Tampa, FL (Feb. 27, 2012) – The University of South Florida College of Nursing has joined the ranks of the top 25 nursing schools nationwide receiving National Institutes of Health research funding. There are more than 600 colleges of nursing nationwide.

The college attracted a record $1.99 million from NIH in 2011* — a 16-percent jump from the $1.71 million received in 2010. That increase propelled USF to a 25th place ranking on the NIH nursing school list, up from its 28th place spot last year.

“With passion for research excellence, creativity, teamwork and perseverance, the USF College of Nursing reached a major goal we strategically set out to attain – a top-25 ranking in NIH funding,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, dean of the College of Nursing, and senior associate vice president of USF Health. “I could not be more proud of my outstanding colleagues whose untiring efforts made this success a reality.”

Dr. Dianne Morrison-Beedy, dean of the USF College of Nursing

USF’s nursing school has been on a fast track for national research prominence over the last several years. Just four years ago (2008), it ranked 66th in NIH funding. When Dr. Morrison-Beedy arrived at USF in April 2010 the college had started a climb upward and she set the ambitious goal of breaking into the top-25 rank for NIH funding within five years. The college did it in two years.

The impressive climb to the top has been fueled by recruitment of new faculty who joined the leading nurse scientists already at USF and a strong Nursing Center for Research where faculty members craft interdisciplinary grant proposals that have appealed strongly to NIH and allowed the college to remain competitive, even in recent fiscally challenging years.

The latest round of yearly NIH research rankings shows the USF College of Nursing continued to surpass all nursing schools in the Florida State University System. In addition, the college ranked above a significant number of high-profile schools in the American Association of Universities (AAU), comprised of the most prestigious and well known institutions in North America.

Grants and contracts from federal sources, including NIH, are considered among the most competitive and coveted funding sources.

“Breaking into the NIH top-25 is a remarkable achievement. It’s a credit to the excellence of our faculty in the college as well as the drive for research and innovation at USF Health,” said Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, CEO of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. “This momentum will not be stopped. The focus of the College of Nursing and USF Health on new scientific discoveries with the potential to transform health care will continue to help lead USF forward as a nationally prominent research institution.”

USF nursing research focuses on moving scientific discoveries to patients and the community through two broad-based initiatives — chronic illness and veterans’ health. Through the college’s Center for Living with Chronic Illness, faculty and students collaborate on innovative solutions to leading healthcare issues like heart disease, Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, cancer, and symptom management for chronic illnesses. Through RESTORE LIVES: Research to Rehabilitate and Restore the Lives of Veterans, Service Members and their Families, the college is developing evidence-based therapies to help those in the military overcome psychological stress and other health problems that arise from serving in combat. The college’s Biobehavioral Laboratory, providing state-of-the-art biological data analysis, supports both initiatives.

“We have an amazing faculty, an outstanding Nursing Center for Research, and a focused leadership. All have done their part to achieve this fantastic accomplishment,” said Cindy Munro, PhD, RN, ANP-BC, FAAN, ANP, PhD, associate dean for Research and Innovation at the USF College of Nursing. “This ranking epitomizes the USF College of Nursing’s progress as a national leader in nursing research.”

For a listing of the top 78 nursing schools ranked by the NIH for 2011, visit the following webpage and scroll to bottom to find the link for Schools of Nursing: http://www.brimr.org/NIH_Awards/2011/NIH_Awards_2011.htm

-USF Health-

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a global research university ranked 34th in federal research expenditures for public universities.

*Note: Federal fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2010 and ending Sept. 30, 2011

Media contact:
Ashlea Hudak, College of Nursing Communications, (813) 396-9642

Marisa Belote joined the College as director of Center for Virtual Simulation and Clinical Education (VSCE), Erik Rauch is director of the Nurse Anesthesia Concentration and responsible for nurse anesthesia simulation, Alicia Rossiter is coordinator of Graduate Simulation, and Brittny Chabalowski is coordinator of Undergraduate Simulation, as well as director for the College’s Upper Division and Second Degree Nursing Programs.

The College’s expansion is also in tandem with the opening in March of the new facility for USF’s CAMLS, a state-of-the-art simulation center that will not only train doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers to work side-by-side, perfecting the teamwork and communication skills vital to top-quality medicine, but also train surgeons from around the country on how to perform robotic, computer-assisted, and image-guided surgeries. Rausch’s nurse anesthesia simulation program will be the first Nursing program, and perhaps the first education program within USF Health, going to CAMLS.

At a recent Ch. 28 Town Hall meeting held on the USF campus, Marisa Belote, director of the Nursing Center for Virtual Simulation and Clinical Education, demonstrates to reporters Baby Ryan, a patient simulator used to teach students normal, emergency and neonatal assessments.

