Nursing For|um Summer 2015 by marylandnursing

nursing

SUMMER

’15

THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING

Following Their Hearts Different Paths Led Two Nurses To Treating Trauma Patients

Plus: How “Man’s Best Friend” Can Improve Your Health Learning in a Virtual Classroom

in this issue

SUMMER

’15

features

Students and faculty take lead role in policy debates.

Divergent paths led two young men toward treating trauma.

Taking Action

Different, But the Same

School paves the way for nurses earning baccalaureate degrees.

Scholarship Matching Program eases students’ ﬁnancial burdens.

Heeding a Call for More Education

Making Nursing Education More Affordable

departments 2 News ........................................................ 3 Insights — A Message from the Dean ..........

> Welcome New Faculty .............................. 4

Shady Grove Perspectives ......................... 22 Partnerships ............................................ 24

Online ......................................................

38 Healthy Dialogue ..................................... 40 Philanthropy ............................................ 42 Alumni Pulse ........................................... 46 Back Story .............................................. 52

Innovation ................................................

Save the Date ................................ Back Cover

> Firsts ..................................................... 7 > By the Numbers ...................................... 9 > 125th Anniversary Gala ............................. 12

Change Agent ........................................... 16

Discovery ................................................

ON THE COVER: Becks Lee, BSN ’13, and Zachary Manlucu, BSN ’13, followed different routes to the same destination: Nursing trauma patients at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital’s cardiac and spinal cord injury unit. [See the story on page 30.] Photograph by Mike Ciesielski UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 1

INSIGHTS Summer 2015 nursing for um is a publication of the University of Maryland School of Nursing. The magazine informs readers about faculty, student, and alumni involvement in nursing education, research, practice, and leadership, and serves as a tool for connecting alumni and other constituents with the School of Nursing.

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” —Helen Keller

Editorial Board: Patricia Adams, Editorial Director Susan G. Dorsey Marjorie Fass Erika Friedmann Laurette Hankins Karen Kauffman Kathryn Montgomery Robin Newhouse Rebecca Wiseman

ursing is healing work. It is our ability to bring relief to those who are suffering and in need that defines our profession and empowers our practice. This spring, our community within the School of Nursing and our broader community in the surrounding area of Baltimore City, both were in need of healing. In late April, one of our Doctor of Nursing Practice students, Reanna Greene, lost her life to a tragic act of intimate partner violence. Although death is never easy to accept, it is especially hard to comprehend when the victim is someone whose potential, cut tragically short, was so evident to all who knew her. The loss of this kind young woman, who was a promising practitioner and scholar, left her colleagues at the School of Nursing and the University of Maryland Medical Center’s R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center heartbroken. We ask you to keep her family and loved ones in your thoughts. While we were struggling to come to terms with that loss, the city of Baltimore was thrust into the national and international spotlight due to acts of civil unrest, which occurred in response to the death of West Baltimore resident Freddie Gray while he was in police custody. Media coverage of the events saturated the airwaves and painted a troubling picture of Baltimore as a place of violence and lawlessness, with law enforcement and city residents on opposing sides. The residents of Maryland, many of whom included members from across the School of Nursing and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, helped defy that characterization by immediately lending assistance to efforts to provide relief to residents and areas damaged by rioters and protesters. The University and the School of Nursing have a long history of engagement with the West Baltimore community (the previous issue of our nursing for um magazine highlighted some of those partnerships), and our established relationships allowed us to quickly engage with those most in need of help. Efforts to improve the health and well-being of our local communities is a cause to which we are dedicated and unceasing. Much work remains to be done!

Jane M. Kirschling, PhD, RN, FAAN Dean and Professor

Contributors: Patricia Adams Gregory J. Alexander Laura Antonucci Marie Brown Stacey Conrad Patricia Fanning Laurette Hankins Ron Hube Nancy Menefee Jackson Todd Karpovich Kevin Nash Barbara Pash Jeff Seidel Cynthia Sikorski Danny Tress Design and Editorial: Today Media Custom Communications 1014 W. 36th Street Baltimore, MD 21211 410-909-7820 todaymediacustom.com Chairman: Robert F. Martinelli President: Jonathan Witty Project Manager: Julie F. Lang Art Director: Randy Clark Senior Editor: Steve Kelly Photography: Mike Ciesielski Richard Lippenholz Kevin Nash nursing for um is published twice a year by the University of Maryland School of Nursing, Baltimore, Md. We welcome comments, suggestions, and story ideas from alumni, partners, and friends. Please send all correspondence to the editorial director. Send correspondence to: Patricia Adams, Executive Director of Communications University of Maryland School of Nursing 655 W. Lombard St., Suite 311D Baltimore, MD 21201 Phone: 410-706-4115 Fax: 410-706-5560 padams@son.umaryland.edu Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland School of Nursing

2 SUMMER 2015

NEWS

School of Nursing Receives Largest Gift in Its History $5.24 million gift will help expand enrollment in undergraduate program

gift of $5.24 million from William “Bill” and Joanne Conway, through their Bedford Falls Foundation, will enable the School of Nursing to expand enrollment in its traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program and increase opportunities for registered nurses to obtain BSN degrees. The gift, which is the largest in the School’s history, will provide full scholarship support for 157 new students. This transformational gift will be disbursed over a five-year period. “This unprecedented gift in our School’s history comes at a time when the case for a well-educated nurse workforce has never been more evident,” Dean Jane Kirschling said. “We are truly appreciative of this extraordinary gift from Mr. and Mrs. Conway, which will help educate nurses at the baccalaureate level for Maryland and beyond.” Of the 157 new students, 32 will matriculate at the School’s entry-level BSN program at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Md., starting with a cohort of eight students in fall 2016. The gift also will support 125 students in the RN-to-BSN option, beginning with a cohort in spring 2016. In addition to full scholarships, Conway Scholars will receive valuable coaching and mentoring services through UMSON’s Student Success

Center. Many of those seeking the RN-to-BSN option are expected to be associate degree graduates who are the first in their families to pursue a baccalaureate degree. “This incredibly generous gift will help meet the acute demand for nurses in the state and the region and will allow students to receive their education through one of the country’s very best nursing schools — a school that ranks sixth in the nation,” said Jay A. Perman, MD, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. A 2010 Institute of Medicine report on the future of nursing recommends that 80 percent of the nurse workforce be educated at the baccalaureate level by 2020. Many hospitals prefer to hire nurses with BSN degrees and, as a result, some nurses who hold associate degrees have difficulty securing positions. “Joanne and I are proud to support scholarships for nurses at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. The School has an outstanding reputation for the development of compassionate, competent nurses,” said Bill Conway. “With this gift, we will have granted scholarships to more than 600 future nurses.” The Conways are trustees of the couple’s Bedford Falls Foundation, which has bestowed significant nursing scholarships previously in the midAtlantic region. —Patricia Fanning

School of Nursing Advances to #6 in U.S. News & World Report Rankings Eight master’s specialties ranked in top 10

he School of Nursing is now ranked 6th among all accredited graduate

nursing programs by U.S. News & World Report in its 2015 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools.” The School advanced from a No. 11 ranking in 2011 to a tie for No. 6 with the schools of nursing at Duke University, New York University, and the University of MichiganAnn Arbor. In addition to its No. 6 overall ranking, eight of the School’s master’s specialties/options are ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report and two hold No. 1 rankings. The Clinical Nurse Leader option and Nursing Informatics specialty are ranked No. 1; the Adult/ Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner specialty is ranked No. 4; the Administration and Family Nurse Practitioner specialties are each ranked No. 5; the Nurse Anesthesia specialty is ranked No. 7, and the Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Adult/Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner specialties are each ranked No. 8. —Patricia Adams UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 3

NEWS

Faculty Members Selected for National League for Nursing Leadership Program

Front row: Amy Daniels and Michelle Moulton. Back row: Lori Edwards, Vanessa Fahie, and Margaret Hammersla

ive School of Nursing faculty members are participating in the National League for Nursing’s (NLN) 2015 LEAD Program. Amy Daniels,

MS ’12, BSN ’89, RN, CHSE, clinical instructor; Lori Edwards, DrPH, BSN ’80, RN, PHCNS-BC, assistant professor; Vanessa Fahie, PhD ’94, BS ’76, RN, assistant professor;

Margaret Hammersla, MS ’05, BSN ’95, RN, CRNP, assistant professor; and Michelle Moulton, MS ’09, RN, PCCN, CHSE, clinical instructor, were chosen for the program, which is part of NLN’s Leadership Institute. The LEAD program focuses on leadership development for nurse educators who are emerging into administrative leadership roles or for the Leadership Development Program for Simulation Educators. The yearlong program places participants on teams with peers and experts to examine issues related to leadership concepts and organizational systems. It guides participants in developing strong management and leadership skills, the art of negotiation and communication within groups, and how to develop teams that perform at a high level. Additionally, the program helps members create a three-year, focused career plan, examine key issues in organizational dynamics, and implement an individual plan for leadership development. —Kevin Nash

WELCOME NEW FACULTY

4 SUMMER 2015

Luana Colloca

Ernest Opoku-Agyemang

MD, PhD Associate Professor

MS ’12, BSN ’10 Clinical Instructor

State of the School Address Celebrates Accomplishments, Looks to the Future

aculty, staff, students, alumni, and special guests assembled at the School of Nursing on April 8 for Dean Jane Kirschling’s first annual State of the School Address. The presentation, “Academic Nursing: Maryland and Beyond,” highlighted 2014 faculty, staff, and departmental successes, as well as new traditions, culminating with a look ahead to the future. Dean Kirschling began with some recent highlights, which included the School’s new No. 6 ranking by U.S. News & World Report. Eight of the School’s master’s specialties/options are ranked in the top 10 and two — Clinical Nurse Leader and Nursing Informatics — are ranked No. 1. Several new traditions were initiated during the year, including the creation of a ceremonial mace to be carried at Convocation. Dean Kirschling stated that enrollment numbers remained consistent through 2014. She was pleased to announce that the School’s student body is composed of 36 percent minorities, 10 percent higher than the national average of minorities in nursing programs. “Diversity is one of the University’s core values and remains a point of pride for the School of Nursing,” Kirschling said. “The diversity of our student body differentiates us from many schools of nursing across the country.” Other highlights included the revision of the curricula across four programs; the reopening of the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner specialty (the only one offered in Maryland); and the naming of eight pre-doctoral students as Jonas Scholars. A first-rate faculty continues to be a hallmark of the School, as five faculty members are serving in leadership roles at the state or national level.

Dean Kirschling celebrates her State of the School Address with UMB and UMMC colleagues. Front row: Natalie Eddington, Donald Tobin, Dean Jane Kirschling, Jay A. Perman, and Lisa Rowen

Back row: Mickey Dowdy; Rick Barth, Peter Murray, Roger Ward, Bruce Jarrell, James B. Kaper, and Jeffrey Rivest

A ﬁrst-rate faculty continues to be a hallmark of the School, as ﬁve faculty members are serving in leadership roles at the state or national level. “An important facet of academic nursing is seeking and developing opportunities for nursing leadership,” Kirschling said. “The School of Nursing has a legacy of producing nurse leaders and I’m pleased that we have so many on our faculty.” The School also continues to excel in faculty research and scholarship, as it received $4 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants in 2014. It is ranked 11th nationally in NIH funding and sixth among state institutions. Dean Kirschling acknowledged staff contributions, which also have played a significant role in the growth of the School. The Office of Development and Alumni Relations had a banner year. As of March 31, $2.65 million was raised toward a $3.2 million goal — 83 percent of the annual fundraising total. Several of the School’s staff members received

achievement awards; the Student Success Center had its initial Who Will Care grant renewed; and the Office of Communications redesigned the School’s website, magazine, and e-newsletter. Dean Kirschling closed her address with her vision for the future. She’d like to see continued opportunities for nursing academic leadership, grant funding, and student success; recruitment and retention of high-quality faculty; and exploration of new models of care in response to the needs of the community. In addition, she wants the School to take advantage of partnerships with the University System of Maryland; within the University of Maryland, Baltimore; and any technological opportunities that may be possible. “As we move forward, we must ensure that our goals are in alignment with the core values of the University — accountability, civility, collaboration, diversity, excellence, knowledge, and leadership,” she said. —Kevin Nash To view a video of the State of the School address, go to: https://vimeo.com/124664779

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 5

NEWS

Faculty Members Awarded Nurse Educator Doctoral Grants

Katherine Fornili, Michelle Gonzalez, Kelley Wilson, Ben Canha, Katie McElroy, Charon Burda, Ana Duarte, Ann Hoffman, and Dzifa Dordunoo. Not pictured: Meredid Caves

ine School of Nursing faculty members and one doctoral student have been awarded the Nurse Educator Doctoral Grant (NEDG) for Practice and Dissertation Research. The following individuals received awards of $30,000: Assistant Professors Charon Burda, MS ’03, PMHNP-BC; Katherine Fornili, MPH,

RN, CARN; and Kelley Wilson, MSN, RN; and Clinical Instructors Ben Canha, MS ’96, RN; Meredid Caves, MSN ’13, RN; Dzifa Dordunoo, PhD ’14, MSN, RN; Ana Duarte, MS ’09, BSN ’06, APRN, CRNP-PMH; Michelle Gonzalez, MSN, MSOM, RN, CRNA; Ann Hoﬀman, MS ’11, RN; and PhD student Kathleen McElroy, MS ’10, BSN ’97, RN. This competitive grant program is designed to assist PhD and Doctor of

Nursing Practice candidates as they pursue advanced degrees. Its goals are to increase the number of doctoral-prepared nursing faculty in Maryland, strengthen faculty development for optimal capacity at schools of nursing, and recruit and retain a diverse nursing faculty. “With the availability of these awards to our faculty, the School of Nursing is in prime position to answer the Institute of Medicine’s call for a more highly-educated nurse workforce and improved nursing education system,” Dean Jane Kirschling said. “I fully expect this program to help us build and fortify our faculty infrastructure, which will ensure an adequate educational capacity for the preparation of future nurses.” Grant recipients can use the funds for professional development, course release time, wages for research-related administrative support, or project-related expenses for supplies, travel, and document creation. NEDG is a statewide funding initiative supported by the Nurse Support Program II and is jointly approved by the Health Services Cost Review Commission and the Maryland Higher Education Commission. —Kevin Nash

Wiseman Appointed to Shady Grove Medical Center Governing Board

EBECCA WISEMAN, PhD ’93, RN, associate professor

Adventist HealthCare Board of Trustees. Its purpose is

and chair, University of Maryland School of Nursing

to support the mission, values, and well-being of Shady

at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG), has been

Grove Medical Center through elevating the stature

appointed to the Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical

and success of its programs, services, and capabilities.

Center Governing Board. She is serving a three-year term as

The Governing Board, which is composed of business,

a community board member.

education, physician, health care, and community leaders,

The Shady Grove Medical Center Governing Board is composed of 19 members who are appointed by the

6 SUMMER 2015

provides counsel to the Shady Grove Medical Center and its president.

