DR. PATRICIA SHARPNACK IS LEADING EFFORTS TO ELEVATE THE NURSING PROFESSION

“As a nurse we have the opportunity to heal the mind, soul, heart, and body of our patients. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” —Maya

Angelou

The underrepresentation of black and brown people in the healthcare industry has a direct impact on the overall health of their communities, and Dr. Patricia A. Sharpnack, DNP, RN, CNE, NEA-BC, ANEF, FAAN, Dean of Ursuline's School of Nursing and Health Professions is leading the charge to diversify the nursing profession by illuminatingthe vast opportunities availablein this field.

When you look at the circle of life, a nurse has a constant presence from birth to death, but society focuses its attention on the role of a physician in diagnosing, treating and operating on the patient. The nurse has historically been viewed as the assistant to the doctor, when in actuality it is the nurse that spends more time caring for the needs of the patient.

Of the science-based careers, Nursing has the highest percentage of women at 97%, yet is not listed as a “highprofile” career in research rankings. A recent Pew Research report, STEM Jobs See Uneven Progress in Increasing Gender, Racial and Ethnic Diversity, notes that women are, “heavily overrepresented among health-related jobs, the largest STEM occupational cluster,” but nursing was not one of the notable careers included in the report. The report noted, “Women have increased their share of employment in some of the higher profile health-related STEM occupations. Women are 38% of physicians and surgeons, up 2 percentage points from 2016. They are 33% of dentists, up 3 percentage points from 2016. Among optometrists, 46% are women, up 3 percentage points from 2016. Women are 64% of veterinarians, up 3 percentage points from 2016. And women are 33% of EMTs and paramedics, up 2 percentage points from 2016.”

This absence in the conversation is key to the work Dr Sharpnack is doing to not only diversify the ranks of nursing, but also to elevate the public perception of what a career in Nursing represents today

During a conversation with Phenomenal Woman on the campus of Ursuline College, Sharpnack discussed her career and her passion for nursing. A job she describes as “an outstanding profession, and a wonderful opportunity.”

A native Clevelander, Dr. Sharpnack had goals of going to college to become a teacher until her high school guidance counselor advised, “there are too many teachers in the world, why don't you pick nursing.” Nursing was not a stretch for the high school student who had volunteered as a Candy Striper at Marymount Hospital, and served as a caregiver for her mother who suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis, and other ailments. With that advice she shifted her thinking and set her sights on attending St. John College, the precursor to Ursuline's College of Nursing.

The decision to continue her education was one of the few challenges Sharpnack faced during her career She said, “there was not a great deal of focus on me going to college. It was find yourself a spouse, go get married. There wasn't a lot of support either financial or otherwise regarding schooling.” Not one to be deterred and armed with a scholarship, she enrolled in the St. Vincent Charity Nursing School receiving her diploma in nursing. After completing her training, Sharpnack worked as a Floor Nurse for St. Vincent Charity Hospital before moving to the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Now that she had received her basic training, Sharpnack followed her original dream and enrolled in Ursuline's RNBSN program earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. She also took on a new position at Huron Road Hospital in its Coronary Care Unit. The change in hospitals marked the launch of nursing becoming more than a job, but a career and passion.

She joyfully recalls her time at Huron Road where she also first took a chance on herself when a position opened up for an Assistant Nurse Manager. She recalls when it came up, “I thought can I do this? and I did. Fortunately, I had a fabulous mentor at Huron Road.” She glowingly recalled, “She helped fast-track me, she worked with me, educating me on how to be a woman in business. She was African American, a woman, and a nurse and she was a Chief Operating Officer. I was a young little thing who didn't know much of what she was doing and she helped guide me through all aspects of my career at Huron Road.” Some of the areas she advised her on included coping with sexual harassment in the workplace, how to dress while also taking her to places to learn how to speak better and work with a varietyof physicians.

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The faith placed in her future led to Sharpnack becoming a Vice President of the hospital. She said, “It was a wonderful experience. The team I had there was incredible, in fact, they are all still leaders in the nursing community, if they haven't retired. I want to say it was the best of the best people I have ever met in the organization.”

With this level of support and guidance, Dr Sharpnack was on a fast-track through nursing administration and this helped her realize, “I had an affinity for management and leadership and felt that was a good niche.” In shifting from clinical care, she didn't turn her back on the skills that brought this first-generation college student to levels she never imagined. She said, “I always stayed active clinically predominantlyin critical care.”