The expansion comes a year after Rita F. D’Aoust, PhD, ANP-BC, CNE, FAANP, a nationally recognized educator and researcher in nursing education and simulation, joined USF as associate dean of Academic Affairs and director of Interprofessional Initiatives at the USF College of Nursing. Since joining USF, Dr D’Aoust has spearheaded the development of USF’s Center for Interprofessional Education and Simulation (CIPES) for the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) and participated in the development and approval of interprofessional competencies for the five health professional colleges within USF Health.

“As our nursing programs and learning needs grow, we have recognized the need for additional leadership positions within our college to facilitate and expand our educational learning needs,” said Dr. D’Aoust of the College’s new faculty. “These positions complement the work of our VSCE and provide the operational duties associated with simulation learning, and will be a welcome component of CAMLS.”

Simulation, an educational focus at the College of Nursing and a USF Health initiative, is a vital supplement to clinical learning and complements direct patient care opportunities. Refining clinical skills without risk to real patients and learning to work in teams provides for improved safety and better outcomes. This specialized training prepares healthcare providers for the multidisciplinary challenges faced in real-life patient encounters.

The new 90,000-square-foot facility in downtown Tampa will greatly expand the simulation training USF offers, by bringing together under one roof the many programs housed in various departments throughout USF Health, as well as expand to offer surgical training and robotic training programs. Among the programs coming together are USF Health’s five simulation centers (USF Health Simulation Center at Tampa General Hospital, daVinci Center for Computer-Assisted Surgery, TEAMS Center, Center for Advanced Clinical Learning at the College of Medicine (CACL), and Center for Virtual Simulation and Clinical Excellence (VSCE) at the College of Nursing).

The building also will feature a 2,000 square-foot auditorium, a 6,000 square-foot laboratory for interdisciplinary research, and one floor for general purpose classroom space.

From left, Brittny Chabalowski, coordinator of undergraduate simulation at USF College of Nursing; Marisa Belote, director of the USF College of Nursing Center for Virtual Simulation and Clinical Education; Troy Hambrick, lab specialist for the USF College of Nursing/Teaching Simulation; Carson Chambers, reporter for Channel 28 ABC Action News; and Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, senior associate vice president of USF Health, and dean of the USF College of Nursing.

Story by Sarah Worth, USF Health Office of Communications
Photos by Aimee Blodgett, University Communications and Marketing

Dr. Rowe, who is professor and the Lewis and Leona Hughes Endowed Chair in Nursing Science at the USF College of Nursing, submitted Caregiver Watch, a small business she owns that produces AlzAlert™, a night home monitoring system that she developed.

Out of an initial field of nearly 50 applicants, Dr. Rowe received word that she made it to the 16 semi-finalists and then, was excited to learn that she was one of the six final outstanding innovators to be chosen to compete for the two grants given this year.

“As a new company, to make it to the final competition the first year Florida has given the IDEA grants against a very competitive field was a great boost for me and AlzAlertTM,” Dr. Rowe said.

Dr. Rowe’s national renowned research and work with people with cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer’s disease or autism, and their caregivers led to the development of AlzAlert™. The system can be used to manage nighttime activity of those with cognitive impairment, thus reducing injuries and giving the caregiver peace of mind. Dr. Rowe’s work has been instrumental in the development of the Silver Alert program, and she is often consulted by law enforcement agencies to train officers in what to do in a Silver Alert situation, as well as what resources they could provide families who are dealing with an elderly family member who has the tendency to wander.

“Additional tools and techniques for caregivers of cognitively impaired people will be an enormous benefit to everyone,” said Dr. Rowe.

Florida IDEA grants provide seed and early-stage financing to technology companies. The organization helps young, innovative companies mainly by providing early financing in the form of grants.

Florida IDEA grant finalists were chosen from 48 applications received from Central Florida-based entrepreneurs and companies focused on information technology, medical devices or material sciences. Grant winners were announced November 14th by FL IDEA. The two grants of up to $50,000 per recipient, support business plan research and development, reduce risk of early failure and advance projects to the point of suitability for angel or venture capital investment.

The Florida IDEA grants program was introduced by IDEA Fund Partners, a venture capital firm providing seed and early-stage financing to technology companies throughout the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, in partnership with the Community Foundation of Central Florida, Rollins Crummer School of Business, Orlando, Inc. and Metro Orlando EDC to find and accelerate new high-growth companies in Central Florida.

The University of South Florida’s Public Health Dean  rolled up her sleeve Friday and got a flu shot from the University’s highest ranking nurse — Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, dean of the USF College of Nursing.  Donna Petersen, ScD, was among the more than 1,200 people who received free flu shots Oct. 20 at the College of Public Health’s Annual Flu Shot Drive.  Also stopping by to get her flu shot and visit with students was USF President Judy Genshaft.