FIRSTS

1 Nursing Informatics — Now Ranked No. 1 in the Nation by U.S. News & World Report

Barbara Resnick (middle row, third from right) poses with Chancellor Kirwin and fellow USM Regents Awardees.

Resnick Receives USM Regents Award for Mentoring

arbara Resnick, PhD ’96, RN, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP, professor and Sonia Ziporkin Gershowitz Chair in Gerontology at the School of Nursing, was named a 2015 University System of Maryland (USM) Faculty Award recipient. She was one of 16 award winners selected by the USM institutions and the USM Foundation. One of the highest honors bestowed by the Board of Regents, the Regents Faculty Awards recognize exemplary faculty achievement in public service, teaching, mentoring, or research, scholarship, and creative activity. Awardees are selected by the Council of University System Faculty and submitted to the Board for approval. Resnick, who has been a faculty member at the School of Nursing for more than 20 years, received the mentoring award.

“It is a great honor to be invited to serve on the Shady Grove Medical Center Governing Board,” Wiseman said. “I look forward to working with colleagues who are committed to providing superior health care services to their clients. Nurses bring unique

he School of Nursing was the ﬁrst in the nation to offer a master’s specialty in nursing informatics and a PhD program with a nursing informatics concentration. When the master’s specialty was launched in 1989, the use of computers in research, health care systems, and society as a whole was burgeoning. Anticipating a rapidly growing demand for nurses competent in both nursing practice and informatics, the graduate program was expanded to a doctoral emphasis area in 1991. Today, the School offers the post-BSN route for obtaining a master’s degree with the Nursing Informatics specialty. Doctoral degrees (DNP and PhD) and a certiﬁcate at the post-master’s level also are offered.

perspectives to hospital governing boards and I am excited about this opportunity to make an important

For more information about the nursing

difference in the delivery of health care in Montgomery

informatics specialty, or to apply,

County.”

—Kevin Nash

go to: nursing.umaryland.edu/ academics/grad/specialties/ni/

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 7

NEWS

Celebrating Psychiatric/ Mental Health Nursing

he annual Ann Ottney Cain Lecture in Psychiatric Nursing, held at the School of Nursing in March, also celebrated the 60th anniversary of the School’s Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing master’s specialty. Currently ranked No. 8 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, the specialty was the first of the School’s clinical nursing areas to develop a program of master’s study.

Loretta Sweet Jemmott, PhD, RN, FAAN, van Ameringen Professor in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing and Associate Director of the Center for Health Equity Research at the University of Pennsylvania, presented 8 SUMMER 2015

the lecture, “Preventing HIV, STI, and Teenage Pregnancy: Family Impact and Solutions,” which focused on her pioneering community health work in preventing HIV, STI, and teenage pregnancy. Alumni from across the decades gathered for a dinner following the lecture to mark the special 60th anniversary milestone. The Cain Lecture, launched in 1999, was established to honor Ann Ottney Cain, PhD, RN, CSP, FAAN, a renowned educator, clinician, and leader in psychiatric nursing who spent more than 30 years on the School of Nursing’s faculty. —Patricia Adams

Front row, left to right: Gail Lemaire, PhD ’96; Claudia Smith, PhD, BSN ’65; Kristin Altar, MS ’06; Mary Briggs; Charon Burda, MS ’03; Marie McCarthy, MS ’79; Alicia Baker, BSN ’04; Emily Grimm, MS ’15, BSN ’07; Christine Shippen, MS ’96, BSN ’74; and Temika Heyward, MS ’01 Middle row, left to right: Ana Duarte, MS ’09, BSN ’06; Sarah Miller, MS ’10, BSN ’05; Mary Jan Carroll, MS ’96; and Audrey Addaquay-Corey, BSN ’09 Back row, left to right: Lori Mooney, MS ’09, BSN ’05; Anita Bains, MS ’87; and Crystal DeVance-Wilson, MS ’06, BSN ’00

PHOTO COURTESY OF KYLE BERGNER PHOTOGRAPHY

BY THE NUMBERS THE SCHOOL OF NURSING OPENED A NEW LACTATION

CENTER IN SEPTEMBER 2013, PROVIDING A PRIVATE SPACE IN WHICH NURSING MOTHERS CAN

Ed Suddath, Vicky Kent, Carole Esche, Dean Jane Kirschling, and Janice Hoffman

PUMP BREAST MILK. THE

Dean Kirschling and Nine Alumnae Honored with Excellence in Nursing Awards

SCHOOL’S LACTATION CENTER HAS THE MOST USERS OF THE SEVEN

ean Jane Kirschling and nine School of Nursing alumnae were among the 50 nurses honored with Baltimore Magazine’s inaugural Excellence in Nursing Awards. The awards recognize RNs in the greater Baltimore area who go beyond the call of duty in their work place or area of research. Nurses were nominated in 18 categories. Alumnae award recipients were: Cynthia Arnold, MS ’95; Cathy Chapman, MS ’95; Gloria Clark, MS ’87, BSN ’82; Mary Jo Huber, BSN ’77; Megan Jendrossek, BSN ’13; Vicky Kent, PhD ’96, MS ’87; Calvert Moore, MS ’11; Lisa Rowen, MS ’86; and Joan Warren, PhD ’04, MS ’88. The awards were presented at a ceremony, held April 14, at the Center Club in Baltimore. —Patricia Adams

CENTERS LOCATED ON THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE (UMB) CAMPUS WITH:

UNIQUE USERS FOR 2014

TOTAL USERS

Lemaire Named Assistant Dean of Master’s Program

745

ssociate Professor Gail Schoen Lemaire, PhD ’96, PMHCNS, BC, CNL, has been named assistant dean for the School of Nursing’s Master of

Science program. Lemaire, a psychiatric mental health clinical nurse specialist and psychotherapist, has been a faculty member at the School of Nursing since 2000, and previously served as director of the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) master’s option. In her new role, Lemaire is responsible for the development and implementation of the program’s policies and procedures.

She also will provide leadership in administration and program coordination, curriculum planning, student recruitment, advisement, and retention. During her tenure, Lemaire’s clinical specialty has been psychiatric mental health nursing. She has taught psychiatric nursing at the undergraduate and graduate levels and will continue in that capacity. Lemaire’s research interests have focused on community-based psychiatric outcomes and women’s mental health.

For more information about the School of Nursing’s Lactation Center and other centers located on the UMB campus, go to: umaryland.edu/wellness/ lactation-center/

—Kevin Nash UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 9

NEWS

PhD Program Marks 35th Anniversary

hD alumni, faculty, and currently enrolled PhD students gathered at the School of Nursing last fall to celebrate the program’s 35th anniversary. Guests enjoyed panel discussions, a student poster exhibit, and the opportunity to reminisce with former classmates and faculty members.

10 SUMMER 2015

Dean Jane Kirschling announced that the goal of raising $16,667 to endow a PhD Program Alumni Scholarship had been exceeded. With matching funds of 50 cents on the dollar through a special University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation, Inc. initiative (see article on page 36), the scholarship will be endowed at the required amount of $25,000 and will provide support for future PhD nursing students.

Front row, left to right: Joan Warren, PhD ’04, MS ’88; Meg Johantgen, PhD; Clinton Lambert, Jr., PhD ’91; Barbara Parker, PhD ’86, MS ’76; Kathy Montgomery, PhD ’97; Robin Newhouse, PhD ’00, MS ’99, BSN ’87; Sue Thomas, PhD, MS ’73, BSN ’69; Maranda Jackson-Parkin, PhD ’13, MS ’06; Bimbola Akintade, PhD ’11, MS ’05, BSN ’03; Dean Emeritus Janet Allan; and Dean Jane Kirschling Middle row, left to right: Gina Rowe, PhD ’13, DNP ’10; Margaret Bevans, PhD ’05, MS ’94; Louise Jenkins, PhD ’85, MS ’81; Eun Shim Nahm, PhD ’03; Kristen Rawlett, PhD ’14; Samson Omotosho, PhD ’98; Anna Alt-White, PhD ’87; Vicki Freedenberg, PhD ’13, MS ’83, BSN ’80; and Marjorie Simpson, PhD ’10, MS ’01, BSN ’90 Back row, left to right: Sherrie Lessans, PhD ’10; Robin Remsburg, PhD ’94; Deborah Chapa, PhD ’06; Carol Bickford, PhD ’00; Carol Huebner, PhD ’90; Anita Tarzian, PhD ’98, MS ’96; and Christine Pintz, PhD ’06

Galik and Three Alumnae Selected Fellows of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners BSN student Desiree Colvin and School of Pharmacy student Alex Joachim interview actor Tom Wyatt (right), who played the role of a multiple sclerosis patient during an IPE Day exercise.

lizabeth Galik, PhD ’07, CRNP, FAANP, associate professor, and

three other School of Nursing alumnae, have been

Standardized Patients Provide Real-Life Scenarios at Third Annual IPE Day

tudents from each of the professional schools at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) gained insights from each other, and from standardized patients, during UMB’s third annual Interprofessional Education (IPE) Day in February. The event drew more than 200 students and 68 faculty and staff members, including participants from UMB programs at the Universities at Shady Grove.

selected as Fellows of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP). School of Nuring alumnae who were chosen are Deborah Chapa, PhD ’06; Deborah Schoﬁeld, DNP ’09, MS ’95;

To promote students’ learning to work across disciplines, each of 11 small groups consisted of a mix of students from all schools. Each group was assigned a standardized patient — an actor trained to portray a real patient — to help bring to life the case scenarios that are at the heart of IPE Day. Dean Jane Kirschling, who also serves as UMB’s director of interprofessional education, put the importance of the day’s work in context and urged students to actively “engage and enjoy as we learn together.” She leads UMB’s Center for Interprofessional Education, which has made IPE a key part of its strategic plan for 2011–2016.

and Shari Simone, DNP ’11, MS ’96. Fellows are visionaries committed to the development of imaginative and creative future nurse practitioner leaders. They are charged with impacting national and global health through engaging recognized nurse practitioner leaders who have greatly inﬂuenced clinical practice, research, education, or policy while enhancing AANP’s mission. “It is a great honor to be recognized as a Fellow,” Galik said. “I am looking forward to working with FAANP to advance the nurse practitioner

“Designed by faculty members from across the University, IPE Day provides rich learning opportunities for students and underscores the importance of working together across disciplines to address the complex health care challenges of our population groups,” Kirschling said. —Patricia Fanning

profession while improving care for older adults with dementia by applying the latest research ﬁndings to clinical practice.”

—Kevin Nash UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 11

NEWS

125th Anniversary Year Culminates with Celebratory Gala Inaugural Visionary Pioneers Honored A spectacular gala, held April 18 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, concluded a year of special events celebrating the School of Nursing’s 125th anniversary. Nearly 500 people attended the celebration, which honored the School’s 25 inaugural Visionary Pioneers. The Visionary Pioneer Award winners are alumni who have made a signiﬁcant impact on — and contribution to — the ﬁeld of nursing based on their leadership, innovation, or entrepreneurship. In her welcome remarks, Dean Jane Kirschling thanked everyone for attending and acknowledged the event sponsors. She was pleased to announce that gala sponsorships and gifts, combined with the University

of Maryland Baltimore Foundation’s generous match of 50 cents on the dollar, had resulted in more than $274,000 raised for the 125th Anniversary Endowed Scholarship Fund. At the end of the program, Dean Kirschling made another major announcement — that the School had received the largest gift in its history, $5.2 million, from Bill and Joanne Conway, through their Bedford Falls Foundation. The gift will allow the School to expand enrollment in its traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program, increase opportunities for registered nurses to obtain their BSN degrees, and provide full scholarships to the 157 new Conway Scholars. (See article on page 3.)

With gratitude to our sponsors DIAMOND — $25,000 MedStar Health University of Maryland Medical Center and University of Maryland Medical System PLATINUM — $10,000 Dean Emeritus Janet D. Allan

Myrna Mamaril, MS ’93

Mercy Medical Center

Elizabeth Ness, MS ’93

Ann Mech, MS ’78, BSN ’73 and Kathryn Montgomery, PhD ’97

Judy Reitz, MS ’76, BSN ’71

Elizabeth Niemyer, BSN ’78 and John Niemyer

Sigma Theta Tau Pi Chapter Sinai Hospital University of Maryland, Baltimore

M&T Bank

UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans

GOLD — $5,000

University of Maryland School of Dentistry

Adventist HealthCare CareFirst BlueCross Blue Shield

University of Maryland School of Medicine

12 SUMMER 2015

University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation, Inc.

Daniel O’Neal, BSN ’66

University System of Maryland Foundation

Charlene Passmore, BSN ’77

BRONZE — $1,250

Gregory Raymond, MS ’10, BSN ’05 and Danielle Raymond

Ann Bennett, MS ’69 and David Propert Marjorie Bergemann John and Arvella Bing Christopher Callaghan

SILVER — $2,500

Johns Hopkins Health System Laerdal Medical

Lisa Rowen, MS ’96

Anne Arundel Medical Center

Laurette Hankins Jeanette Jones, MS ’70

Joyce Parks, DNP ’14, MS ’93

Lesley Perry

Caleb Rogovin, MS ’92 Courtney Thomas, BSN ’66 Marion Burns Tuck, MS ’80 University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center

INAUGURAL VISIONARY PIONEERS Front row, left to right: Barbara Parker, Donna Havens, Patricia Grady, Patricia Abbott, Pamela Hammond, Joan Stanley, and Shirley Nathan-Pulliam

Middle row, left to right: Esther McCready, Phyllis Sharps, Carol Romano, Elizabeth Niemeyer, Marla De Jong, Patricia Morton, Lisa Rowen, Ruth McCorkle, and David Vlahov

Above: Marla Oros, Former Dean and Professor Emeritus Barbara Heller, Dean Jane Kirschling, and Dean Emeritus Janet Allan

Above: Christopher Lennard, Esther McCready, and Matt Adome

Above: Pamela Pulliam, Shirley NathanPulliam, and Wayne Pulliam

Below: Lynelle Baba Pierce, John Morton, Patricia Morton, Marla De Jong, and Gary De Jong

Below: Darlene Curley and David Vlahov

Below: Mary Catherine Bunting, Carol Drake, and Alex Vockroth

Back row, left to right: Darlene Curley, Mary Catherine Bunting, Marla Oros, and Dean Jane Kirschling

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 13

NEWS

Convocation > May 2015

Dean Jane Kirschling presents doctoral hood to Esther McCready, DIN ’53.

