May Headlines

Submitted on May 16, 2014

Activities highlight the breadth of UMSN’s mission, from improving population health to better use of Big Data

 
--UMSN Clinical Assistant Professor April D. Bigelow, Ph.D., ANP-BC, and a U-M team received a 2014 U-M Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize for “CaringWithCompassion.org:  A Comprehensive Training Portal for Clinicians Serving At-Risk Populations.” The online learning tool is used to help health care professionals, students, and others to better understand social determinants of health and improve care for underserved populations. Principal author on the project is Davoren Chick, MD, of University of Michigan Health System. Five projects were selected for the award and were officially recognized during  the keynote event of U-M’s Enriching Scholarship week.
              
Also at the keynote event, Clinical Assistant Professor Michelle L. Aebersold, Ph.D., RN, and Clinical Associate Professor Dana Tschannen, Ph.D., RN, were selected to present their poster “Using Blogger to Improve Student Engagement and Learning.” Their project is funding by an Investigating Student Learning Grant and the Provost’s Learning Analytics Taskforce.
 
--A UMSN team traveled to Haiti to improve the ongoing educational partnership between UMSN and Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de l’Université Episcopale d’Haiti in Léogâne (FSIL). Each fall since 2012, students enrolled in one section of UMSN’s Community Health Nursing (N456) held weekly videoconferencing sessions with their nursing peers at FSIL.  During this trip to Haiti, Associate Professor Patricia Abbott, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, Clinical Instructor Norma J. Sarkar, MPH, RN, and UMSN alumna Kelley VanMaldeghem (BSN ‘13) completed an evaluation of the course and held a focus group with FSIL students. “Differing perceptions of information and communication technologies, language issues, and cultural influences means that we have to continually adapt our approach in educational outreach initiatives such as this,” says Dr. Abbott.
 
In addition, the team conducted site visits to gain a deeper understanding of what the FSIL students are exposed to in their clinical and community experiences. They also consulted with other partners in the country to learn about their implementation of eHealth methods for the management of patients, health records, and supplies. Funding was provided by a Third Century Quick Wins Grant.
 
-- Dr. Abbott is also featured in “Virtual patients, online games and real-time EHRs: The new med ed,” in the AMA Wire.  The article looks at ways universities are using electronic health records (EHR) and other technology in teaching. But, as Dr. Abbott suggests, there are many untapped opportunities: “Most nurses and doctors think of EHRs as a way of documenting and collecting. We need to flip that and teach students to use it to transform and improve.”
 
--Students enrolled in UMSN’s occupational health nursing program visited a Ford Motor Company production facility earlier this month. They toured the production floor and visited the in-plant health service. Students discussed multiple hazards to health and safety that workers encounter at the plant, and the nursing role in mitigating these hazards.
 
--Scientists are collecting more data than ever, leading to questions about how to best use and protect that information. UMSN Associate Professor Ivo Dinov, Ph.D., focused on those concerns during a Big Data public conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy (CSTSP) and the Biological Countermeasures Unit of the WMD Directorate of the FBI. Dr. Dinov, who is the director of the Statistics Online Computational Resource, describes the event as an extensive perspective on the challenges, opportunities and barriers associated with the “Big Data Tsunami.” He was a speaker for the session “Increasing Access to Big Data and Analytics: Implications for Biological Security?” Watch the session here. Dr. Dinov was also interviewed for a follow-up blog.
 
-- Dr. Dinov and Clinical Assistant Professor Nancy "Amby" Gallagher, Ph.D., APRN-BC, recently participated in U-M’s five-day Michigan Road Scholars tour. The event, now in its 15th year, takes faculty and staff members throughout the state to learn about Michigan’s diverse cultural and geographic regions, as well as look for opportunities where U-M could build partnerships, in areas such as health care, business, and science. “The trip far exceeded my expectations--and I didn’t have low expectations,” says Dr. Gallagher. “The places we visited were interesting and reflected not only the issues facing Michigan but ways in which groups, educational systems, clinics and individuals are coming up with positive and creative approaches to those issues, or building on growing initiatives such as the local food movement."
 
--Clinical Assistant Professor Laura Struble PhD, GNP-BC, shares valuable advice for people caring for a loved one with dementia. “Helping a Senior With Dementia Who Wanders” gives a three-step approach to defining the type wandering behavior and practical ways on how to best address that behavior. The post on AgingCare.com also includes Dr. Struble’s family experiences with her own grandmother and methods they used such as distracting her with tasks at the times she was most likely to wander, placing bells and locks on doors, sewing her name and phone number into her coat, and handing out her picture and contact information to members of the community, including the police department, mailman, and neighbors.
 
-- UMSN faculty and students attended and presented at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) held in Washington, D.C. More than 1400 people representing diverse aspects of global health care attended. Associate Professor Jody R. Lori, PhD, CNM, FACNM, FAAN, gave a podium presentation of her research, “It takes a village: a comparative study of maternity waiting homes in rural Liberia.” PhD student Sue Anne Bell also gave a podium presentation of “Development of a trauma care assessment tool for emergency nurses in West Africa.” Their work will appear in The Lancet Global Health. Clinical Assistant Professors April D. Bigelow, PhD, ANP-BC, and Michelle Pardee, DNP, FNP-BC, presented their poster, “Global clinical immersion for primary care training: Learning from the global community.”
 
 

Accolades:

--Read about 2014 graduation, awards presented to students at graduation, as well as Teacher of the Year.
 
--Learn about honors and new leadership positions for UMSN faculty from the 2014 American College of Nurse Midwives Annual Meeting.
 
--Undergraduate Lucia Michelazzo Ceroni received a Summer in South Asia Fellowship from U-M’s Center for South Asian Studies. The fellowship allows students to design their own research program. Ceroni will work with Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement in Bangalore. The organization focuses on Health, Education, Socio-Economic Empowerment and TRAC (Training, Research, Advocacy & Consultancy).
 
 
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