Working in collaboration with the Hillsborough County Health Department (HCHD), nursing and medical student volunteers supervised by clinical faculty, occupational medicine residents and HCHD nurses provided 1,269 vaccinations against this year’s predicted strains of influenza virus. The USF College of Public Health underwrites the cost of the vaccines, which are supplied by the health department.

This is the 15th year that the college has offered the free shots as a community service to area residents as well as members of USF.

USF President Judy Genshaft with USF nursing students who volunteered
at the College of Public Health’s annual flu shot drive.

MD-MPH student Olga Zayko prepares a vaccine.

Nursing student Crystal Strain administers a shot to medical student Kirk Chassey.

Paula Knaus, associate dean for faculty and staff affairs at the College of Public Health, gets her shot.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications, and Ellen Kent, College of Public Health

Marian Hardwick

Hardwick was one of eight second degree baccalaureate students in the VA Nursing Academy, a partnership of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the USF College of Nursing aimed at boosting care for veterans and job opportunities for nurses awarded RWJF scholarships at the USF College of Nursing. USF first received funding for the NCIN program in 2008.

Hardwick works at a psychiatric unit at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital while pursuing her PhD at the USF College of Nursing.

NCIN annual meetings engage grantees from across the country to explore best practices and new approaches to strengthen their accelerated degree programs and increase the pipeline of students traditionally underrepresented in nursing, according to the NCIN Summit website.

- Story by Ashlea Hudak

In her nomination letter to the USF Latin Community Advisory Committee, associate dean for Research and Innovation, Cindy L. Munro, PhD, RN, ANP-C, FAAN, noted Dr. Cadena’s efforts as founding director of the Center for Global Health at the College , a multifaceted role including administration, clinical research, consultation and education.

“Dr. Cadena has provided cultural immersion opportunities for more than 240 nursing students to increase their cultural sensitivity and awareness of people from Hispanic cultures and communities, said Dr. Munro. “She has had the privilege to develop ongoing international relationships leading to wonderful insights that facilitate and support future research and educational experiences for her, students and other nurse educators in Hispanic countries.”

Dr. Cadena works closely with nurse educators in Panama and Colombia and continues to facilitate projects as an affiliating member with the World Health Organization Nursing Collaborating Center at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. She is a lecturer at the Tampa Veterans Administration Medical Center, Universidad El Bosque, Bogota, Colombia, and  Universidad Norte Autonoma Bucaramanga, in Bucaramanga, Colombia, South America, Universidad de Latina in Panama City, Panama as well as faculty at the Universidad de Panama, Panama City, Panama and Universidad Autonoma de Chiriqui (UNACHI), Panama, Central America. Dr. Cadena is also a member of the Transcultural Nursing Society and a global liaison for the International Nursing Alliance for the National League of Nursing (NLN) for Panama and Colombia.

In her letter to Dr. Cadena notifying her of her selection to receive the award, Maritza Rovira Forino, chair of the USF Latin Community Advisory Committee, noted that judges were very impressed with her international Fulbright work in Colombia and Panama and found commendable her local work in bringing greater cultural senitivity about Hispanics to nursing students.

“You are excelling in addressing health care disparities and expanding global opportunities for the College of Nursing,” she wrote.

As a current Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Cadena participated in a Senior Scholar placement in Colombia, South America, in 2009 and will remain on the Fulbright roster until 2012. Dr. Cadena’s research on cultural competency, mental health issues in Hispanic communities, and domestic violence among indigenous populations in Central America has been funded by the Florida Nurses’ Foundation, the State of Florida, the University of South Florida, and the Veterans Administration and has resulted in presentations at international and national conferences, including Brazil, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador.

Dr. Cadena (bottom left) during a USF College of Nursing Community Health International Clinical Experience in Panama.

The Hispanic Pathways awards were created in 2004 by the USF Latin Community Advisory Committee to recognize tenured and non-tenured faculty for outstanding research and/or outreach that creates pathways to the betterment of the lives of Latinos in our community, state or nation.

Story by Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing, top photo by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications.

The Florida Nurses Association honors excellence in professional nursing by recognizing individuals selected by their peers for formal recognition. The Nursing Research Award recognizes a nurse who has produced research of scientific merit with relevance to the practice of nursing.

She was nominated for this award by three colleagues from the College of Nursing; Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, Cindy L. Munro, PhD, RN, ANP-C, FAAN, Distinguished University Health Professor and Thompson Professor of Oncology Nursing at USF, Susan C. McMillan, PhD, ARNP, FAAN and USF Nursing Professor,Patricia A. Burns, RN, PhD, FAAN.