344 Graduates Receive Degrees

ugs and tears, smiles and cheers

side to the board room,” McCausland

of Nursing mace, leading the processional

deﬁned the emotions of the day

said. “Leaders must have intelligence,

and recessional.

as School of Nursing graduates

cognitive complexity, and a spirit of

Later in the day, School of Nursing grad-

celebrated the successful completion of

inquiry.” She urged graduates to “never

uates participated in the University of Mary-

their nursing degrees at Royal Farms Arena

lose touch with your inner nurse.”

land, Baltimore Commencement ceremony at

on Friday, May 15. The Class of 2015

In closing, she stated, “Life is only as

Royal Farms Arena, where Esther McCready,

consisted of 154 Bachelor of Science,

good as you decide to make it. So stand

MM, DIN ’53, the ﬁrst African-American

175 Master of Science, six PhD, and nine

up, be bold, and don’t let anyone else

student admitted to the School of Nursing,

Doctor of Nursing Practice graduates.

deﬁne it.”

received an honorary doctor of public ser-

Dean Jane Kirschling, PhD, RN,

The 2015 Excellence in Teaching

vice degree. McCready gained admittance

FAAN, delivered welcoming remarks,

Awards were presented to Assistant

to the School after the Maryland Court of

and Maureen P. McCausland, DNSc, RN,

Professor Karen Scheu, DNP ’12, FNP-BC,

Appeals ruled in her favor in April 1950.

FAAN, senior vice president and chief

for excellence in graduate education,

She was represented by Thurgood Marshall,

nursing ofﬁcer at MedStar Health,

and Assistant Professor Pamela Shumate,

who had already gained prominence for his

delivered the Convocation address.

DNP ’12, RN, CCRN, CMC, for excellence

work with the National Association for the

“Our society and our profession need

in undergraduate education. Scheu and

Advancement of Colored People.

clinical nursing leaders, from the patients’

Shumate were co-carriers of the School

14 SUMMER 2015

—Patricia Adams

Dean Jane Kirschling, Oluwatimilehin Ugbade, and her mother Oluwarotimi Onyoh

A kiss for my Dad, the grad. Sarah Tolbert, Benedict Tolbert, and daughter Jude

Ferjana Khan, Andrew Brave, Heather Alleyne, Amanda Harner, and Esther Kim

Shannon Idzik and Robin Newhouse

Charlotte Seckman, UMB President Jay A. Perman, Maureen McCausland, and Dean Jane Kirschling

Pamela Shumate and Karen Scheu

Jamie Engels, Regina Twigg, and Allison Carlson

Susan Bindon, Margaret Hammersla, Elaine Bundy, Bimbola Akintade, Lyn Murphy, and Joseph Pellegrini

Doctoral grads Rachel Onello, Julia Strong, Jamie Rose Burnham, Elsie Stines, and Tracey Wilson UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 15

CHANGE AGENT

Making a Difference Alumni Continue to Impact Communities They Serve

wo School of Nursing alumni are making a vital impact on the communities they serve. These nurses have personified the mission of the School by becoming leaders in their fields and advocates of education for their colleagues and patients. Justin Graves, MS ’14, RN, leads the University of Maryland Medical Center’s (UMMC) Sustainability Program, which has received regional and national recognition for its ongoing efforts to promote healthy lifestyles. Tina Cafeo, DNP ’13, RN, director of nursing and patient care services for Medical, Surgical, and Cardiac Services at UMMC, has confronted the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Baltimore by making HIV testing routine for patients in the hospital. Cafeo also has worked with a team to develop best practices for minimizing the health risks to patients who smoke. Graves and Cafeo each received an important award this spring: Graves and his team have been selected as the Emerald Partner for Change for Environmental Excellence. Cafeo was selected as a finalist for the 2015 Nurse.com GEM Award for Advancing and Leading the Profession, for the Maryland-D.C.-Virginia region. “Our entire community has benefited from the work of Graves and Cafeo,” said Lisa Rowen, DNSc, MS ’86, RN, FAAN, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at UMMC. “The national award for our environmental efforts recognizes the ongoing commitment toward improving the environmental health of our patients, staff, and community. The GEM award acknowledges visionary leaders and change agents who move the profession forward,” Rowen said. “Both awards tell the story of broad impact and deep innovative change, which perfectly describe the contributions of Graves and Cafeo.” 16 SUMMER 2015

An Advocate for Healthy Eating Graves has helped develop several initiatives to help the UMMC staff, the surrounding communities, and area students learn the value of a healthy diet. He has accomplished this in part through a weekly University Farmers Market held at University Plaza Park. It is a partnership between UMMC and the University of Maryland, Baltimore that was started in 2009 by another School of nursing alumnus, Denise Choiniere, MS ’09, RN. The market, located across from UMMC’s main entrance, now accepts the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), formally known as food stamps, which provides the opportunity for those with the greatest need to get fresh produce. Area residents have embraced the opportunity to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. “Once we started accepting SNAP, we definitely saw a lot more people from the community,” Graves said. He credited the Food and Drug Administration with helping eliminate some of the barriers to using the SNAP program, such as being Justin Graves, right and Ryan Tuckey at opening day of the University Farmers Market.

more open to allowing farmers’ markets to accept the program. The Farmers Market, which runs from May 19 through Nov. 24, also accepts Women, Infants and Children (WIC) vouchers and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Promotion program coupons. In addition, the market hosts students from local schools who also learn about the benefits of a healthy diet. The Kids to Market Program brings children from the city schools to the farmers’ market to experience fresh fruits and vegetables. “We’ve done it different ways each year,” Graves said. “Some years, we’ve had them come back three different times. But it’s more than just a visit. We pair it with nutrition education, activities, and food preparation that is appropriate for their age level. We also do cooking demonstrations where they can try food like mashed cauliflower and zucchini squash and things they probably never had before. This can increase their exposure to fruits and vegetables.” Graves’s ideas extend beyond the farmers’ market. He also has helped to promote healthy eating in UMMC’s cafeteria.

Tina Cafeo meets with the project’s interdisciplinary leadership team to discuss data by unit and service to determine if a process change or educational session is needed. Left to right: Lucy Miner, BSN, RN, PCCN; Ruth Borkoski, BSN, RN; Mangla Gulati, MD, FACP; Tina Cafeo, DNP, RN; and Shawn Hendricks, MS, RN

He spearheaded a program using price incentives to determine whether the price and location of food and beverages could persuade healthier choices in the cafeteria but still offer a wide array of options. The UMMC decreased the price of healthier food, such as the salad bar and bottled water, and raised the price of less healthy choices, such as bottled soda and french fries. “We found that we were able to encourage people to purchase more of the healthy items,” Graves said. “We maintain those prices because we feel this is a mission-driven initiative, and as a hospital, we should be promoting a healthy diet. We’re not at the point where we are going to nix everything that is unhealthy in the hospital cafeteria. We do feel strongly that we should help people make healthier decisions.”

Battling HIV and Tobacco Cafeo has been proactive in establishing best practices to help patients and the local community. Several years ago, she reached out to Anne Williams, manager, Patient Resource Center at UMMC, about how unit nurses could get involved in and connected to community activities and services in the area. Williams invited Rev. Susan Roy and Derek Spencer, MS ’99, BSN ’90, [then] executive director of the JACQUES Initiative (JI) of the Institute of Human Virology, to the conversation. During this

initial meeting, the group discussed the idea of starting routine HIV testing at UMMC. “Derek was able to give me some information about the state of our city as it related to HIV/AIDS,” Cafeo said. “He sold me on this being an essential initiative to start at UMMC, since many of our patients are local residents and use the hospital as their primary care site.” After gaining some background information related to the initiative and the potential expenses associated with it, the group presented the idea of piloting routine HIV testing to UMMC administrators. They readily agreed that offering routine HIV testing was “the right thing to do for our patients.” “I am proud to be part of an organization that makes decisions based on ethics and compassionate care as opposed to financial impact alone,” Cafeo said. “We are now offering routine HIV testing to our patients in the Medicine, Cardiology, Emergency Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Orthopedics, Psychiatry, and Emergency Departments. Physician and nursing leaders in these areas understood the importance of this initiative and readily approved and supported the dissemination of practices to their areas.” JI staff members also follow the patients post-discharge to ensure that they are connected to care. Also, through this initiative, UMMC was able to determine

if patients who were previously diagnosed with HIV were connected to care in the community. If they were not being medically managed, JI staff worked to re-connect them to care. Cafeo said medical and nursing staff members were educated in how to offer HIV testing in a manner that was perceived as part of their normal practice. “Since we started routine HIV testing at UMMC in 2013, our patient acceptance rate is approximately 75–80 percent of the eligible patients who were offered testing,” Cafeo said. Cafeo also has been implementing best practices for minimizing risk for patients who smoke. The new standards require patients to sign an acknowledgement form of expectations; providers to order nicotine replacement therapy; and all staff to educate patients on the risks of smoking, encourage cessation, and recognize signs and symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. In the new policy, processes were standardized, the consequences of smoking in the hospital were clearly defined, and interdisciplinary roles and responsibilities were delineated. A robust tobacco management program was initiated. “These changes allow for a more focused team approach, which enables closer monitoring of smoking behaviors,” Cafeo said. “The multidisciplinary response to smoking on site is swift and consistent.” —Todd Karpovich

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 17

ONLINE

Learning in a Virtual Classroom Online Core Courses for DNP Program Support Working Nurses

n an effort to make nursing education more accessible to working professionals, core courses for the School of Nursing’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program are completely online. This move was done in part to help busy nurses juggle their careers and education, while still having time to spend time with their families. “Many of our students are working and/or have families,” said Fran Valle, DNP ’10, MS ’99, CRNP, assistant professor and director of the postmaster’s DNP. “Having an online delivery of core courses allows for flexibility in scheduling and in establishing times for completion of course work. Additionally, it saves the student time and money by not having to travel to campus to attend class.” The DNP program is considered the highest practice degree in nursing. Graduates of the program possess clinical, organizational, economic, and leadership skills that have a direct impact on health care. The DNP also enables graduates to remain in direct patient care, while providing them with the knowledge and skills to be leaders in a health care environment. “The post-master’s program was moved completely online so that students enrolled in the program can more easily balance their work and education,” said Shannon Reedy Idzik, DNP ’10, MS ’03, CRNP, FAANP, associate professor and assistant dean for the DNP program. “Students in the program are not necessarily looking to change their careers but to earn a doctoral degree.” 18 SUMMER 2015

As part of the new online course schedule, Web conferencing is included five times per semester so students can connect with fellow students and faculty in real time. However, students who are enrolled in the BSN-to-DNP option must still come to campus to complete nurse practitoner or nurse anesthesia diagnosis and management coursework. “Some students in our advanced practice programs drive a very long distance,” Idzik said. “So, if they can complete a fair amount of their coursework online, it makes the program more accessible for them.” The School of Nursing allows nurses who have not yet decided which specialty they would like to pursue to take classes as “Course Work Only” students. The online platform allows these students, who have not been admitted yet to a graduate program, to take one or two courses to get a feel for graduate education, which could help them confirm their interest area, according to Idzik. Ashley Read, a DNP student, said being enrolled in online classes allows her more flexibility in her busy schedule. Nurses work days, evenings, or nights, so they can choose when to set time aside for studying, writing papers, and completing weekly readings. “I feel like I am more productive by being able to plan my school schedule around working full time, and can spend the time I would use driving to and from class working on assignments,” Read said. One of the challenges Read found with some of the online courses was not having an instructor to lecture and be immediately

available to answer questions like they would in a face-to-face setting. “If a student needs further assistance, though, fellow classmates and instructors are always available through email,” Read said. “There are also meetings through Blackboard Collaborate, where you can meet with the instructor through Web-cam to discuss the class.” When she doesn’t have a face-to-face lecture, Read puts extra effort into taking copious notes, in addition to learning through other resources, such as videos, that are built into the design of the course. As an instructor, Valle also finds the experience of online courses valuable.

Ashley Read

The written and oral feedback students provide to their colleagues fosters collaboration. Meeting students online via Web conferencing is also helpful. “The experience is rich,” Valle said. “It is very enjoyable to read discussion board posts related to individual student experiences and scholarly projects.” Kathleen Buckley, PhD, MS ’76, BSN ’73, RN, IBCLC, an associate professor at the School of Nursing who helps ensure the quality of the online courses, said that well-built online courses require students to develop

academic and technical competencies. “It will be important for doctoral students to be able to demonstrate high levels of computer competency in the real world as leaders in nursing,” Buckley said. “For their education to be relevant, they must learn to build a whole range of technical competencies that will be needed in the health care work environment. Online opportunities in education are likely to be one of the best ways for students to make the case for technological competence.” The technology available in the online courses lends itself to sharing

information, seeking information outside the confines of the course, and community building. For example, group members have access to a variety of collaboration tools in an online course that faculty members can enable, such as a discussion board, wiki, blog, group email, and file share. These tools allow students to collaborate with one another and establish a closer relationship with other members of the group. They also foster engagement, reflection, and create an environment in which deep learning is possible, Buckley said. —Todd Karpovich

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 19

INNOVATION

Caring for the ‘Youngest Among Us’ New Specialty Designed to Meet Challenges of Neonatal Care

Jan Wilson examines a pre-term infant in an isolette.

20 SUMMER 20 SUMMER 20152015

he School of Nursing will address a critical, regional need when it debuts its Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP) Bachelor of Science in Nursing-Doctor of Nursing Practice (BSN-DNP) specialty this fall.

Karen Kauffman, PhD, RN, CRNP, FAAN, associate professor and chair of the School’s Department of Family and Community Health, notes that the 2014 United Health Foundation report ranks Maryland 40th in the nation for low birth weight, 35th in the nation for pre-term

births, and 31st in the nation for infant mortality. “By adding the NNP specialty to our BSN-DNP curriculum, the School is responding to Maryland’s significant challenge to improve birth and health outcomes for the youngest among us.” Assistant Professor Jan Wilson, DNP ’09, BSN ’74, CRNP, NNP-BC, who will direct the new nurse practitioner specialty, said an informal survey

revealed that “within five to 10 years, due to the retirement of the more senior NNP staff, a significant number of hospitals both locally and nationally will face a critical NNP staffing crisis.” Adding to the staffing difficulties is the demanding nature of working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) as an NNP. The NICU must be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week — including weekends and holidays — a schedule that can be off-putting. “We have some work to do to make the role appealing to younger nurses,” Wilson notes. But working as an NNP also offers tremendous rewards. Dawn MuellerBurke, PhD ’01, MS ’98, CRNP, NNPBC, an assistant professor, said that neonatal nurse practitioners manage the most complex patients — from birth to successfully integrating them into their families. “It’s an extraordinary specialty in that it allows a nurse with refined clinical skills and the ability to care for patients at the bedside to take it up a notch, to really manage these complex patients,” she said. It’s particularly appealing to nurses “who thrive on honing skills and procedures, and you get a lot of that in the neonatal unit, whether it’s intubation or putting in a central line.” Advanced practice nurse education is transitioning to the DNP degree as the entry-level degree for practice. All of the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse specialties at the School of Nursing now are offered at the doctoral level instead of the master’s level. The degree “gives you the ability to practice independently but still be part of a collaborative team and manage patients and families beyond what can be done as an RN at the bedside,” Wilson said. “You’re a resource for multiple providers, students, and hospital administrators, as well as policy makers and health care organizations . . . you’re in a very unique position.”