While recalling her journey in healthcare, it is clear that the administrator, instructor and mentor has valuable experiences and career knowledge to share. From working as a floor nurse to critical care nursing, Dr. Sharpnack began her career in academia as part of the faculty at Cleveland State University. During this time in her life, she also moved to Geauga County and during her commute witnessed the building of the Amish Birthing Center. This led to another career shift as she began working at the Birthing Center learning maternal child nursing and communitynursing.

As she built her career, Sharpnack created a family and continued her education graduating with a master's degree from the University of Akron. She has also earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree with a focus on education from Case Western Reserve University

When discussing challenges in her career, she only cites the lack of family support in the earliest days and other difficulties are seen as times of adjusting to new roles. Even being sidelined after being disabled for a short period does not rise to the level of a challenge.

It was after being disabled and returning to work on a critical care unit when she was asked to consider being the Chief Nursing Officer Circumstances like this reinforced the belief that leadership was a good fit for her, but more importantly she said, “I had some really key people along the way that helped me not only explore new opportunities, but to build up the confidence in myself to do those kinds of things” This level of foresight into her abilities continued when she came to Ursuline's faculty where she thought she would just remain a member of the faculty, before again being encouraged to take on larger roles.

She is grateful for the support she has received and continues to receive and pays it forward by doing the same. As a cheerleader for Ursuline, she beams when describing the College and its faculty. She notes that Ursuline is a small school, but touts the faculty as its most powerful resource describing their accomplishments in the same manner a mother describes the latest feats of her children. Of this faculty she said, “one is president of the Greater Cleveland Nurses Association, another is a chair at the Midwest Nursing Research Society, while another is involved in the National League for Nursing. They are committed to teaching, committed to a strong pedagogy.” This commitment to teaching and to the community is the atmosphere Sharpnack sought to create and she's committed to them and “grateful they have allowed me to lead them.”

An examination of her journey in nursing illustrates the many facets of the profession, but it is only a snapshot. Using her family, which includes three additional nursesher husband, daughter and son who are all Ursuline alumna, as anecdotal evidence of the many levels of nursing she said, “I'm still a registered nurse, but I went into hospital administration, and I was in critical care, and maternal child care. My daughter chose the advanced practice route. Once you graduate as a registered nurse, you can go back to school and become an advanced practice provider so she's a certified nurse practitioner in adult and acute care, and practices as a provider at the Veteran's Administration.” Her son currently works for Amazon and while he is not functioning as a nurse he is providing healthcare. She explained, “He provides clinical counsel to Amazon. Nursing is no longer this bedside nurse who wears white stockings and white shoes and a white uniform. It is a dynamic profession that's functioning at a very high level, at the top of their license.”

In some ways, the breadth of the industry is contributing to the current shortage of nurses she noted, “We have more nurses today than we ever had, but we still have a nursing shortage in acute care because we have nurses working in so many other areas. We've expanded the areas that nurses influenceincluding policy.”

As is the case in other STEM careers, the lack of knowledge of this career and in some instances the lack of respect given to those in the profession are also factors contributing to the shortage. To combat that, Dr. Sharpnack points to early introduction to the field in elementary and middle school, “People still have this perspective of the profession that it's still, depending on their exposure, like a hand maiden to the physician and that's not the role. The nurses are in the organization running what happens to your healthcare.” Increasing the diversity of the field is something Sharpnack recognizes is important. As the Dean, she and the members of the faculty have examined ways to increase representation, including partnering with Cleveland's Martin Luther King High School offering training and working with the school's education team. She said the work has helped, but “we need to continue to move the needle more.”

Dr. Sharpnack explained, “When I speak with guidance counselors, I think it's key to change the messaging about what nursing is today. This is key to our recruitment efforts. It's a wonderful profession, with incredible flexibility and the pretty darn good compensation. It can lift people out of poverty and more. We need more opportunities to prepare students at that middle school level to encourage them to work in this field not only because of the need, but because of the leadership opportunities.”

In an effort to continue moving that needle, last year Ursuline College received a $2.2 million federal grant to help improve diversity in the nursing workforce. The funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will help the College improve wraparound support services for undergraduate nursing students from disadvantaged backgrounds, with a focus on Black students and other underrepresentedminorities. Titled STAR Scholars (for Success, Transformation, Achieve, Resilience), the program aims to increase graduation rates for under-represented nursing students and further diversify the nursing workforce serving Greater Cleveland. To do this, the STAR program will:

● Improve social and academic support services, including mentoring, tutoring, and a three-week Summer Institute

● Fund student scholarships

● Provide faculty with professional development to improve instruction and increase sensitivity to the unique needs of students from disadvantaged backgrounds

● Recruit and retain more nursing faculty members of color

Dr Sharpnack who authored the grant said of the program, “The grant was to bring 25 diverse students, disadvantaged background students into our program. That retention rate is about 75%, the students coming in that group really are significantly under-resourced, some of them are homeless, some of them are dealing with so many issues but we have a STAR coordinator, Ashley Thomas, who is very engaged with these students and they're doing very well. We have been able to diversify our workforce more. In fact our first class coming in this year, our entire undergrad was 50% diversity.”

