UMSN News at a Glance (March 2016): Students rise to new challenges, while faculty are recognized for professional achievements

Hillman Scholar and doctoral student Jordan Harrison was selected for a poster presentation at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Conference. The event focuses on improving the quality and safety of cancer care. Harrison’s presentation, “Factors associated with toxicity-related service use among community oncology patients” was chosen from more than 300 abstract submissions.

Sophomore Caitlin Choi was accepted as an intern for U-M’s Global Health Design Internship. She and an interdisciplinary group of U-M students will travel to Ethiopia during the summer to apply design ethnography techniques to define global health challenges. The project includes conceptualizing, prototyping and evaluating their design solutions. The majority of the group will be engineering students, so Choi says she is looking forward to providing a health care point of view on how the designs will work for populations.

PhD student Monica Wagner won U-M’s Three-Minute Thesis competition, sponsored by the Rackham Graduate School. PhD students compete to deliver the best research presentation and can only use one slide. The competition began in Australia, and now institutions around the world are using it as a way to help PhD students fine-tune their oral presentation skills. Wagner won $500 in travel funds for her presentation “'Reducing Pain After Chemotherapy.” She says she’ll most likely use the funds for an upcoming neuroscience conference. Watch Wagner's winning presentation. 

 

Professor Rob Stephenson, MSC, PhD, was a guest on NPR discussing a newly created app aimed at helping sexual- and gender-minority youths get access to the health and social services they need. iCON, created at U-M’s Center for Sexuality and Health Disparities (SexLab), provides a database of LGBT services and life-skill-building educational modules.  It allows users to customize usage to find the services they need, from HIV testing to employment opportunities. Dr. Stephenson also co-authored (with UMSN PhD student Nicholas Metheny, MSN, RN) an Annals of Family Medicine paper focused on increased primary care and HIV/hepatitis testing in a sample rural population.

 

Michelle Aebersold, PhD, RN, CHSE, FAAN, was elected to the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation & Learning (INACSL) Board of the Directors. Dr. Aebersold will assume her position as Vice President for Operations at INACSL’s annual conference in June. She is the director of UMSN’s Clinical Learning Center and brings extensive experience in both high-fidelity and virtual-reality simulation.

 

Clinical Assistant Professor Chin Hwa (Gina) Dahlem, RN, FNP-C, PhD, has been selected as a fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). Selection is based on accomplishments in practice, education, policy and research, and contributions to the advancement of NPs. Dr. Dahlem’s research focuses on opioid overdose prevention and education using naloxone and on how patient-provider relationships affect patient outcomes. Her clinical expertise is serving the vulnerable populations particularly to people experiencing homelessness.  She will be inducted during the AANP National Conference in June.

 

Associate Professor Ivo Dinov, PhD, was elected as a member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). Elected ISI Membership recognizes those who have made significant contributions to statistics in areas such as research, education or professional leadership. ISI works to support the international statistical community and promote best practices in statistical science and education. Dr. Dinov’s research focuses on big data, health informatics, high-performance computing, and teaching with technology. He is also the Director of the Statistics Online Computational Resource (SOCR).

 

UMSN Associate Dean for Practice and Professional Graduate Studies Lisa Kane Low, PhD, CNM, FACNM, FAAN, and colleagues created A Nurse’s Guide to Supporting Physiological Birth for nurses to learn more about the benefits of physiological birth including improved patient safety and experience satisfaction. Also called “normal births,” physiologic births strive to limit interventions such as medication or surgery. The guide shares nursing care practices and evidenced-based resources for practitioners.

 

Health leaders in Ethiopia should consider raising the minimum nursing educational requirement to at least a baccalaureate degree. That’s the recommendation from UMSN Clinical Instructor Nadia Charania, PhD, RN, and co-authors in a new article “The Journey of Ethiopian Nursing Education: A Glimpse of Past, Present and Future.” The researchers share concerns about the country’s high numbers of communicable and non-communicable diseases, nutritional deficit disorders and a shortage of health care professionals. They praise Ethiopian nurses for their growing role in advancing health care delivery but encourage additional progress in education and engagement to further improve patient care.

Clinical Associate Professor Stephen Strobbe, PhD, RN, PMHCNS-BC, CARN-AP, recently presented at a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) event in Maryland. “Practice Tools for Managing Substance Use Disorders within Collaborative Primary Care: RN, NP and PA Stakeholders” gathered input from clinicians about available resources and needs. According to Dr. Strobbe, “In response to the current opioid epidemic and associated increases in drug overdoses and deaths, federal agencies are actively seeking ways to help prepare healthcare professionals—including nurses—to better address substance use and related disorders in collaborative practice settings, including primary care.”  Dr. Strobbe was also recently named Co-Chair for the Washtenaw Health Initiative Opioid Project, a community-based group striving to reduce opioid addiction, overdoses, and deaths.