“We always had hoped that we could reactivate the NNP specialty that we had years ago at the master’s level,” MuellerBurke said. But rather than just add a few more courses, the faculty spent four years transitioning the master’s-level courses to the DNP level. “We retooled them so that every course integrates DNP essentials.” The DNP degree ensures that nurses learn the basics of what it would take to practice in the specialty as well as gain knowledge and skills to translate evidence and research into practice, incorporate informatics, and shape policy to improve outcomes of care. Not only will the advanced degree prepare nurses to function both autonomously and collaboratively in the NICU, but they will also be qualified to manage care for patients up to 2 years old, which means they can opt to work in a subspecialty clinic or a pediatrician’s office. Students can enroll in the program full time and complete it within three years, but they would be unable to work while doing so. Most nurses will opt for one of two part-time options, completing the program in either four or five years. During the semesters with higher clinical course loads, students are advised to only work part time. A BSN degree is required to enter the program. When students finish, they’ll be part of a team that successfully manages complex neonates and enjoys seeing them go home with their families. “I see the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner DNP as being an incredible program now,” Mueller-Burke said. “They will have a whole different lens by which to work as an advanced practice nurse in the neonatal unit.” —Nancy Menefee Jackson If you are interested in learning more about this advanced practice specialty, contact Jan Wilson at jwilson@son.umaryland.edu.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 21

SHADY GROVE PERSPECTIVES

Building a Tradition of Leadership A Quartet of Shady Grove Students are Making a Difference

roducing leaders is becoming a tradition at the School of Nursing’s Shady Grove location. In 2011, Regina Leonard, BSN ’11, served as president of the University of Maryland Association of Nursing Students (UMANS), president of the Maryland Association of Nursing Students (MANS) and chair of the National Student Nurses Association (NSNA). Regine Faucher, BSN ’12, served as president of UMANS, and chair of the nominating committee. Following in their footsteps in 2015, student leaders are tackling global health issues, lobbying Congress, and continuing to serve organizations in leadership positions.

presentations and organized several community outreach activities. She helped to spearhead a shoe drive to benefit a nonprofit and participated in such initiatives as a flu prevention table at USG and a toy drive benefiting Children’s National Medical Center. A 10-day trip to the Philippines in May 2014, through a University of Maryland, Baltimore Interprofessional Global Health grant, furthered her interest in global health. “Being involved in leadership activities has really taught me a lot,” she said. “As a nurse, you will always be in some kind of leadership role, whether you’re delegating to techs on the floor or working as a unit manager.”

Anne Giampietro

Abaneh Ebangwese

Anne Giampietro, who graduated in May, won the MANS Unconventional Student Scholarship Award, given to students who are older than 25 or entering a second degree program. The 26-year-old had a bachelor’s degree in Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics and was working in a post-baccalaureate research program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) when she decided to become a nurse. “I felt that there was a social piece missing in lab research,” she said. “I wanted to help people in a more direct way.” On a mission trip to Honduras, she shadowed a nurse, serving as an assistant and translator since she is semi-fluent in Spanish. “My eyes were opened to what a difference nurses can make.” She learned about the Nurses for Global Health student organization at the School of Nursing in Baltimore and helped to create a USG chapter. The chapter has hosted student

Abaneh Ebangwese, who will graduate in December, is a delegate to the NSNA and is running for a seat on its Board of Directors; she is co-vice president of the School of Nursing’s chapter, UMANS. As a delegate, she represents the School at the annual state and national conventions. Her experience running for the Board of Directors is her first serious campaign effort. “On the national level, I can definitely get whatever message I need to get out to a larger group — in terms of nursing leadership, I’ve been very inspired as an upcoming nurse,” she said. “There’s a lot of legislation out there that affects nurses, and the only people who can advocate for us is us.” In March she lobbied on Capitol Hill for Title VIII Funding, which provides undergraduate loans and scholarships to student nurses and graduate loans for postgraduate nursing students; NIH National Institutes of Nursing Research

22 SUMMER 2015

funding; and the Full Authority Act, which recognizes APRN’s as full practice providers in the VHA Nursing Handbook. She’s also the co-president of the USG chapter of Nurses for Global Health and traveled to Israel in January to participate in an interdisciplinary global health project. “I really loved juxtaposing the different health care systems and bringing back ideas about how to improve our health care system here. I gained a lot of knowledge.” As an undergraduate, Ebangwese was thinking about pre-med, but realized it wasn’t for her. She wanted to work in the community and so graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Public Health. She was interested in prevention and research, but wanted clinical experience, which led her to nursing. “I just feel like nurses have a stake in advancing our profession,” she said.

Sarah Trandel-Korenchuk Sarah Trandel-Korenchuk will serve as president of MANS for 2015–2016. In January, she won the Community Award Scholarship given by MANS to “an outstanding nursing student who goes about their scholarly commitment and is heavily involved in community service.” For 13 years of her childhood, TrandelKorenchuk assisted her family as it organized an annual humanitarian trip to Ecuador, bringing physicians, dentists, nurses, and ophthalmologists to serve in clinics, as well as teachers and volunteers who constructed schools. As an undergrad at the University of Maryland, College Park, she continued her family’s tradition of service by founding a campus organization for pre-nursing students. At USG, where she just completed her

leadership role,” she explains, adding that she attended a meeting when elections were being held. “I’d had leadership positions in the past, so I said, ‘I’ll do it.’” This past semester, she was co-president

Abaneh Ebangwese, Anne Giampietro, Sarah Trandel-Korenchuk, and Adele Hart

first year, she is the co-president of UMANS. “If I have a resource, I want to be able to provide it to others,” she said. She also wants people to realize the true role of nurses and improve her skills. “Society tends to view nurses as kind and caring, but in reality they do so much more,” she said. “Nurses critically think, prioritize, and advocate for their patients.

That in itself is a leadership position. Getting involved now is just a step forward to what I can bring to practice.”

Adele Hart Adele Hart just completed her third term as president of UMANS, a position she has held since her first semester at USG. “I kind of stumbled into the

with Sarah Trandel-Korenchuk and stepped down at the end of the semester “to give other students an opportunity.” An important role of UMANS is holding events to raise money to send students to national conferences. Under Hart’s leadership, UMANS added more events and secured additional funding from the School of Nursing to be able to send students to mid-year and end-of-year conferences. UMANS also has organized blood drives, fostered interprofessional collaboration with pharmacy students, and added a nursing student legislature workshop. Hart was first exposed to nursing when she was in the hospital having her tonsils removed. “I really, really loved my nurses,” she said. No one in her family was a nurse, so in high school she shadowed with nurses. She started prerequisite coursework in college, and then took some time off and worked as a caretaker for a woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). “That was my turning point,” she said. Volunteering at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland, Baltimore sparked an interest in holistic nursing. Hart believes that developing leadership skills is important for a nurse. “In most cases, it’s not you and the patient — you need to hone leadership skills to stand up for yourself and be an advocate for yourself and for your patient,” she said. “We’re the ones working most directly with the patients; we see them every day.” —Nancy Menefee Jackson

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 23

PARTNERSHIPS

Strength in Numbers Program Encourages Collaboration Between UMB and UMCP

Gina Rowe

n March, when commuter train service between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., expanded, adding more stops near the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), state higher education officials rode the train to celebrate. Representatives of UMB, including President Jay A. Perman, MD, were waiting for them at Baltimore’s Camden Yards station to mark the occasion, too.

24 SUMMER 2015

Why all the attention to a commuter train? The new rail service signified the growing collaboration between UMB and UMCP — a collaboration that has succeeded in, among other things, creating a partnership among the schools of nursing, medicine, and pharmacy in Baltimore and the Center for Geospatial Information Science (CGIS) in College Park that is boosting education and research in geospatial science, one of

the most rapidly developing areas of public health. “Productive partnerships need more than will. They need infrastructure, resources, and the support of collaborators invested in the same vision — and willing to work for it,” Perman said. “Our partnership with UMCP is about us joining together to move Maryland forward — to give students the very best education possible, in established and emerging disciplines; to take our place

on the frontiers of research that will change the way we live; and to harness the state’s amazing intellectual assets to substantially improve human health and well-being.”

MPowering the State In 2011, the Maryland General Assembly instructed the University of Maryland Board of Regents to develop a plan for UMB and UMCP to work together to bolster their impact on the state’s economy and job market. The result was University of Maryland: MPowering the State, a program that has led to a wide variety of initiatives. These include the creation of the Maryland Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation — a UMB-UMCP partnership to examine how review of drugs and medical devices can be improved and modernized — and the Center for Health-Related Informatics and Bioimaging, which combines clinical data and biomedical expertise at UMB with advanced computing resources in College Park to address challenges in research, medical information management, and precision medicine. Other MPowering the State accomplishments to date include UM Ventures, a joint effort between UMB’s Office of Technology Transfer and UMCP’s Office of Technology Commercialization to provide unified marketing, licensing, and patenting services for inventions. In addition, innovative educational programs have been developed on law and society — such as an interdisciplinary minor — that are the first of their kind in the nation.

Seed Grant Funding Through MPowering the State’s seed grant program, a $175,000 pilot initiative regarding geospatial science — the study of the impact of place on health — has been awarded to nursing and other healthprofession faculty members in Baltimore and to CGIS in College Park. The program’s

goals include developing a network through which geospatial researchers can coordinate their work, and training UMB faculty and students in geospatial analysis and software use. “Faculty at the School of Nursing have had several motivating influences to investigate how to grow expertise in this area, including recognition that our graduate nurses working in community and public health at federal, state, and local levels will have access to geospatial software to explore effects of the social and physical environment on population health — but likely will not be able to do so unless we teach them at least the entry level skills,” said Gina Rowe, PhD ’13, DNP ’10, MPH, FNP-BC, PHCNS-BC, CNE, an assistant professor at the School of Nursing. While UMB students are learning critical software skills from CGIS, the center’s faculty and students will benefit from the clinical and field experience of their counterparts at UMB and UMCP. Tatiana Laboda, PhD, MA, associate professor in the Department of Geography at the College of Behavioral and Social Science at UMCP, and Laura Hungerford, DMV, PhD, MPH, associate professor at the

University of Maryland School of Medicine, are principal investigators for the geospatial science initiative. Laboda said the program “provides a platform for cross-training” that will lead to real-world applications in public health and medical science. “This is a very exciting and unique opportunity,” she said. Bruce Jarrell, MD, a member of the MPowering the State steering committee, said the geospatial science initiative is an example of the meaningful collaborative work that leaders at UMB and UMCP intended to achieve when they created MPowering the State. Jarrell, the chief academic and research officer and dean of the Graduate School at UMB, said he hopes the joint initiative will continue as a large-scale research program beyond the initial seed-grant support from MPowering the State. “We hope the program will be competitive for federal funding,” Jarrell said. Rowe said the geospatial science partnership between UMB and UMCP illustrates what the two universities can accomplish as a team. “Together,” Rowe said, “we can build on each other’s strengths to do much more than we could separately.” —Ronald Hube

The geospatial science initiative is an example of the meaningful collaborative work that leaders at UMB and UMCP intended to achieve when they created MPowering the State. —Bruce Jarrell

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 25

TAKING ACTION School of Nursing Students Advocate in D.C. and Maryland

By Todd Karpovich

26 SUMMER 2014 2015

Nurses are playing a vital and active role in developing health care policy. In March, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) held its fifth annual Student Policy Summit. The three-day conference, held in Washington, D.C., was attended by five School of Nursing students who learned about the dynamics of Capitol Hill and the importance of communicating a clear, united message to Congress on behalf of nursing students across the country. These students served as ambassadors to gain more support for nursing education and research. Attendees immersed themselves in program sessions focused on the federal policy process and nursing’s role in professional advocacy. April Rai, a member of Dean Jane Kirschling’s support staff, serves as Project Manager for the Maryland Action Coalition, which was established in 2010 as one of the now 50 state-based coalitions designated by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. The coalition’s goals include working to transform health care through nursing in Maryland and improving the health of the population. “The Maryland Action Coalition is Maryland’s response to the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations for improving transformative leadership, advocacy, and coordination with respect to state health care policy, laws, and

regulations for the benefit of all providers and recipients of care,” said Pat Travis, associate director of clinical research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Travis is co-director of the Maryland Action Coalition with Dean Jane Kirschling. “The students have a rare opportunity to represent their profession on a national stage,” Rai said. “Lawmakers in Maryland are supportive of issues affecting nursing. They have the opportunity to hear first-hand from these students the effect of legislation on the ground. Students share personal stories that lend a unique

Front row, left to right: Cara Ann Paxton, Renee Franquiz, and Amanda Choflet Back row, left to right: Tracey Murray, April Rai, Katherine Cohn, Ashlie Wilbon, Leeza Constantoulakis, Sarah TrandelKorenchuk, and Dean Jane Kirschling

perspective to the overall message of support.” “It’s a feel-good meeting,” Rai continued. “Students shared their plans to work in rural and

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 27

April Rai

Pat Travis

low-income areas. Many times, they receive an on-the-spot confirmation of support.” School of Nursing students who attended the conference are Katherine Cohn, Renee Franquiz, Cara Ann Paxton, Sarah Trandel-Korenchuk, and Ashlie Wilbon, who has been a nurse for 13 years. Wilbon called the experience “enlightening” and said working with nurses from other parts of the country on the same issues was powerful. “It was inspirational to be around other people who were striving for, and feel as passionate about, the same things I do,” Wilbon said. “We are all collectively working toward the same thing. The staffers of all of the legislators I met with

were very supportive. It was a cool thing to be a part of.” During the policy summit, Paxton was able to gain better insight into issues that impact health care and nursing policy from leaders in nursing policy. She also met with the key policy advisors to members of Congress. “The collegial fellowship an enthusiasm I experienced while meeting nursing students, nurses, and nurse educators from across the nation was infectious,” Paxton said. “Nursing is the only profession I am aware of that presumptively welcomes individuals into the professional community as students. Many sentences start with ‘as nurses, we…’ As a nursing student and career changer, this has a profound impact on making me feel welcome and part of a profession of which I am immensely proud to join.” Throughout the summit, Paxton learned about a multitude of practical ways in which nurses and nursing students can advocate for critical issues impacting their practice and patient care. Whether it be taking five minutes to support legislation via an email to a local

representative or participating in lobby days hosted by a state nurses association, the opportunities are limitless for nurses at all levels to express their support for issues that matter most to patients and the profession, she said. “As there is incredible strength in our education, knowledge, and passion for nursing, one does not have to be a senator to make a positive impact on health care policy,” she said. “An often quoted statement, throughout our three days in Washington, D.C., characterizing the advocacy process was that, ‘If you are not at the table, you are on the menu.’ ” Marian Grant, DNP ’10, RN, CRNP, an associate professor at the School of Nursing, is a 2015 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Policy Fellow, a program that provides exceptional midcareer health professionals and behavioral and social scientists with an interest in health and health care with hands-on policy experience. She is working in the office of Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. Fellows typically are placed in offices of powerful leaders, committees, or agencies.

