers, in Warsaw, Poland, for a year. The researchers found the patients who self-reported a spiritual awakening, which has been described by Alcoholics Anonymous, between one month and approximately one year had significant improvements in the abstinence from drinking, or no return to heavy drinking. This research is from a funded collaboration between the U-M Substance Abuse Section and the Medical University of Warsaw, Poland. "It has been a pleasure working with our partners in Poland,” says Dr. Strobbe. “Together, our work reinforces the notion that spirituality can be a practical treatment approach for alcohol use disorders, and there are still more, intriguing findings yet to share." 

 

--Angela Serpetti, UMSN Graduate Recruiting & Admissions Lead, will be a guest speaker at the 2014 Annual Michigan Nursing Students Association (MNSA) conference. Her presentation will focus on the importance of advancing education and the numerous options that are available at the graduate level. Angela will also answer common questions related to differences between Nurse Practitioner, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Ph.D. and DNP programs and scope of practice outcomes as outlined by AACN. The conference brings together nursing students, in all levels of education, to network with fellow nursing students, as well as experienced nurses in diverse areas of practice, nursing leaders and exhibitors.  It will be held January 31 - February 2 in Troy, Michigan.

 

--“I realized… I could have a great impact working with Latino communities on health issues,” Associate Dean for Research and Global Affairs Antonia Villarruel, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, shares in the University Record’s Faculty/Staff Spotlight. Dr. Villarruel explains how she decided to switch from her original research interest of children’s pain when she realized her own upbringing and personal skills could be an asset in improving the health of Latino communities, especially for adolescents.

 

Dr. Villarruel also co-authored an article for the current issue of Public Health Reports (together with UMSN Clinical Assistant Professor April Bigelow, Ph.D., ANP-BC, and recent alumna Carmen Alvarez, Ph.D., NP-C, CNM). Entitled "Integrating the 3Ds: A Nursing Perspective," it makes the case for data, durability, dissemination as key elements in addressing health disparities, determinants, diversity.

 

--Alumna Carman Turkelson (DNP 2013) had a paper presentation accepted to the Midwest Nursing Research Society (MNRS) 2014 Annual Research Conference. It will be held March 27-30, 2014, in St. Louis, Missouri. Turkelson’s paper, “Improving Nursing Communication Skills in an Intensive Care Unit Using Simulation and Nursing Crew Resource Management (NCRM) Strategies,” is based on her UMSN scholarly project.

Also at MNRS, Marita G. Titler, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, UMSN associate dean of clinical scholarship and practice development, will be a speaker. Her session, “Linking PhD Education with a Vision for Science: Dialogue with the CANS-Idea Festival Advisory Committee,” will be a discussion on emerging areas of science for 21^st century nurse education. Topics include patient-centered outcomes, health systems, quantitative methods, engagement of patients/stakeholders and e-science.

 

 

Ph.D. student An-Yun Yeh has been selected for a Midwest Nursing Research Society 2014 Founders' Circle Endowment Fund Grant. Yeh’s research is focused on the relationship of sleep disturbances and episodic memory in older adults and the potential connections to functional ability, depression, and aging. Yeh plans to use the findings to develop interventions to improve episodic memory or slow decline of episodic memory by improving sleep. Her mentor is Dr. Susan Pressler.

Associate Professor Marjorie McCullagh, Ph.D., RN, PHCNS-BC, COHN-S, has been elected as Director of Education of the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA). The professional organization is dedicated to hearing loss prevention through developing industry standards and in regulatory, educational and legislative activity. NHCA members include audiologists, physicians, occupational health nurses, engineers, and equipment manufacturers, among others. NHCA cited Dr. McCullagh’s expertise in hearing loss prevention in farm workers, leadership in other professional societies and her experience as an educator as key reasons for her selection as director.

 

Barbara Brush, Ph.D., ANP-BC, FAAN, UMSN’s Carol J. and F. Edward Lake Term Clinical Professor, was reappointed to a second term on the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools International (CGFNS) Sub-Committee on Advanced Practice Nursing Professional Nurse Credentials Standards. CGFNS, a nonprofit organization, is the world’s largest credentials evaluation organization for nursing.