The STARS program adds to the College's commitment to diversity that began with the ASPIRE program. ASPIRE is a partnership with Cleveland Clinic, The Howley Foundation, and Ursuline College. Dr Sharpnack proudly reports “the retention rate for this program is 92% students from really disadvantaged backgrounds, all diverse. They are doing phenomenal here, they're thriving.”

In addition to recruiting diverse students, the College is also committed to ensuring all students are prepared for real situations. To achieve this goal, Dr. Sharpnack worked with the College's Community Advisory Board, and nursing leaders in the community, to facilitate helping student nurses engage in population health. This collaboration resulted in innovative projects like a perioperative immersion. She explained, “they learn the skills first and then they go into the operating room and serve as operating room nurses. They also go into the post anesthesia care unit in their senior year and as a result of that, 15 of our graduates are employed in operating room nursing.”

They are utilizing the same technique with intervention radiology due to a lack of nurses in that specialty as well. Dr Sharpnack said, “there is a shortage of nurses in healthcare so when we went to a population health course where we really wanted students to mitigate the social determinants of health, they are now going into home care, they are going into transitional care.

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PHENOMENAL FACTS:

§ Post doctoral certificate in healthcare policy and media engagement

The George Washington University

§ Doctor of Nursing Practice

Case Western Reserve University

§ Master of Science in Nursing

The University of Akron

§ Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Ursuline College

§ Board-certified as a nurse educator and an advanced nursing executive

§ Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing

§ Fellow in the Academy of Nurse Educators

§ Past- President of the Ohio Board of Nursing

§ CHAIR-Elect National League for Nursing

§ Serves as Board Member University Hospitals

§ Served as President Board Member State of Ohio Board of Nursing

§ Served as Community board member Kent State University College of Nursing

§ Served as Chief Nursing Officer University Hospitals Health Systems, Extended Care Division

§ Served as Faculty Cleveland State University

Acute care nursing is still going to be here, but we are going to be in so many more areas that need support because one of the things we really need to address is population health - public health and students were not getting any exposure to that until recently.”

Involving the students in studying population health has been eye-opening for them with the help of the Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) the College purchased. Sharpnack explained, “CAPS immerses our students through a day in poverty, each hour simulates one week of making difficult choices. It's a simulation where they transition from misconceptions to understanding why people make the choices they make sometimes. Is it going to be paying the bill or is it going to be eating. Do I get my medications, how do I get to work. All of those things so we really are beginning to make certain that our students are not just understanding it theoretically, but experiencing through simulation the lived experiences of some of our communities.” An added outcome is that students learn that not all students are created equally As the students experienced the simulation, a few of them didn't believe the situations were lived realities until a student working next to them said, “This is my life.”

Because she loves what she does, Dr. Sharpnack calls it both a blessing and a curse. Throughout the years she says, “I had really great kids and my family was very understanding about my career Sunday dinner is important to me. I've learned that family is very important and I won't sacrifice my family for my career.” Cooking she said is a release and she exercises everydaywalking at least two miles. She and her husband also visit wineries as well as some antiquing.

Dr Sharpnack's life story is a clear testament to hard work, dedication and selfbelief. She has truly made a positive difference in our community In recognition of her extraordinary commitment to the promotion of public health, for her exemplary role in various regional and national professional nursing organizations and for her leadership to the preparedness of much needed nursing graduates, she has received numerous awards and accolades.

Anyone of these achievements would be considered remarkable but for one person to have achieved them all makes her truly Phenomenal byall standards. <

AppleCustardSpongeTrifle

Servings:8-10

6 Envyapples

2 tablespoonsgoldencastersugar

1 teaspooncinnamon

1/2 cup,plus2tablespoons,water

1 tablespooncornflour

1 largeplainspongecake

2 cupsvanillabeancustard

1/2 cupcaramelorbutterscotchsauce, plusadditionalforgarnish,divided

1/2 cupcream freshappleslices freshstrawberryslices

Peel,coreanddiceapples;placeinlargesaucepan.Addcaster sugar,cinnamonand1/2cupwater.Simmerapples5-8minutes untiltender

Combinecornflourandremainingwater.Stircornflourmixture intoapplesuntilapplesaresyrupy

Cutspongecakeinto2-centimeterdicedpieces.Arrange1/3of spongepiecesinbaseofservingbowl.Addhalfofcinnamonapple pieces,includingsyrupyjuices.Add1cupcustardanddrizzlewith 1/4cupcaramelsauce.Repeatwithremainingingredients, finishingwithspongecake;chill.