DEAN KIRSCHLING PARTICIPATES IN WHITE HOUSE PANEL ON

CLIMATE CHANGE

ean Jane Kirschling was among the leaders of nursing, public health, and medical schools who participated in a White House roundtable,

held April 9, to address climate change. She was one of six nursing school deans invited to participate in the discussion. As part of a series of National Public Health Week

Dean Jane Kirschling (far right) participates in White House panel. and Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health Education,” Kirschling said. “President Obama and his senior staff will

announcements by President Obama to reduce the

be hosting an additional summit to further address how

health impacts of climate change on Americans, the

to effectively prepare the next generation of health care

White House hosted the roundtable discussion with

professionals in addressing climate change.”

deans from universities across the nation who are

The leaders participating in the discussion are respon-

committing to educating the next generation of

sible for educating the nation’s next generation of health

health professionals to address the health impacts

professionals and ensuring that those professionals are

of climate change.

prepared to address all of the health risks their patients

“It was an honor to be invited to participate in this White House Roundtable on Climate Change 28 SUMMER 2015

and communities face. —Excerpted from an article by Patricia Fanning

OFFICE OF THE DEMOCRATIC LEADER

U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Marian Grant

Grant has gotten to see how the office coordinates with staff from the key health-related House committees, Senate Democrats, and the White House. As leader of the Democrats in the House, Pelosi usually does not get very involved in specific legislation. However, she and an adviser negotiated with John Boehner and his staff on the recent House Bill 2, which, among its provisions, extended the Children’s Health Insurance Program. “I was a witness to those negotiations, which was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Grant said. She is a staff member in the office, assisting on health policy, writing briefs for Pelosi, meeting with constituents and organizations on health policy issues, and serving as a content expert for issues relating to nursing, advance practice nursing, or palliative care/hospice.

AT THE STATEHOUSE

n February, Kirschling and Rai spent a day in Annapolis to discuss with legislators the Nurse Practitioner Full Practice Authority Act of 2015 (SB 723 and HB 999), which would remove statutory language requiring Nurse Practitioners (NP’s) to submit an attestation for approval by the Maryland Board of Nursing before commencing practice. If repealed, the requirement would improve access to care and allow NPs to practice within the full scope of

their licensure. The Maryland legislature passed the bill in April and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed it May 12. The group, led by Kirschling, also included faculty members and practicing nurse practitioners Kristen Rawlett, DNP ’14, FNP-BC, and Ana C. Duarte, MS ’09, BSN ’06, PMHNP-BC. The group visited members of the Maryland House and Senate to answer questions about how the bills would impact access to care in Maryland and the important role of nurse practitioners. They provided legislators with copies of the Federal Trade Commission policy paper, “Competition and the Regulation of Advanced Practice Nurses,” and the National Governors Association report, “The Role of Nurse Practitioners in Meeting Increasing Demand for Primary Care.” In the future, nurses will play an even larger role in the national health care landscape, and shaping policy will continue to be vital. The Institute of Medicine issued a report in 2010 naming nursing as the most important profession to affect health care in the United States. As a result of the report, a national campaign was launched that seeks to increase access to high-quality, patientcentered care in a health care system in which nurses contribute as essential partners in achieving success. The 50-state effort strives to implement the recommendations named in the report.

INCREASING ACCESS

he Maryland Action Coalition was formed in November 2010 as part of a national initiative

to guide state implementation of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations. The national campaign is coordinated through the Center to Champion Nursing in America, an initiative of AARP, the AARP Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. THE IOM RECOMMENDATIONS ARE:

• Remove scope-of-practice barriers • Expand opportunities for nurses to lead and diffuse collaborative improvement efforts

• Implement nurse residency programs

• Increase the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80 percent by 2020

• Double the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020

• Ensure that nurses engage in lifelong learning

• Prepare and enable nurses to lead change to advance health

• Build an infrastructure for the collection and analysis of interprofessional health care workforce data

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 29

DIFFERENT, BUT THE SAME HELPING PATIENTS RECOVER MOTIVATES PAIR OF MALE NURSES

ecks Lee, BSN ’13, and Zachary Manlucu, BSN ’13, work at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital’s cardiac and spinal cord injury unit, an intense and challenging environment. Lee completed his coursework through the School of Nursing’s program at the Universities at Shady Grove, while Manlucu completed his at the School’s Baltimore location. “We see patients with severe trauma injuries but also with long-term health conditions,” said Lee, a native of the Republic of Korea whose background

includes a stint as a sergeant in the Korean Air Force. Adds Manlucu: “Patients spend several weeks on the unit. You can really get to know them. Seeing how patients improve over time is rewarding.” Although the two took different paths to their careers in nursing, both say that being a male in a largely female profession has not been an obstacle, neither for them nor for the people they treat. “For patients, there is no difference between male and female nurses,” Lee said.

Becks Lee cares for a patient at MedStar Rehabilitation Hospital. 30 SUMMER 2015

Manlucu is a San Francisco, Calif., native whose mother was in the medical field. He knew he wanted to go into health care but wasn’t sure in which area. He found what he was seeking through the pre-nursing program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). “Students ahead of me in the program told me what they did and how rewarding it was; that made up my mind,” said Manlucu, who after graduation applied to the cardiac and spinal cord injury unit. He became interested in this because of his student clinical experience at the University of Maryland Rehabilitation & Orthopaedic Institute, formerly Kernan Hospital, in Baltimore. “I felt called to these patients who experienced traumatic events leading to their hospitalization. It was very rewarding to have them recover mobility in their arms and their legs, and to stand up for the first time.” The School of Nursing’s reputation helped with his decision. “It’s always in the top 10 nursing schools nationwide,” he said. “MedStar recognizes the rigor of the School’s program; several other graduates work at the rehabilitation hospital.” Several members of Lee’s family are nurses. When he immigrated to the United States in 2008, he had decided on a nursing career. A graduate of UMBC, Lee originally was assigned to the orthopedic unit at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital for his student practicum but switched to the cardiac and spinal cord unit. “You see patients with severe injuries and health conditions,” he said. “You are also taking care of long-term and chronic patients. They definitely need medical care but they also need rehabilitation.”

BY BARBARA PASH

Lee’s nursing responsibilities range from administering medication and changing dressings to educating patients. For example, he works with patients with spinal cord injuries to help them complete tasks without assistance. “A major role is to coordinate all the different kinds of care,” he said. “I make sure everyone is on the same page and that the patient is getting all the treatment he or she needs.” Manlucu said that spinal cord injuries may be the result of trauma, such as a gunshot wound, fall, or auto accident, or a deteriorating health situation. Cardiac patients may have had a heart attack or stroke or be recovering from one of several procedures, such as a heart transplant, coronary artery bypass, or the installation of a robotic heart pump. As a nurse on the unit, Manlucu provides respiratory therapy to tracheotomy patients and provides IV medication. At the hospital, nurses also share responsibility for responding to codes and/or rapid response. While nursing started as a solely female profession, now Manlucu works with mainly male nurses. “Our staffing on the unit is still majority female,” he said. “But in one of my shifts, four of the six nurses are men. As a male nurse, there is a wide range of opportunity. We provide a different perspective than female nurses. But male or female, we all connect to our patients in different ways.” Patients in the cardiac and spinal cord injury unit at MedStar are seen by professionals who range from physicians and nurses to physical and occupational therapists, psychologists, nutritionists, and case

Zachary Manlucu and Sara Gibbs, RN, rehabilitation nurse

“

AS A MALE NURSE, THERE IS A WIDE RANGE OF OPPORTUNITY.

WE PROVIDE A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE THAN FEMALE NURSES. BUT MALE OR FEMALE, WE ALL CONNECT TO OUR PATIENTS IN

DIFFERENT WAYS.

”

—Zachary Manlucu

managers, said Lila Kilo, BSN, RN, assistant nurse manager of the unit. “When we talk about rehab, basically we are looking at getting a person ready to re-enter the community,” Kilo said. “That comes after an illness, or an accident, or any event that has left the person with a disability. Our goal is to get them to the point where they can carry on with life. Even though they might have setbacks, they are able to go on with the activities of daily living.” She cites as an example the patients on the unit who suffer from multiple sclerosis, which is a loss of function that comes about as the disease progresses. Such patients have lost function of the arms or legs and many are in wheelchairs. “When they come to the rehabilitation hospital, they work with therapists —

physical and occupational — to bring them back or to help them regain function, if not totally, at least to the point where they can perform such everyday tasks as dressing themselves or even going back to work,” she said. “As part of rehabilitation, we help them become familiar with and use equipment that can help them function — for example, a prosthesis. With a walker or power chair, they can be mobile in the community.” “Rehabilitation plays a critical role in the healing process,” Kilo adds. “Especially with patients who are left with a handicap, disability, weakness, or loss of any function; rehabilitation helps them regain that function,” she said. “For some patients, we see 100 percent total recovery; for others, we bring them to the point where they can carry on with their lives.”

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 31

Marchelle Payne-Gassaway discusses BSN program with perspective students at College Park recruitment event.

n 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health called for an increase in the proportion of nurses with baccalaureate degrees from 50 to 80 percent by 2020. The report urged academic administrators in schools of nursing to take the lead in this nationwide effort.

32 SUMMER 2015

The School of Nursing heeded the call. “We took a critical look at our RN-toBachelor of Science in Nursing (RNto-BSN) curriculum,” Janice Hoffman, PhD ’06, RN, ANEF, associate professor and assistant dean for the baccalaureate program, said of recent initiatives designed to facilitate admission. The IOM report was not the only impetus. A year earlier, in 2009, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching published Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation, which described recommendations for nursing

education. Moreover, as a practical matter, nursing care has changed in the past decade. People are living longer and have complex health issues. The number of healthy older adults is growing. Health care often is delivered at home or in rehabilitation facilities rather than in the traditional acute care hospitals and nursing home settings. “Care coordination, transitional care, and management of patients with complex needs are increasingly important,” Hoffman said. “Where and how nurses deliver care has become broader.” These changes require

Initiatives Seek to Raise Number of Nurses Earning Baccalaureate Degrees

HEEDING A CALL FOR

MORE EDUCATION By Barbara Pash

registered nurses to have a more extensive understanding of the complexities in patient care, as well as care delivery. Over the past four years, approximately 60 percent of all first-time licensed in-state registered nurses have been graduates with associate degrees, according to the Maryland Board of Nursing. To Hoffman, this figure underscores the need for change, especially in the School’s RN-toBSN option, if Maryland is to reach the 80 percent goal. “We are committed to helping registered nurses earn their bachelor’s

degree in a program that is relevant, advances their career, and is accessible in different locations,” she said. The School of Nursing has an RN-toBSN option that students can complete in traditional classroom settings or online. Now, several new pathways to the program exist, ranging from dual admission agreements with two Maryland community colleges to new instructional sites in addition to the School’s Baltimore and Shady Grove locations. In fall 2014, thanks to a Nurse Support II grant from the Maryland

Health Services Cost Review Commission, the School designed and implemented a revised RN-to-BSN plan of study that focuses on advancing from an associate to a baccalaureate degree. The revised curriculum consists of six core courses and three electives and takes into account the circumstances of prospective adult learners who may be working or have other commitments. The revised curriculum builds upon the knowledge gained in the associate degree program; it does not duplicate it.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 33

AN EXPANDING REACH Originally, the curriculum was offered only at the School of Nursing’s Baltimore and Shady Grove locations. Next fall, thanks to a University System of Maryland grant, it will be offered for the first time at the Laurel College Center in Laurel, Md., one of eight Maryland Regional Higher Education Centers officially designated by the state. Nina Trocky, DNP, RN, NE-BC, CCRA, assistant professor and director of the RN-to-BSN option, said that expanding the program to Laurel “broadens our reach” to prospective students in Anne Arundel, Howard, and Prince George’s counties and beyond. “Our faculty will teach there,” she said of the Laurel site. Students may elect to take any one of the six courses in Laurel, offering them the ability to take classes closer to where they live or work. Studies show that the longer nurses with associate degrees are out of the classroom, the less likely they are to further their education. The expansion not only benefits the School of Nursing, but also nurses in the greater Baltimore and Washington, D.C. areas. Community colleges in Howard and Prince George’s counties graduate up to 350 nurses with associate degrees per year, an expected pipeline for the RNto-BSN option. Moreover, the many and large hospitals in the area encourage their nursing staffs to obtain BSN degrees. In addition, nurses employed in facilities near

the Laurel site may opt for this location rather than taking courses online or driving to Baltimore. “It gives them access to us,” Trocky said. “It allows them another choice.” In addition, the School of Nursing hopes that students will further their education by continuing for a master’s or doctoral degree. According to an RN-to-BSN student focus group conducted last fall, the School’s reputation for excellence is a major draw for prospective students, Trocky reports. “There is a lot of interest in our program and this new instructional site in Laurel,” she said. The School of Nursing also has taken steps to increase the proportion of baccalaureate-prepared nurses by expanding recruitment for the traditional BSN program at University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). “Recruitment strategies have taken two directions,” said Marchelle Payne-Gassaway, MS, director of admissions at the School of Nursing. One is to increase visibility at both campuses via online and personal contacts. The second is to expand partnership opportunities at both UMBC and UMCP by guaranteeing admission to the School based on the number of available slots. “We want students to know that the School of Nursing now admits BSN students from the UMBC and UMCP partnerships in the spring and fall semesters,” Payne-Gassaway said. “We also want them to be aware that nursing is more than just being at the bedside.

Janice Hoffman

Nina Trocky

34 SUMMER 2015

It includes research and leadership competencies that inherently affect health care changes.” The strategies appear to be successful, according to Payne-Gassaway. “We have seen an increase in applicants,” she said.

FOSTERING NEW RELATIONSHIPS This year the School of Nursing signed agreements with two community colleges — Montgomery College and the College of Southern Maryland — to enroll nursing students from the colleges’ associate degree programs in the School’s RN-to-BSN option. The agreements offer dual admission to qualified students and transfer credits from one institution to another. While enrolled in the program, students may take specific School of Nursing RN-to-BSN courses under “special student” status to earn credits toward the BSN degree. “It’s all about seamless academic progression,” Hoffman said. Beginning next fall, students who meet the criteria will be admitted to the associate degree program at Montgomery College and to the School of Nursing simultaneously. “Students who graduate from Montgomery College will transition into completing their baccalaureate degree,” said Rebecca Wiseman, PhD ’93, RN, associate professor and chair, University of Maryland School of Nursing at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG). Students will be able to complete their RN-to-BSN courses online, face-to-face, or in hybrid classes that use a combination of online and face-to-face modules. “I’m excited for our students. It offers them a great opportunity,” said Barbara Nubile, MSN, RN, associate dean and director of nursing at Montgomery College, which currently enrolls 400 students and graduates 100 nurses per semester. “A number of our students already go on to USG for degrees beyond the associate level. Montgomery County puts a high value on more education and, in nursing, on baccalaureates. Some hospitals give preference in hiring, so there’s a job incentive.” The College of Southern Maryland has campuses in Charles, Calvert, and

Barbara Nubile and Rebecca Wiseman discuss the RN-to-BSN option with Abraham Manzana.

