School of Nursing | School of Nursing | The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Celebrate National Nurses Week

Meagen Voss — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:54:28 +0000

Every year, a week in May is dedicated to National Nurses Week, a time when people across the country recognize the hard work and dedication of nurses in their communities.

According to the American Nurses Association (ANA), the week-long celebration began in 1954, marking the 100th year of Florence Nightingale’s mission to Crimea. The first occasion was held in October, but over time, the celebration has shifted to May.

The theme of this year’s National Nurse’s Week is “Delivering Quality and Innovation in Patient Care.” ANA will present a free continuing education seminar on how to foster innovation in everyday nursing practice on Thursday May 9 at 1 PM. You can learn more about the speakers and sign up for the talk at the ANA website.

Interested students, faculty, and alumni can also check out the list of events being held at UNC Healthcare.

Happy National Nurses Week!

SON Junior Awarded Class of 1938 Travel Fellowship

Meagen Voss — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:00:14 +0000

BSN student Leonora Tisdale was awarded a $5,000 fellowship to travel to spend her summer at a health clinic in Oaxaca, Mexico. For the next few weeks, Tisdale will take Spanish classes for medical professionals before leaving for her seven-week externship near the end of May. She hopes to return from her trip with an improved understanding of Mexican culture as well as better language skills for serving North Carolina’s Spanish-speaking citizens.

Since 1975, an endowment created by UNC’s Class of 1938 has funded 171 UNC students to complete independent projects abroad. Class members, who lived through and lost friends to World War II, created the endowment to help foster international understanding and promote world peace.

Tisdale is hoping that more of her peers will consider the fellowship. She said, “I wanted to share this good news with others at the School of Nursing to encourage other nursing students to apply.”

Students can read more about the fellowship at the International Student and Scholar Services website. You can also click here for a press release containing the full list of recipients and their planned projects.

Deborah Mayer Declared Extraordinary Nurse Leader By Yale University

Meagen Voss — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:00:40 +0000

Associate professor Deborah Mayer, PhD, RN, AOCN, FAAN has been selected as an Extraordinary Nurse Leader by Yale University, the first independent university-based nursing school established in the United States. As part of its 90th anniversary celebration, Yale School of Nursing has selected 90 alumni who “embody the School’s mission of advancing better health care” to be honored at a ceremony in October 2013.

Dr. Mayer has over 30 years of cancer nursing practice, education, research, and management experience. She is well-known for her innovative research on cancer survivorship health issues and her work to develop new eHealth applications for managing cancer and other complicated health conditions. In addition to her research, she has served as a member of the National Cancer Institute’s National Cancer Advisory Board (a Presidential appointment) and president of the Oncology Nursing Society. Dr. Mayer is the Editor for the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing (CJON), and she has published over 70 articles and book chapters on oncology and oncology nursing issues.

Visit Dr. Mayer’s website to read more about her innovative research program.

Leslie Sharpe Named a Duke-Johnson and Johnson Nurse Leadership Fellow

Meagen Voss — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:46:52 +0000

Clinical instructor Leslie Sharpe, FNP-BC, was recently selected to be one of the first fellows in the Duke-Johnson and Johnson Nurse Leadership program. Launched this year, the program is a one-year certificate program designed for advanced practice nurses who lead nurse-managed health centers. Ms. Sharpe is currently the lead practitioner at a new health center based at Sylvan Elementary school in Snow Camp, NC. During the program, she will participate in a combination of distance learning and on-site sessions at Duke University to learn about effective management and organizational strategies for nurse-managed health centers.

Insight Magazine Features Rumay Alexander and Pamela Rowsey

Meagen Voss — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:29:55 +0000

Director of Multicultural Affairs G. Rumay Alexander, EdD, RN, and associate professor Pamela Johnson Rowsey, PhD, RN were highlighted in a feature article for the April/May issue of Insight Into Diversity magazine. The article “Meeting the Need: Nursing Schools Chart Steps Toward Diversity,” focused on the diversity initiatives of three nursing programs from across the country.

The article discussed how patient safety ultimately relies on their ability to communicate well with healthcare providers, making it a critical priority for nursing schools to continue working on increasing the number of minority individuals enrolled in their programs. Dr. Alexander shared several of the SON’s diversity efforts with Insight, including the Pauline W. Brown Diversity Scholarship Award and the Ethnic Minority Visiting Lecture series, while Dr. Rowsey explained her Careers Beyond the Bedside program. One of the key goals of the program is to enroll a minimum of three underrepresented students in a doctoral program within one year of graduation.

For more on the SON’s ongoing diversity efforts, visit the SON Office of Multicultural Affairs webpage or read a recent article about a Dr. Rowsey’s latest grant to support diversity at the SON.

