August Highlights
Welcoming a first-time visitor, funding to focus on the sexual health of cancer survivors, addressing the primary care provider shortage, more.
UMSN had the wonderful surprise of a visit from new U-M President Schlissel in late August. He checked in 
on construction of the new academic building—on the day the final beam of structural steel was placed. Then he met academic and student services staff and administrators and observed a simulation in the Clinical Learning Center (CLC). “President Schlissel seemed down-to-earth and genuinely interested in what we are doing,” said CLC Director and Clinical Assistant Professor Michelle Aebersold, PhD, RN. “He understood simulation and debriefing as powerful teaching tools.”
The next stop was at the research lab of Associate Dean for Research Janean E. Holden, PhD, RN, FAAN. “It was a pleasure to meet President Schlissel and to have him take an interest in the work we do,” she said. “His commitment to and understanding of the research was clear.” Approximately three dozen UMSN faculty members met with new university president. They shared what they appreciate most about U-M (such as interdisciplinary work) and what they worry about (ability to attract top nursing faculty amid a growing national shortage).
Dean Kathleen Potempa was pleased with the opportunity to share the complexity of the U-M School of Nursing enterprise, which includes helping young students (even teenagers) deal with life and death issues. “He got to see how patient-focused our research is, and also how well our nursing students are prepared to go forth, achieve high board scores, and get right to work promoting and improving health.” Photos from the visit are on UMSN's Facebook page.
Debra L. Barton, RN, PhD, AOCN, FAAN, UMSN’s Mary Lou Willard French Professor of Nursing, received a new grant from The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Her project, “Enhancing sexual health in female cancer survivors,” aims to create a comprehensive approach to sexual health that will be individualized to each woman’s needs. The intervention will address physiologic changes for patients dealing with vaginal dryness and pain after their diagnosis and treatment, psychosocial changes resulting in negative body image and sexual self-image, and decreases in sexual energy and motivation. “I am extremely grateful for the support I have received from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation over the past six years,” says Dr. Barton. “This funding has allowed me to explore mechanisms of action (both physiologic and psychosocial) for two different interventions that have been evaluated in large phase III multi-site clinical trials. I am encouraged that the phase III study most recently completed, evaluating vaginal DHEA (a pro-hormone) for symptoms of vaginal atrophy in female cancer survivors, has yielded some potentially practice-changing results, and primary and secondary outcome data were presented orally at two different international oncology conferences this summer.” UMSN’s virtual simulation is highlighted in HealthLeaders “Medical Training Gets a Second Life.” Michelle 
Aebersold, PhD, RN, director of UMSN’s Clinical Learning Center, explains why virtual learning has many benefits including exposing students to numerous situations, convenience, and opportunities to improve communication and interdisciplinary collaboration. "If you want to teach nursing students how to delegate, how to practice their leadership skills, how to respond to an emergency situation and direct their team members, it's a great learning environment," says Dr. Aebersold.
Aebersold, PhD, RN, director of UMSN’s Clinical Learning Center, explains why virtual learning has many benefits including exposing students to numerous situations, convenience, and opportunities to improve communication and interdisciplinary collaboration. "If you want to teach nursing students how to delegate, how to practice their leadership skills, how to respond to an emergency situation and direct their team members, it's a great learning environment," says Dr. Aebersold."It allows you to create situations that, over the course of a four-, five-, or six-year training process in a healthcare professional education program, they may never see," adds Associate Professor Patricia Abbott, PhD, RN, FAAN.
“Nurses make up between 50 and 80 percent of the health workforce in Sub Saharan Africa yet resources to support building nursing capacity are still very sparse,” says Sue Anne Bell, PhD, FNP-BC. Bell is a recent UMSN PhD graduate and will be joining the faculty in the fall as an assistant research scientist and lecturer. Bell recently led a presentation on “Evaluation of student satisfaction with an emergency nursing education pilot program in Ghana” at the 2014 Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Symposium in Mozambique. MEPI, with funding and support from multiple U.S. government agencies, was launched to fund 13 medical schools in 12 African countries to strength health systems in those countries. “I'm happy that our U-M partnership with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana has placed a strong emphasis on building the entire healthcare team as a unit,” says Dr. Bell. Read more about Bell’s work in Ghana.-- Assistant Professor Sarah A. Stoddard, PhD, CPNP, is the featured member of the U-M Injury Center for August. The center, funded by the Centers for Disease Control, has nearly 200 members from more than 20 institutions focused on injury issues. Dr. Stoddard’s work targets the healthy development of adolescents and the prevention of risk behaviors, such as youth violence and substance use.
-- Professor Emerita Joanne Pohl, PhD, ANP-BC, FAAN, FAANP, addresses the impending primary care provider shortage in “Revisiting Primary Care Workforce Data: A Future Without Barriers For Nurse Practitioners And Physicians,” a Health Affairs blog. The post is co-authored by UMSN alumna Debra Barksdale and Kitty Werner. They call for changes in legislation to allow providers, namely nurse practitioners to practice to their full scope of education and training. “We believe that primary care is the foundation of a robust health care system,” they write. “It will take all providers working to the fullest extent of their educational preparation to ensure an effective health care system that meets the triple aim of improving the patient experience, improving the health of populations, and reducing the cost of care.”
Learn more about Michigan Senate Bill 2 and what it proposes for advanced practice nurses and access to health care for the people of Michigan.