St. Mary’s counties. Its agreement with the School of Nursing is similar to Montgomery College’s, though courses will be offered locally, in LaPlata. “The courses will be taught through a Webhybrid format — a combination of face-toface classes with School of Nursing faculty members at our campus and online,” said Laura Polk, PhD, RN, CNE, professor and chair, Health Sciences Division, College of Southern Maryland. To Polk, this is an important consideration. The School of Nursing’s program “increases access to education in southern Maryland,” she said. The college has 270 students in its associate degree nursing program and graduates 45 nurses per semester. Most of its nursing students express interest in earning a baccalaureate degree. “If they’ve already invested time and money in the School of Nursing’s program while earning their associate degree, they’re much more likely to complete their BSN right away, rather than go to work for a couple of years and then return to school,” Polk said.

SEALING THE DEAL

he School of Nursing and the College of Southern Maryland (CSM) signed an agreement of dual admission at an event held April 8 at CSM. The agreement will bring a seamless transition from the Associate of Science in Nursing degree to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree to Southern Maryland.

“It’s the associate degree nursing programs that bring a wide variety of diversity to our nurse workforce,” said CSM Health Sciences Division Chair Laura Polk, PhD, RN, CNE. “One of the hallmarks of this agreement is that we are going to be able to meet with students very early in their education and help them identify a pathway to complete general education credits required for both the associate and bachelor’s degrees.” “This agreement is one of the milestones of this year, as we are celebrating our 125th anniversary as a school of nursing,” said School of Nursing Dean Jane Kirschling, PhD, RN, FAAN. “I’m so excited and so pleased that this legacy, in terms of the partnership with the College of Southern Maryland, could be a part of our 125th celebration.” UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 35

BY RONALD HUBE

Making Nur$ing Education More Affordable Matching Program Boosts Contributions to Endowed Scholarship Funds Michelle Gonzalez, MSN, MSOM, RN, CRNA, clinical instructor (right), teaches Elisabeth Abraham how to intubate a patient with a glidescope.

36 SUMMER 2015

BY RONALD HUBE

inancial assistance from the state of Maryland and Lions Club International helped make it possible for Kathryn Patchen Freer, MSN, BSN ’74, to enter the School of Nursing in 1970. Grateful ever since, she and her husband, Robert Walker Freer, have established several scholarships through the years to help other School of Nursing applicants in need. This year, the Freers took advantage of an even more attractive way to help: the University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation (UMBF) Scholarship Matching Program, a two-year program in which UMBF provides 50 cents for each dollar of contributions to create endowed scholarships. Endowed funds exist in perpetuity, and the long-term investment creates a stream of income. An endowed scholarship, such as the one that bears Kathryn Patchen Freer’s name, provides support to students annually. “What caught my eye is that this is a long-term possibility,” Freer said. “And the match is huge.” The UMBF Scholarship Matching Program, which is available to each professional school at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), also has piqued the interest of other School of Nursing alumni and donors. As of April, individuals and groups had made contributions — with 21 new endowments created — totaling more than $1.4 million. The program will end in December. Matching funds from UMBF also helped attract more than $150,000 in sponsorships of the School of Nursing’s 125th anniversary gala, an event held in April that culminated a yearlong celebration of the School’s founding. Combined with annual gifts from alumni, the 125th Anniversary Endowed Scholarship Fund is currently valued at more than $270,000.

Kathryn Patchen Freer

Laurette Hankins

“It is a wonderful time to be a fundraiser for the School of Nursing,” said Laurette Hankins, the School’s associate dean for development and alumni relations. “We are in a kind of perfect storm of philanthropic opportunity — the 125th anniversary as well as the generous UMBF match. My team and I feel privileged to work with our wonderful donors to help make a positive difference.” The Scholarship Matching Program was created after UMBF Board of Trustees members reviewed the average debt accumulated by students while at UMB, according to Michael B. “Mickey” Dowdy, MBA, president and chief executive officer of UMBF and chief development officer and vice president of development at the University. The number — $57,000 for nursing students — “was staggering,” Dowdy said. “We thought that partnering with donors to create a few new scholarships was one thing we could do to help,” he said. The program, which Dowdy said reflects a priority of University President Jay A. Perman, MD, to help make higher education more affordable, had led to $5.42 million in new endowed scholarships for UMB as of April. Elisabeth Abraham, a student in the Nurse Anesthesia specialty, said she was very grateful to receive funds from the Caleb A. Rogovin, MS ’92 Endowment for Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Nursing, which benefited from UMBF matching funds.

Michael B. “Mickey” Dowdy

The scholarship, named after Rogovin, a 1992 graduate of the School and former president of the alumni association, alleviated a major ﬁnancial burden for Abraham. “Being enrolled in a rigorous full-time graduate program does not provide the opportunity to continue to be employed full time,” Abraham said. The scholarship is helping to make her lifelong dream of obtaining a graduate education come true. “These funds have allowed me to focus my time and energy on my academic success,” she said. In return, Abraham plans to do her part to help other students. “I am inspired to repeat this act of generosity by donating to the School of Nursing in the future,” she said.

UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND OF MARYLAND SCHOOL SCHOOL OF NURSING OF NURSING 37 37

DISCOVERY

On the Cutting Edge Research Aims at Improving Care, Understanding Pain

erry Tsai, Mei Ching Lee, and Luana Colloca are in the midst of research projects that cover subjects ranging from helping patients to learn more about making good decisions in hospitals, to how people react to pain, and the thoughts of ChineseAmericans on advance care planning. Here’s a brief look at their research and its potential impact.

Terry Tsai Terry Tsai, PhD, a faculty research associate at the School of Nursing, 38 SUMMER 2015

is developing two projects aimed at boosting patient care in hospitals. She specializes in Biomedical Informatics, an emerging field that Tsai said, “tackles questions in the biomedical domain by turning data into knowledge.” Patient safety is becoming a top priority in the United States, subsequently resulting in more programs and initiatives to tackle this issue, Tsai said. In the first project on which she is working, a decision support methodology will be developed that will assist hospital decision-makers and participants in prioritizing initiatives

and activities related to hospital safety that show the best chance for success. This is important because so many initiatives exist in the field. In fact, hospitals are reporting that nurses and physicians are facing battles over time and staff to implement improvements in safety. “I would say that what I care about is patient safety and patient advocacy,” Tsai said. “As I’m not a clinician, I tend to look at things from a patient’s point of view.” The second project Tsai is developing focuses on understanding the preferences and risks for expectant women when

The study explored the thoughts of Chinese-Americans on advance care planning. It focused on the end-of-life needs of Chinese-Americans and seeing what place — if any — this subject might have in that culture. In many Western countries people openly discuss the subject of advance care planning, though that might not be the case with Chinese-Americans, Lee said. “It’s a different culture; it’s a very sensitive topic,” she adds. “For ChineseAmericans, it may not be something that they want to touch on.” She worked with a focus group of 60 Chinese-Americans in May and June of 2014. Lee is now in the data analysis stage, after which she will write her findings. Lee went to Hong Kong last summer to study advance care planning from the point of view of providers. This study is funded by the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) Interprofessional Global Health Grant. Lee spent three weeks in Hong Kong, along with four UMB students — two from the School of Social Work and one each from the School of Nursing and the School of Medicine. She conducted surveys and interviews to learn more Terry Tsai, Mei Ching Lee, and Luana Colloca about the experiences and beliefs of advance care planning and the providers’ thoughts on the discussion of end-of-life care for their patients. undergoing childbirth. Tsai, who recently Lee and her group presented an abstract had a baby, said expectant mothers should of the study at an interprofessional conference in Philadelphia in October be “well informed and empowered” when 2014. Additional information on this entering the hospital. Both studies will take about two years to study can be seen at the World Health complete. Tsai said she’s farther along with Organization’s transformative education site: http://whoeducationguidelines.org/ the first project, while the second remains content/advance-care-planning-chinain its early stages. interprofessional-study. Lee said that a third study — a follow-up to the Mei Ching Lee Hong Kong study that also is funded Assistant Professor Mei Ching Lee, PhD, by UMB’s Interprofessional Global RN, has been working on the study of advance Health Grant — will begin in the coming care planning in the Chinese and Chinesemonths. American cultures. Lee did a pilot study Luana Colloca last year, funded by the Center for Health Outcomes Research, one of the School of Luana Colloca, MD, PhD, an associate professor, is studying how the brain Nursing’s organized centers of research.

can affect the way humans feel — and react — to pain. Colloca investigates pain modulatory systems, including pain reductions occurring as a result of individual expectations and learning mechanisms. The ability to form expectancy-induced analgesic responses can be predicted by looking at activity in areas of the brain that contribute to the complex experience of pain, such as the sensorial, emotional, and affective dimensions. “What is interesting is that some persons are prone to activate endogenous systems of pain modulation and tend to show a benefit over time,” Colloca said. “Others suffer debilitating dysfunctions. The endogenous pain modulatory systems that negatively and positively regulate pain are likely to partially account for variability in pain severity, adherence to treatment, coping, and acute-to-chronic transition.” During the last decade, Colloca has studied expectancy-induced analgesic mechanisms in humans, which also are called placebo analgesia. These findings have significant relevance in medicine for a few reasons, Colloca said. First, millions of Americans suffer from chronic pain, which costs millions of dollars each year in health care expenses. Second, many of these patients don’t receive adequate pain relief, and placebo responses must be accounted for in clinical trials. A variety of factors affect the way people feel pain. Some who have problems such as anxiety and depression possibly can experience a worsening of their pain. Notably, genetic factors also could play a crucial role. Although progress has been made in studying the problem, many questions remain. “The question is, ‘How can we help patients bring pain down?’” Colloca said. She adds that researchers want to better understand not just the brain mechanism, “but why some people activate pain-modulatory very well and others not so well.” —Jeff Seidel

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 39

HEALTHY DIALOGUE

More Than a ‘Best Friend’ Questions on How Pets Affect our Health

ogs are “man’s best friend” for many reasons — they give unconditional love, allow us to nurture and care for them, and provide companionship. However, research also indicates that dogs can make us healthier. Erika Friedmann, PhD, professor and associate dean of research at the School of Nursing, has been conducting research on the health benefits of pet ownership since the 1970s and has pinpointed an array of physical, psychological, and emotional assets. Friedmann initially began researching the health benefits of pet ownership as part of her dissertation work, which explored the psychological and social factors that are related to survival rates for patients who suffered a heart attack. She found that those patients who

Erika Friedmann 40 SUMMER 2015

owned a pet were more likely to be alive after one year as opposed to people who did not own a pet. To better understand the relationship between pet ownership and people’s physical, psychological, and emotional health, we asked Friedmann about the innovative research she has conducted over the past few decades. Q: How has this ﬁeld evolved since the 1970s? FRIEDMANN: It started as a small field

and people were not aware of it. There was very little scholarly research on the subject. It has expanded tremendously and is becoming recognized as a serious field of research. Last year the American Heart Association released a statement on pets and their relation to cardiovascular health, and there’s also been a National Institutes of Health call for research on the relationship between companion animals and child health and human development. Q: How did you test the way in which people respond to the presence of dogs during their daily lives?

Q: What are the ways in which animals can improve health in humans?

FRIEDMANN: We had people wear blood

FRIEDMANN: People feel safer, more

pressure monitors for 24 hours on three separate days in a three-month span; we looked at blood pressure readings when a dog was present versus when one was not. There was a definite relationship. We also studied the effects of having a dog present in stressful situations by measuring blood pressure, heart rate, and performing a stress test and found a definite correlation. Even if the lowering of blood pressure is minimal, it can still have a huge impact.

secure, less anxious, less lonely, and less depressed. A pet provides a reason to get up in the morning and schedule your day, a friend to take care of or who needs you — a reason to live. A dog also encourages people to get more exercise. Q: How did the interaction with dogs in a nursing home or assisted living facility help residents? FRIEDMANN: We wanted to determine

whether their presence would be a

stimulus for social interaction, especially for those patients affected by dementia. There were people who had not talked in years who began talking to the dog . . . much more effective than arts and crafts and bingo. Structured activities with a dog also had an effect on the daily lives of those in assisted living. Residents would brush the dogâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hair, which was similar to brushing their own hair. When patients opened a packet of treats for a dog, it helped them practice small motor skills. When they walked with the dog, they were getting needed exercise, and their ability to walk was reinforced. Those who had the dog intervention

showed improvement with depression. Like all studies conducted, the 12-week research period had a comparison group to make sure the results were from the intervention, not just changes in all residents during this time period.

in pain and autism. Many nursing homes and assisted living facilities have regular visits by volunteers and their animals. Using horses as therapy is a growing field. Educators are using pets in the classroom to help improve childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning. There is a growing need for

Q: How do you assess the growth in this area of research since the 1970s?

systematic evaluation of different types of interactions with animals, specific

FRIEDMANN: Research has expanded

tremendously in scope and is becoming more rigorous and researchers have expanded into many areas of inquiry. For example, researchers now are looking at animal assisted interventions

types of potential benefits from them, what predicts who will and will not benefit, and the magnitude and duration of any benefits. There are so many opportunities to continue my research. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Gregory J. Alexander

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 41

PHILANTHROPY

20,000 Strong Dear School of Nursing community,

y the time you receive this publication, the 125th Anniversary events will have evolved from “save the date” to “fond memory.” The members of the Class of 2015 will have received their hard-earned degrees, cheered on by proud families and friends. They will have boldly entered or reentered the nursing workforce, armed with new knowledge and skills. And, as have so many alumni who came before them, they certainly will make a positive impact on the lives of patients for years to come.

Similarly, School of Nursing faculty and staff have paused to honor and celebrate the School’s historic 125th anniversary, but have not for one moment lost sight of the true prize: a renewed pledge to build upon the School’s strong foundation of excellence in nursing education, research, and practice. And though we are not “family,” we, too, take great pride in the successes of our alumni, now 20,000 strong. Thank you for making your difference in the world! Sincerely,

Legacy Society

he School of Nursing’s Legacy Society is named in honor of pioneering nurse and philanthropist LOUISA PARSONS. Parsons was the first superintendent of the School and made the first planned gift to the School in 1916. This gift began a long tradition of philanthropy. The Louisa Parsons Legacy Society is comprised of individuals who, like Parsons, have the desire to support future generations of students and nurses. Whether you wish to support scholarships, research, faculty positions, or other areas of need, there are several methods by which you can benefit the School via your estate plans. A planned gift can be designed to achieve your financial and philanthropic goals, and makes you eligible for membership in our Louisa Parsons Legacy Society.