Sam Deal Receives Two Prestigious SON Awards

Meagen Voss — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:18:39 +0000

At an end of the year celebration in the Fox Lobby, facilities manager Sam Deal was awarded both the Outstanding Staff of the Year Award and the H.O.P.E. Award. Deal is the first staff member in the history of the SON to be selected for both awards in the same year.

The Outstanding Staff of the Year Award was created to recognize an individual staff member who has demonstrated exemplary performance and has contributed to the general success of the SON. The H.O.P.E., Helping Other People Excel Award, recognizes a staff or faculty member who has helped to create a “welcoming, inclusive, and hospitable environment in which all members of the SON community can flourish and realize their dreams.”

Deal, who has served the SON for almost a decade, was honored for his positive attitude, his willingness to help, and the many hours of hard work he has contributed to keeping the SON’s facilities running smoothly.

Congratulations Sam!

Linda Cronenwett Receives Prestigious Award from Eastern Nursing Research Society

Meagen Voss — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:55:08 +0000

Beerstecher-Blackwell Term Professor and former Dean Linda Cronenwett, PhD, RN, FAAN, was one of twelve recipients of the Sustained Influential Leader Award, one of the highest honors given by the Eastern Nursing Research Society (ENRS).

Dr. Cronenwett was recognized for her role as a founder of ENRS. Together with a nurse administrator colleague, she worked to establish a regional society for nursing research in the Northeastern United States. After a year’s worth of hard work gathering support from area nursing societies, ENRS was was established in 1987 with 142 charter members. Six scientists served on the initial steering committee and Dr. Cronenwett served as the chair.

The award was presented to Dr. Cronenwett on April 18, 2013 at ENRS’s 25th Anniversary Gala in Boston.

The SON Celebrates Nursing Research and the 2013 Honors Scholars

Meagen Voss — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:45:32 +0000

At a reception held in the Fox Lobby on Thursday, April 18, student researchers shared their projects with the SON community. The event recognized Sigma Theta Tau research scholars as well as undergraduate students who will graduate in 2013 with Honors or Highest Honors.

Diverse research interests were reflected in the posters. Some students chose to focus on specific patient populations, such as department of corrections patients or athletes, while others chose to develop new tools for improving nurse education, such as resources for nurses to learn about human trafficking or on-the-job instructional modules for new nurses.

During the event, 18 students received gold cords from Associate Dean Gwen Sherwood, Phd, RN, FAAN to signify that they will graduate with Honors. Four of those students received Highest Honors. Scroll down for the full list of Honors recipients as well as more pictures from the event.

Congratulations to all of our outstanding student researchers!

Highest Honors

Rebecca Kabatchnick
Lindsay Larison
Winona Poulton
Olivia Reid

Honors

Sam E. Benton
Devin Fohn
Sheena Hilton
David Johnson
Sarah Kaminer
Kelsey Knight
Mary Susan Miller
Tally Miller
Courtney O’Connor
David Reed
Charlotte Refvem
Emily Radford Ryan
Joanna Solkoff
Rachel Stowe

Honors Student Presents at Campuswide Undergraduate Research Forum

Meagen Voss — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:12:12 +0000

Honors student Devin Fohn was selected to present her research at the 14th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research. Fohn was one of nearly two hundred undergraduates who came together at the Frank Porter Graham Student Union to share their research with their peers and the UNC community at large.

Fohn’s project, “Hippotherapy as a Rehabilitation Method for Regaining Ambulatory Function in Spinal Cord Injury Patients,” focused on hippotherapy, a form of physical therapy that incorporates the characteristic movements of a horse. According to Fohn, there is some evidence that a horse’s steady gait can improve muscular function in patients with neurological disorders, such as cerebral palsy. So she decided to investigate whether hippotherapy would be beneficial for patients with spinal cord injuries.

After conducting a thorough literature review, Fohn uncovered no current research on using hippotherapy to rehabilitate patients with spinal cord injuries. But Fohn also found that many of the reported physiological benefits of hippotherapy, such as improved coordination and strength training, correlate with the treatment needs of these patients.

She hopes her work will encourage health care professionals to consider hippotherapy a viable option for spinal-cord-injury rehabilitation.

Devin Fohn’s advisor for this project is Clinical Assistant Professor Beth Lamanna, RN, MPH, WHNP.

Two Bald Heads Are Better Than One

Meagen Voss — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:27:40 +0000

For the second year in a row SON assistant professor Dr. Eric Hodges, PhD, FNP-BC, has shaved his head to raise money for child cancer research. But this year, Dr. Hodges faced the electric razor alongside BSN student Ian Urbaitis. Their two-man team, dubbed the Carolina Chrome Domes, raised nearly $4,000 for St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a group that raises money and awareness for childhood cancer research initiatives by hosting shaving events across the country.