Whipcreamandspoondollopsoverspongecaketocovertop. Garnishwithappleslices,strawberryslicesandcaramelsauce.

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RoastedAppleMacaroniandCheese

Salted water

1 pound macaroni noodles

4 tablespoons butter

1 Envy apple, peeled and diced

4 tablespoons flour

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups milk

3 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1 cup Romano cheese, grated

1 cup gruyere cheese, grated

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon Worcestershire

Topping:

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

Bring large pot of salted water to boil.Add noodles and cook until just tender. Drain and set aside.

In large pot over high heat, melt butter then saute diced apple until caramelized and tender. Sprinkle in flour and stir. Cook 1 minute, stirring frequently

Whisk in heavy cream and milk; bring to boil, whisking frequently so milk doesn't burn.

Once boiling, turn heat to low and whisk in cheddar cheese, Romano cheese, gruyere cheese, salt and Worcestershire. Continue whisking until cheese is melted thoroughly

Carefully pour mixture into large blender and blend on high until smooth.

Pour cheese sauce over noodles and stir

Pour macaroni and cheese into 9by-13-inch pan and spread evenly

Heat oven to broil.

To make topping: In medium bowl, melt butter and stir in panko breadcrumbs.

Sprinkle breadcrumbs over macaroni and cheese; broil until golden brown.

AppleWreathSalad

Recipe courtesy of “The Produce Moms” (@theproducemoms)

Balsamic Dressing:

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, finely ground

1 large garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salad: 10 ounces baby arugula

3 Envy apples, sliced

9 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

3 ounces pomegranate arils

3 ounces pecans, toasted

To make balsamic dressing: In small serving bowl, whisk honey, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, garlic, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Place dressing bowl in center of large board or platter Arrange arugula around dressing bowl in wreath shape.

Place apple slices on top of arugula. Sprinkle on goat cheese, pomegranate arils and pecans

Rosa Parks Beyond the Bus:

Rosa Parks Beyond the Bus: Life, Lessons, and Leadership is a collection of inspiring and instructive memories compiled from the decade that Mrs. Parks was a guest in author H.H. Leonard’s Washington, DC home. During those years, Mrs. Leonards was able to know the heart, mind, and spirit of the woman who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama citybus on December 1, 1955.

The author shares her remembrances, both delightful and somber, in a way that offers readers an intimate and personal glimpse into the personhood of Mrs. Parks. Mrs. Parks is a seminal point in the history of civil, human, and women’s rights. Her story, as told through the eyes of H.H. Leonards, also touches on the journey of African-American women who have somehow managed to survive a system that cared little about the indignities they suffered―from discrimination to sexual assault. While many of her contemporaries attempted to define her as the woman who refused to give up her seat on the bus, she was more than the sum of one pivotal decision. She was decidedly multidimensional.

Rosa Parks Beyond the Bus is a personal look into Mrs. Parks’ life, her thoughts, her beliefs, and her immense wisdom that moved people― from world leaders Nelson Mandela, Deepak Chopra, and Pope John Paul II to the smallest of children―to seek and revere her presence.

H.H.Leonards is a wife, mother of three, and founder of O Museum in The Mansion in Washington, DC, where Mrs. Rosa Parks, her friends, and business associates lived with her, at no cost, as part of The Mansion and O Museum’s Heroes-InResidence Program.

O Museum in The Mansion was established February 14, 1980 to provide a safe haven and sanctuary where guests learn from one another and foster the development of diversity, the creative process and the human spirit. The building is a Historic 20th Century Civil Rights Site on The African American Heritage Trail.

Throughout her professional career Mrs. Leonards has focused on making it economically feasible for corporations to leverage their philanthropic contributions for their benefit — and the benefit of society. She has tirelessly worked to encourage companies and individuals to translate their personal visions into a mission of service. As a consultant to Ogilvy & Mather, she helped them create (and make real) cause-related marketing for their clients.

A staunch advocate of social justice through music and storytelling, she is CoFounder of 51StepsToFreedom.org a non-profit organization that is developing a citywide trail that traces America’s struggle for equalityand freedom.