The Louisa Parsons Legacy Society In gratitude to our members Estate of Robert Ageton Janet D. Allan Anonymous Floraine B. Applefeld

Laurette L. Hankins Associate Dean for Development and Alumni Relations hankins@son.umaryland.edu P.S. In a continuing effort to reduce costs and save trees, we ask that you update your email address online at http://www.nursing.umaryland.edu/alumni/update/. Thanks very much!

Estate of Carolyn V. Arnold Estate of Zabelle S. Howard Beard Deborah S. Beatty, MS ’96 Ann Bennett, MS ’69 Marjorie Stamler Bergemann Jean L. Bloom, DIN ’46 Estate of Mary J. Brewer Estate of E. L. Bunderman, DIN ’31 Ann Ottney Cain Estate of Dorothy C. Calaﬁore, BSN ’51 Shirley E. Callahan, DIN ’52 Avon B. Chisholm

42 42 SUMMER SUMMER 2015 2014

Making a planned gift to the School of Nursing doesn’t have to be complicated. Even better, these gifts have no immediate impact on your current lifestyle but will make a significant difference to future nursing students. Some popular types of planned gifts include: >>Bequests and Other Gifts — After providing for your loved ones, you can designate a gift to the School of Nursing. Charitable bequests can include cash, securities, real estate, or other property. They may be for a specific percentage of your estate, a fixed dollar amount, or the part remaining after fulfilling other bequests. >>Life Income Gifts — These enable you to make a gift to the School of Nursing while receiving an income for life. Benefits also include federal income and state tax deductions, increased income from low-yield assets, and preferential capital gains tax treatment on gifts of long-term appreciated property.

As is evident by viewing the Louisa Parsons Legacy Society list, many of our alumni and friends have already discovered that a planned gift can be an invaluable component of their financial and charitable planning. Whether you are seeking to satisfy current income and estate tax needs, prepare for

Louisa Parsons

retirement, or make low yielding assets more productive, a carefully crafted planned gift may provide a solution that satisfies your needs.

To learn more about making a planned gift to the School of Nursing, please contact: > Laurette L. Hankins Associate Dean for Development and Alumni Relations University of Maryland School of Nursing 410-706-7640 hankins@son.umaryland.edu

> Thomas F. Hofstetter, JD, LLM Senior Director of Planned Giving 877-706-4406 plannedgiving@umaryland.edu http://www.umbfplannedgiving.org

Estate of Gladys B. and Lansdale G. Clagett

June Jennings, BSN ’47, and E.R. Jennings

Linda E. Rose, PhD ’92

Estate of Bonnie L. Closson, BSN ’61

Jeanette Jones, MS ’70

Estate of Amelia Carol Sanders, DIN ’53

Claudette Clunan, BSN ’72

Jean W. Keenan, DIN ’48

Patricia A. Saunders, BSN ’68

Stephen Cohen

Cynthia P. Lewis, BSN ’58, and Jack C. Lewis

Estate of William Donald Schaefer

Regina M. Cusson, MS ’79

Margaret A. McEntee, MS ’73

Phyllis J. Scharp, BSN ’50

Estate of Mary Jane Custer

Estate of Wealtha McGunn

Sandra Schoenﬁsch, MS ’76

Celeste A. Dye, BSN ’66

Ann Madison, BSN ’62

Pamela Schrank, BSN ’68, and W. Winslow Schrank

Lura Jane Emery, MS ’79

Myrna Mamaril, MS ’93

Estate of Beverly Seeley

Julie Fortier, MS ’68

Estate of Lois Marriott

Deborah K. Shpritz, MS ’82, BSN ’78, and Louis Shpritz

Beth Ann Gan, BSN ’77

Beverly Meadows, MS ’84, BSN ’69

Estate of Betty Lou Shubkagel, BSN ’54

Mary H. Gilley, DIN ’44

Joan L. Meredith, BSN ’62

Estate of Anna Mae Slacum

Debbie Gilbert Glassman, MS ’79, BSN ’75

Sharon L. Michael, BSN ’71

Estate of Marie V. Stimpson, MS ’89, BSN ’84

Judah Gudelsky

Nancy J. Miller, BSN ’73

Jacquelyn Jones Stone, MS ’71

Carolyn Cook Handa, BSN ’63

Patricia Gonce Morton, PhD ’89, MS ’79

Nan Swisher, DIN ’49

Sharon Hanopole, BSN ’66

Lyn Murphy, MS ’01, and John Murphy

Courtney Ann Kehoe Thomas, BSN ’66

Barbara Heller-Walsh

Elizabeth O’Connell, MS ’74, BSN ’73

Virginia D. Thorson, BSN ’55

Estate of Marie L. Hesselbach

Daniel O’Neal, BSN ’66

Estate of Norma C. Tinker, BSN ’48

Estate of Kjerstine K. Hoffman, DIN ’47

Harriet Palmer-Willis, BSN ’68

Estate of Martha C. Trate, BSN ’48

Margaret H. Iles, DIN ’53

Charlene Passmore, BSN ’77

Marion Burns Tuck, MS ’80

Catherine Ingle, BSN ’61

Ann E. Roberts, BSN ’93

Joella D. Warner, BSN ’64

Estate of Mary McCotter Jackson

Estate of Margaret Robinson

Estate of Patricia Yow

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 43

PHILANTHROPY

Giving to the School She Cherishes

arol Drake (nee Carapezza) graduated from the School of Nursing in 1968. She settled in Florida about six years later and has worked as an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) treating HIV patients at the Polk County Health Department for more than 20 years. But Drake never forgot the School of Nursing. She still cares deeply about the School and often talks about how it gave her the foundation for a successful nursing career. Her husband, Dr. Francis D. Drake, who graduated a year earlier from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, recently suggested donating money to the School his wife loves so much. Thus, the Carol Drake, ARNP (BSN ’68) Scholarship Endowment was born. “I just can’t say enough about the School of Nursing; I just love it,” Drake said. “I feel so strongly about it. My husband was saying, ‘Why don’t we just donate money to the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing?’ I said, ‘That would be great.’ That’s how it started.” The contribution to the School of Nursing will create an endowed

can’t say enough about the School of Nursing; I just “loveI just it. I feel so strongly about it. My husband was saying, ‘Why don’t we just donate money to the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing?’ I said, ‘That would be great.” scholarship that will support students enrolled in the undergraduate program at the School, according to its Memorandum of Understanding. Scholarships will be awarded to United

States citizens or permanent residents, based on academic achievement and demonstrated financial need. Drake is just glad to help others get the same quality education she received. “I am

Relieving the Worry of Paying for College

haron Hanopole, BSN ’66, who enrolled in the undergraduatenursing program at the School of Nursing almost 50 years ago, has had a colorful and diverse career. She has garnered a wide range of experience working in neonatal intensive care units, case management, medical surgery, maternal child health, rehabilitation, general pediatrics, and school health. She has watched medical 44 SUMMER 2014 2015

technology change and develop over time, saving the lives of more and more premature babies. “One of the most rewarding and challenging aspects of nursing is that there are many different fields that you can switch to if you need a change,” Hanopole said. Through her varied experiences, Hanopole has saved lives, helped patients prevent disease, and encouraged people to find strength in overcoming serious illness.

Hanopole grew up in Silver Spring, Md., where, she said, she was not exposed to the challenges that sometimes are intrinsic to city life. Her time at the School of Nursing opened her eyes to these issues. Having learned much throughout her schooling and career, Hanopole has included an endowed scholarship in her will. The Sharon H. Hanopole Endowed Scholarship, which will be created with a planned gift of $25,000, will support nursing undergraduates in the hopes that they, too, can have successful careers without the burden of student

“Paying it Forward” to Future Nurses excited that other students will gain the perspective that I acquired at the School,” she said. After graduation from the School of Nursing, Drake spent two years on active duty in the Army Nurse Corps. Later, she got a MSN degree from the University of South Florida and became a nurse practitioner, and is now certified by the American Academy of HIV Medicine as an HIV specialist. Everything she’s done during her nursing career started with what she learned at the School of Nursing, Drake said. Her education laid a strong foundation that helps her to be more effective with the more than 300 patients she is treating. “I not only received an excellent education at the School of Nursing, but I continue to use the principles I have acquired in my interaction with patients,” Drake said. “I believe the School was ahead of its time. I’m thankful for the way they taught and prepared me.” —Jeff Seidel

loan debt. A mother of five, having her own children proved to be a large inspiration in her decision to create the scholarship. “What personally drives me to provide a generous donation is to prevent some students from being burdened with high student loan debt for a large part of their lives, like my own children have had to endure,” she said. “It feels very gratifying to know that my donation can lessen the weight of worrying about funding payment for college.” —Danny Tress

ohn Repique, MS ’99, has strived to integrate the treatment of physical and mental health during his tenure as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Friends Hospital in Philadelphia, Pa. “I believe there is no physical health without mental health,” Repique said. “At Friends Hospital, we treat the whole person.” Hailing from the Philippines, Repique has been a health care professional for more than 20 years, specializing in psychiatric nursing and informatics. Having worked in public and private academic hospitals and health care systems, he has “always been drawn to service,” he said, adding that he pursued nursing as a profession for that reason. Repique has successfully combined two fields of health care: psychiatric nursing and informatics. “Psychiatric nursing . . . focuses on the assessment of the mental health needs of individuals, their families, and the communities to support them not only in time of mental illness, but also to strengthen their capacity for continued mental wellness,” he said. Health informatics, he adds, “integrates computer and information science to communicate and manage health information using innovation in technologies.” Ten years ago Repique became interested in what he calls “the intersection of psychiatric-mental health nursing and informatics” after reading a published study by Nancy Staggers, PhD ’92, MS ’85 RN, FAAN, professor of Informatics and Biomedical Information Research at the University of Utah and colleagues, on informatics competencies for nurses. He wanted to know more, he said, about “the application of informatics to improve the management of data and information” and through that, improve the mental health of individuals. “It was a great opportunity to blend these two nursing specialties.”

Repique is always looking for opportunities to deliver mental health care in unique and innovative ways. In the future, he would like to see more psychiatric nurses using innovative technologies to deliver mental health care. This hope inspired him to make a generous donation to the School of Nursing. His recent pledge to the School will create the John Repique Scholarship endowment, which will provide scholarship support to graduate students whose academic work reflects an interest in both psychiatric mental health and nursing informatics.

He hopes that with this endowment, he can “pay it forward” by helping others in the nursing profession make their dreams come true. Repique values education and feels that through continued personal and professional development, paired with lifelong learning, the future of psychiatric nursing will continue to expand. “We live in exciting times and in this digital age, there is so much we can do if we just open our eyes to new ideas and limitless possibilities.” —Laura Antonucci

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 45

ALUMNI PULSE

Alumni Share Your News!

f you have information to share

at: nursing.umaryland.edu/alumni/

about what’s happening in your

update, email your news to: alumni@

life — new jobs, family events,

son.umaryland.edu, or mail to: Cynthia

awards, advanced degrees, marriages, etc. — please let us know so we can include it in the Alumni News & Notes section of nursing for um. Photos are

welcome! SUBMIT YOUR UPDATES

Sikorski, associate director of alumni relations, 655 W. Lombard Street, Suite W-209, Baltimore, MD 21201. Questions? Call 410-706-0674.

(Please note that we reserve the right to edit submissions for length and clarity.)

class news and notes 1960s

1970s

Janet Rowan, MS ’63, BSN ’61, RN, retired from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) after 20 years of service. Her NIH career began with a position on the Inpatient Ophthalmology Unit, followed by extensive service managing the Dental Clinic in the Oral Surgery Clinic area where she was actively involved with protocols studying pain in human subjects. Earlier in her career, Janet was a faculty member at the School of Nursing, where she taught Maternal Child Nursing.

Cathleen Campbell, MS, BSN ’77, CRNA,

Phyllis W. Sharps, PhD ’88, BSN ’70, RN, FAAN, received the INSIGHT into Diversity publication’s Diversity Visionary Award for her exceptional belief in, commitment to, and achievement of diversity and inclusion in higher education.

Dona Benford, MS ’80, BSN ’75, RN, was Janet Rowan, left, and School of Nursing Alumni Association president, Liz Ness, MS ’93

46 SUMMER 2015

recognized as an Every Day Hero at University of Maryland Shore Regional Health.

Margaret (Peggy) Chamberlain Wilmoth, PhD, MS ’79, BSN ’75, RN, FAAN, has been promoted to Major General, U.S. Army Reserve, and appointed as Deputy Surgeon General for Mobilization, Readiness, and Army Reserve Affairs, Ofﬁce of the Surgeon General, U.S. Army. Peggy continues in her fulltime civilian career as a professor at the School of Nursing, Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing and Health Professions, Georgia State University.

Health System’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for 2015. The award, presented annually to a School of Medicine, School of Nursing, or Medical Center faculty or staff member who best embodies King’s values, recognizes exceptional abilities in areas of cultural competence, health care disparities, and/or fostering an environment of caring, diversity, and inclusivity.

was elected president of the Maryland Association of Nurse Anesthetists.

Carol A. Romano, PhD ’93, MS ’85, BSN ’77, RN, BC, NEA, FAAN, FACMI, Dorrie K. Fontaine, PhD, MS ’77, RN, FAAN, dean of the University of Virginia School of Nursing and associate chief nursing ofﬁcer of the University of Virginia Health Systems, received the University of Virginia

was appointed dean of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing. She has been an active leader within the United States Public Health Service, retiring at the rank of Rear Admiral.

alumni spotlight

Improving Education Through Professional Organizations

aren Mack, MS ’00, BSN ’83, CCNS, ACNPC, CHFN, is a woman on the go. Mack is a clinical practice program

specialist at MedStar Health, president of the Greater Washington Area Chapter of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, and the recipient of the 2015 American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) State Award for the District of Columbia. She credits her involvement in professional associations to advice she received while a student at the School of Nursing. “Dr. Patricia Morton (former associate dean of academic affairs at the School) encouraged us to get involved,” Mack said. The AANP award is presented annually to a nurse practitioner in each state who has made a significant

Pamela Hammond, PhD, MS ’79, RN, ANEF, FAAN, was named interim president of Virginia State University effective January 1, 2015. She is the ﬁrst woman in the University’s history to serve as president.

contribution toward increasing awareness and acceptance of the nurse practitioner role. Mack’s award recognizes her role in promoting professional practice in the Washington, D.C. area through an annual educational conference, “Spotlight on Advanced Practice Nursing.” “These conferences are important as they broaden clinical expertise and policy education at the local level,” she said. Bringing more than 30 years of nursing practice experience to her position at MedStar Health, Mack has an array of roles there. These include acting as an executive liaison to MedStar’s Nursing Practice Council, developing and disseminating evidence-

1980s

based practice research to direct patient care, and administering the Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders program at all 10 MedStar hospitals. Mack said her education at the School of Nursing provided her with the foundation she

Sue Ellin Grier Clarke MSN, BSN ’80, RNC-MNN, RNC-TNP,

needed to juggle all of these responsibilities. “The University of Maryland School of Nursing

was promoted to Professional Development Specialist after receiving her MSN-ED degree from Grand Canyon University in July 2014. She is responsible for the professional development of nurses in the Maternity Suites and Pediatrics/Acuity Adaptable Unit of Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md.

that knowledge through the complexities of health care,” she said. “I was very fortunate to have

produces graduates with excellent clinical knowledge and the ability to understand how to apply amazing faculty members and challenging clinical placements.” Mack also credits the School of Nursing for giving her confidence. “Medical errors are often attributed to communication issues that can occur when nurses don’t adequately use their voices,” she said. “I learned to speak up and be a strong advocate for patients,” through my experience at the School.

