News and Events

Board of Governors Approves DNP Curriculum for the SON

February 8, 2013 | In Dean Kristen Swanson, Education, Faculty, News, Students Tags:
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UPDATE: Please read the DNP FAQ to learn about our DNP Program, Application Requirements, and find out who is eligible to apply now. Please click here.

In a letter to the SON community, Dean Kristen Swanson announced that the SON will be adding a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree to the school’s educational program. The following message was sent to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the SON:

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SON DNP program in planning phase

November 15, 2012 | In Dean Kristen Swanson, Education, Faculty, News, Students Tags:
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The School of Nursing has requested permission from the UNC System General Administration and the Board of Governors to establish a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program. Graduates of the DNP program will be prepared for careers as health care practitioners, nursing administrators and executives, and clinical faculty members. 

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First Post-MSN Informatics Graduate takes CHIP training into the Workplace

July 16, 2012 | In Education, News, Students

Stephanie Johnson Stephanie Johnson-Dean

Stephanie Johnson-Dean graduated with a Post-Masters Certificate in Health Care Systems- Informatics in May 2012. Johnson-Dean, who began the post-MSN program in Fall 2011, was the first SON student to complete the new certificate offered by the SON in collaboration with the Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP).

CHIP is an interdisciplinary collaboration between SON and the School of Information and Library Science, the School of Medicine, and the School of Public Health. The program was created to provide an information technology background to professionals who are interested in improving health care from a systems approach.

“We prepare nurses with enough background in IT so they can collaborate with technical programmers and database managers to select and improve systems and ultimately improve patient care,” said Dr. Debbie Travers, SON assistant professor and CHIP instructor.

“That’s what we’re driving toward with meaningful use of IT. We’re overwhelmed with data in clinical settings, but a computer can help organize data to support clinical decisions.” Dr. Travers said. “Having clinicians with backgrounds in IT is a good thing for patient outcomes.”

Johnson-Dean completed her CHIP training with funding from the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). UNC worked together with Duke University to secure funding from the ONC’s Program of Assistance for University-Based Training, an initiative that seeks to increase the number of professionals available to serve in health IT roles.

At UNC, nurses in the CHIP program take courses in health care informatics, systems analysis, database systems and health outcomes. Building upon their prior clinical experience, these courses prepare graduates to fulfill one of the roles identified by the ONC: the clinician leader.

Completion of the pMSN certificate in HCS-Informatics puts nurses in an ideal position to make leadership contributions. The program prepares them to manage the successful deployment and use of health IT to make transformational improvements in the quality, safety, outcomes, and overall value of health services.

Johnson-Dean is applying her informatics education to her new role as principal trainer at Cone Health based in Greensboro. Of the CHIP program, Johnson-Dean said, “It was my ticket to expanding and exploring another road on my nursing journey.”

Stephanie Johnson-Dean was recently credited with leading an effort to help avoid the risk of bacterial infections at Duke Raleigh Hospital. Read more here.

SON’s First Student Fulbright Scholar

July 2, 2012 | In Education, Global Health, News, Students

Stephanie Sun Stephanie Sun

Stephanie Sun embarks this week on a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Award in South Korea. Sun, a May 2012 BSN graduate, will spend July 2012 – July 2013 in Korea, acting as an English teacher and cultural ambassador. She is the School of Nursing’s first student Fulbright Scholar.

Sun’s award was bestowed on behalf of the Korean-American Educational Commission and the J. William Fulbright Scholarship board. She will spend her first six weeks in a training and orientation program in Goesan, Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea. From there she will be assigned to an elementary school where she will begin her teaching post.

Sun chose Korea for her grant year for the opportunity to explore a new culture. “I was looking for an immersion experience in a different culture. I chose Korea because I want cultural competency and more growth in that area.” Sun had considered Taiwan, her parents’ country of origin, but ultimately chose to challenge herself in a less known location.

“I’ve always been interested in being a global citizen, and passionate about being aware of what’s going on in the world. In nursing, I want to work abroad with an organization that’s globally minded,” Sun said.

A global health award enabled Sun to pursue her international interests while still in nursing school. Sun spent six weeks in Kenya learning about community health and assisting in medical clinics as part of Chris Harlan’s N489 course in summer 2011. The experience included work with Moi University and the nonprofit Reach-Out. Sun also helped found UNICEF at Carolina during her studies at UNC.

Sun will stay connected to nursing while in Korea by researching job opportunities and graduate programs for when she returns to the U.S. She is interested in nurse practitioner and midwifery programs.

But for now, “I’m excited for what the grant year has to hold,” Sun said. “I’m focusing on keeping my mind open so the experience can be the best it can be.”