—Gregory J. Alexander UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 47

ALUMNI PULSE class news and notes Anne Dearth Williams, DNP ’12, MS ’86, BSN ’82, RN, was appointed director of community health improvement for the University of Maryland Medical Center and University of Maryland Midtown Campus. In this role, she leads the community health agenda, oversees two health promotion grants, and serves as the Community Beneﬁts Ofﬁcer for both campuses. Anne also serves as a faculty associate at the School of Nursing.

Kathryn Stranahan, BSN ’93, RN, CGRN was recognized as an Every Day Hero at University of Maryland Shore Regional Health.

Margaret F. Bevans, PhD ’05, MS ’94, RN, AOCN, FAAN, presented “The PROMIS of PROs in Nursing” at the Washington Regional Nursing Research Consortium’s spring meeting, held in February.

Col. Marla De Jong, PhD, MS ’96, RN, was appointed interim associate dean for research and senior Air Force advisor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing in Bethesda, Md.

Anna C. Alt-White, PhD ’87, RN, FAAN, recently retired from the Department of Veterans Affairs, where she made signiﬁcant contributions to nursing research and evidence-based practice, and served as a mentor to nurse scientists across the nation.

1990s

Jacqueline C. Mitchell, MS ’07, BSN ’92, CRNA, is presidentelect of the Maryland Association of Nurse Anesthetists.

48 SUMMER 2015

experience. Prior to joining EwingCole, she worked as a design consultant adapting medical ofﬁce buildings and residential sites to Americans with Disabilities Act standards. She previously worked as an adult nurse in emergency medical trauma units and as a pediatric nurse in neonatal ICUs for hospitals in Maryland, Virginia, and Florida. She lives in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

meeting and charted a renewed vision and blueprint for protecting children’s environmental health.

Bonjo Batoon, MS, BSN ’98, CRNA, was elected District IV Director for the Maryland Association of Nurse Anesthetists.

Rosemary Polomano, PhD ’95, RN, FAAN, received the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing’s Norma M. Lang Distinguished Award for Scholarship, Practice, and Policy in recognition of her outstanding research and scholarship in outcome measures and advancing the translation of pain science to practice. She is a professor of pain practice at UPENN.

Barbara Resnick, PhD ’96, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP, has been select-

Vasso G. (“Vicki”) Yfantis, MS ’01, BSN ’97, CRNP, CPAN,

ed as a Sigma Theta Tau International 2015 Nurse Research Hall of Fame inductee in recognition of her research that has improved the nursing profession and the people it serves. Barbara is a professor and the Sonya Ziporkin Gershowitz Chair in Gerontology at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

has been elected to a twoyear term on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Perianesthesia Nursing Certiﬁcation. Vicki is a surgical services adult nurse practitioner at Adventist Health Care Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, Md. She also serves as a clinical lab instructor for the School of Nursing’s program at the Universities at Shady Grove.

Mary “Teenie” Bracken, MS ’97, RN, NNP, EDAC,

Brenda Afzal, MS ’99, BSN ’98, RN, a nurse con-

has joined EwingCole, one of the nation’s leading health care design ﬁrms, as Healthcare Designer/Clinical Consultant in their Philadelphia ofﬁce. Teenie has more than 25 years of combined nursing and design

sultant and member of the Children’s Environmental Health Network board of directors, organized a successful Wingspread Summit in Racine, Wis., last fall. A diverse group of thought leaders attended the

Susan G. Dorsey, PhD ’01, MS ’98, RN, FAAN, has been selected as a Sigma Theta Tau International 2015 Nurse Research Hall of Fame inductee in recognition of her research that has improved the nursing profession and the people it serves. Susan is an associate professor and chair, Department of Pain and Translational Symptom Science, at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

alumni spotlight

Trailblazing Graduate is an Executive, Author, and Professor Kathleen Gresia McElroy, MS ’10, BSN ’98, RN, a fourth year PhD student at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, was awarded a two-year pre-doctoral F31 NRSA grant from the NICHD/NIH to support her dissertation research. She plans to examine how commonly used intrapartum clinical interventions cause changes in the vaginal micro biota composition in low risk pregnant women over time. Her mentors and co-sponsors for the award are Dr. Mary Regan, associate professor at the School of Nursing, and Dr. Jacques Ravel from the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

amson Omotosho, PhD ’98, RN-BC, can definitely say that his doctoral experience at the School of Nursing was unique. As the School’s first African male PhD graduate, the Nigerian native called on his experience as an African student in the United States while writing a book, Being an African Student: Stories of Opportunity and Determination. “While I was the only African student in the doctoral program, there were 11 other African students at the School, so I interviewed them to get a deeper understanding of the opportunities and challenges we all faced and how we confronted these challenges,” Omotosho said. “I believe the book is a good tool for other African students and it will also provide schools with information on how to advise foreign students and help them perform well.” He adds that many university libraries carry his book, which was an offshoot of his doctoral dissertation. Omotosho and his wife, Titilayo Omotosho, RN, are the owners and executive directors of Optimum Health Systems, Inc., a nurse-owned and nurse-managed outpatient mental health center and psychiatric rehabilitation program for adults and children in Baltimore. Omotosho teaches continuing education classes at Optimum Health Systems and is a nursing professor at University of Phoenix’s School of Advanced Studies, where he supervises 10 students who are completing their dissertations. He credits a great deal of his success to the time he spent at the School of Nursing. “It was fantastic preparation for me and I believe it’s one of the best schools in the country for extremely broad-based and in-depth study,” he said. “I also gained confidence and learned the importance of responsibility to others. I am quick to tell people how proud I am to be the first male African PhD graduate at the School.” —Gregory J. Alexander

“ I am quick to tell people

how proud I am to be the first male African PhD graduate at the School.

”

Sarah L. Szanton, PhD, MS ’98, RN, ANP, FAAN, received the 2014 Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research Protégé Award at the Nightingala, held in Washington, D.C. The award recognized her outstanding research and excellent work in the ﬁeld of aging, health disparities, and innovative models of care.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 49

ALUMNI PULSE class news and notes at its annual convention last October. The award is presented to an MNA member who has demonstrated excellence and creative leadership that fosters the development of the nursing profession. Mary is employed as program manager at the National League of Nursing in Washington, D.C.

Veronica Amos, MS ’07, MS ’00, BSN ’99, CRNA,

Rebecca S. Miltner, PhD ’01, RN, CNL, NEA-BC, along with two colleagues from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing, received second place for the 2014 Duncan Neuhauser Curricular Innovation Award in Healthcare Improvement from the Academy for Healthcare Improvement.

was elected secretary of the Maryland Association of Nurse Anesthetists.

Paula Kostuik, MS ’02, ACNP-BC, AOCNP, is Nancy E. Glass, PhD ’01, MPH, RN, FAAN, received the 2014

received the Maryland Nurses Association’s (MNA) Pathﬁnder Award

named chief nursing ofﬁcer of the Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare Company. She plays a key role in this partnership to increase access to education and the status of nursing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Kathleen M. Cox, DNP ’14, MS ’07,

2000s

Mary Fey, PhD ’14, MS ’01, RN, CHSE,

Zeina Khouri, PhD ’06, RN, was

Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research Path-Paver Award in recognition of her research and scholarship focused on communitypartnered interventions to reduce poor health outcomes and disparities for women and children survivors of gender-based violence.

employed as a palliative care nurse practitioner at the Naples Community Hospital in Naples, Fla.

has been named director of the Adult-Gerontologic Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Texas El Paso Graduate School of Nursing. Kathleen earned a post-graduate certiﬁcation in Teaching in Nursing and Health Sciences.

Joy A. Gonzalez, MS ’12, BSN ’07, CRNA, was elected District I Director for the Maryland Association of Nurse Anesthetists.

Antoinette Baines, MS ’08, RN, CNOR, was recognized as an Employee of the Month at University of Maryland Shore Regional Health.

Nicole M. Bush, MS ’05, RN, CRNP, has been working at the Mayo Clinic, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, since May 2014. She works full time in outpatient gynecology, with special interests in GYN oncology, colposcopy, and pelvic pain.

David Free, MS ’12, FNP-BC, ACHPN, RN, a DNP candidate at Chatham University, is the National Palliative Care Coordinator for Seasons Hospice, the fourth largest provider of hospice

in memoriam Georgia Ann (Cornwell) Annwell, BSN ’60

Nellie Scharf Fisher, DIN ’40

Barbara J. Kurz, BSN ’45

Frances Lister D’Auteuil, DIN ’44

Louise A. (Baugher) Garvick, DIN ’52

Margaret Brown Mucha, BSN ’63

Maruta Brunins, MS ’72

Patricia A. Goudreau, BSN ’89

Karen Anea Kiil Spurgeon, MS ’98

Paulette Gail Burns, BSN ’71

Roberta Gamble Gropper, MS ’66

Josephine de Silva, BSN ’55

Joan Hessey, DIN ’50

Lillie Flora (Porter) Durney, DIN ’51

Ellen Lorraine (Olson) Hinchman, DIN ’44

Martha R. Fields, BSN ’50

Margaret E. (Boehringer) Klein, MS ’79, BSN ’76

50 SUMMER 2015

Jackielynn Westray, BSN ’03 Constance D. Zotos-Stewart, BSN ’85 This list includes notices received by the School of Nursing from September 25, 2014 to February 27, 2015.

2015 care services in the nation. David received the Hospice Palliative Nurses Association Conference Scholarship for 2015.

Jennifer Chambers, MS ’13, RN, was recog-

Ranae Zurawski, MS ’13, published an

nized as Employee of the Month at University of Maryland Shore Regional Health.

article, “CarbapenemResistant Enterobacteriaceae: Occult Threat in the Intensive Care Unit,” in Critical Care Nurse, October 2014, 34:44-51. The article was written speciﬁcally for bedside critical care nurses as an education article on antibiotic resistant infections, which have a high mortality rate and have also been categorized as an urgent-level threat by the CDC. Ranae recently became engaged to Andrew Carr, accepted a position at Baylor University Heart Hospital, and moved to Plano, Texas.

Alyson Ross, PhD ’12, RN, presented “The PROMIS of PROs in Nursing,” at the Washington Regional Nursing Research Consortium’s spring meeting, held in February.

Chelsea Trotta, BSN ’12, is employed as an RN in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

Teckla Chude, MS ’13, CRNA, was elected Treasurer of the Maryland Association of Nurse Anesthetists.

Angela Cherry, BSN ’14, is employed as an Oncology Registered Nurse at Mount Sinai Medical Center on Miami Beach, Fla.

SEPTEMBER 19

Alumni Reunion Celebration September 19, 2015 Information: 410-706-0674 nursing.umaryland.edu/alumni/events

The following class years will be celebrated: Class of 2010

Class of 1975

5th

40th

•

Class of 2005

Class of 1970

10th

45th

•

Class of 2000

Class of 1965

15th

A Veteran’s Day program, held November 11 as part of the School of Nursing’s 125th Anniversary Celebration, honored faculty, staff, students, and alumni who have served or are currently serving in the military. Panelists included CAROL ROMANO, PhD ’93, MS ’85, BSN ’77, Rear Admiral (Ret.), United States Public Health Service (USPHS); ELIZABETH NIEMYER, BSN ’78, Rear Admiral (Ret.), U.S. Navy; RICHARD RICCARDI, MS ’91, Colonel (Ret.), U.S. Army; and BERNICE KING, DNP ’14, Major, U.S. Air Force. SYLVIA TRENT-ADAMS, MS ’99, Rear Admiral, USPHS, who was scheduled to participate, was deployed prior to the event.

50th

•

Class of 1995

Class of 1960

20th

55th

•

Class of 1990

Class of 1955

25th

60th

•

Class of 1985

Class of 1950

30th

65th

•

Class of 1980

Class of 1945

35th

70th

And . . . alumni who earned a master’s degree through the CNL master’s option in 2010

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF NURSING 51

BACK STORY

1950’s

’15

52 SUMMER 2015

n the 1950’s, a large majority of School of Nursing faculty and students were Caucasian females. Today, 36 percent of the School’s student body consists of minorities, including males, which is 10 percent above the national average for schools of nursing. The current faculty consists of 27 percent minorities, including males.

The Champions of Excellence advertising campaign is a multi-year branding campaign at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), which highlights individuals and teams that exemplify extraordinary accomplishments and represent excellence at UMB. Six representatives from the School of Nursing, pictured below, were selected for the ďŹ rst group of champions either as individuals or as part of a team. To view all UMB Champions or for more information, go to: www.umaryland.edu/champions

Social Work

CHAMPIONS OF EXCELLENCE

Vanessa Fahie PhD, RN

Yolanda Ogbolu PhD, CRNP School of Nursing

Nursing

Yolandaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother Linda Russell

Graduate

School of Nursing

Joel Greenspan PhD

Susan Dorsey PhD, RN, FAAN

School of Nursing Program at the Universities at Shady Grove

Cassia Gordon School of Nursing Program at the Universities at Shady Grove

Claudia Baquet MD, MPH

Mary-Claire Roghmann MD, MS

C. Daniel Mullins PhD

Robin Newhouse PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN

School of Medicine

School of Pharmacy

School of Nursing

We are the University of Maryland, Baltimore. We are UMB. Baltimore, MD I umaryland.edu

Medicine

Law

Dentistry

School of Nursing

Kathie Dever MPS

Pharmacy

School of Dentistry

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*iÀ Ì Çä£Ó Ofﬁce of Communications 655 West Lombard Street Baltimore, MD 21201 http://nursing.umaryland.edu

SAVE THE DATE Alumni Reunion Celebration

December Graduations

September 19, 2015 Information: 410-706-0674 nursing.umaryland.edu/alumni/events

December 11, 2015 (Shady Grove) December 14, 2015 (Baltimore) Information: 410-706-2799 nursing.umaryland.edu

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