In her nomination letter Dr. Munro noted Dean Morrison-Beedy’s stature as a premier nurse researcher as well as her instrumental role in the development of nurse scholars as they launch their research careers.

Dean Morrison-Beedy was one of the first nurse scientists to develop a gender-specific intervention to reduce HIV risk in 15-19 year old girls, the age group with the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections. Her work in this area has been funded by over 30 grants from various avenues, including five different National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) mechanisms, and has resulted in authoring over 55 publications in peer-reviewed journals and 100 published abstracts.

“She clearly has made outstanding contributions to nursing knowledge, has a sustained publishing record, and promotes utilizing and conducting nursing research among colleagues,” said Munro. “Dr. Morrison-Beedy is an exceptional nurse researcher.”

Dr. McMillan, a past recipient of the FNA Nursing Research Award, stressed Dean Morrison-Beedy’s commitment to reducing sexual risk and HIV in adolescent girls and her recognition as one of the best known names in nursing because of the significance and the international visibility of her work.

“This work is vital to researchers who will advance the science and to clinicians who will translate this evidence to practice settings,” said McMillan. “Dr. Dianne Morrison-Beedy has a consistent and sustained record of scholarly contributions to nursing knowledge for the past 28 years, and that has influenced healthcare in the nation.”

Dr. Burns called attention to the interdisciplinary recognition that Dean Morrison-Beedy has received for her exemplary ability to utilize and conduct nursing research.

“Dr. Morisson-Beedy is an outstanding professional nurse who has devoted her career to the scientific basis of nursing practice,” said Dr. Burns. “As a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner she has been able to utilize her advanced practice nursing experience to generate, synthesize and disseminate HIV prevention, and translate this knowledge into clinical practice.”

Dean Morrison-Beedy is also a past recipient of the American Association for Nurses and Aids Care HIV Prevention Award and the New York State Associations Researcher of the Year Award. She holds fellowships in the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), in the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP) and in the National Academies of Practice (FNAP). Dean Morrison-Beedy has also served as a scientific reviewer for the National Institutes of Health since 1995.

Story by Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing

Earlier this month, the College of Medicine saw the largest class ever begin, with 19 additional students in the SELECT program.

Ashley Connelly (left) from Tampa, and Jameica Dunscomb from the Bahamas are both entering students in the College of Nursing.

USF Health First Day Highlights

College of Pharmacy: Charter Class
Charter class includes 53 students (68% female, 32% male, and 53% Caucasian, 46% minority and 1 undisclosed ethnicity).

The USF College of Pharmacy was established in 2007. From the outset, founding Dean Kevin B. Sneed, PharmD, set out to build a program unlike that at typical pharmacy schools: One that will be a pacesetter in pharmacy curriculum and clinical experience, incorporating the 360-degree approach that, although drug research and treatment are sciences, every patient is a unique individual with distinct needs.

College of Medicine: Largest Incoming Class Ever
This year welcomed the largest incoming class in the history of the USF College of Medicine, with 139 students – 79 men and 60 women. This group includes 19 inaugural students from SELECT MD program (a partnership of USF College of Medicine and Lehigh Valley Health Network), which lead to this incoming class having the largest number of students from out of state.

College of Public Health: Influx of Undergraduates
This fall welcomed more than 300 students into the College’s newest offering: an undergraduate degree in public health, the first of its kind to be offered in Florida by an accredited college of public health. The new program resulted in a 31.23 percent increase in the number undergraduate students at COPH over last fall. Approved by the Board of Governors earlier this year, the Bachelor of Science degree program will provide the student-centered courses required for entry-level public health jobs found in government agencies, health corporations, community non-profit organizations and health care facilities.

College of Nursing: Growth and New Learning Opportunities
The College continues to address both national and statewide priorities for nursing education and easing the nursing shortage and this state’s critical need for bachelor degree prepared nurses. This fall, there are several new milestones. The College has doubled enrollment in its Doctorate of Nursing Practice program, admitting 14 students this fall. USF nursing students can now participate in a new Clinical Collaborative with Sarasota Memorial Hospital. And the College is offering bachelor students the opportunity to participate its new interprofessional education initiative, in which they work with other USF Health students, learning about each other’s role, learning together, and providing care together through the use of joint education and simulation activities.

School of Biomedical Sciences: More Diversity
College of Medicine’s PhD program saw a high level of diversity and superior credentials among their applicants. Of the 102 applications, 21 students are currently enrolled in courses, with an average GRE score of 1230 and an average GPA of 3.45. Students come from within Florida, as well as from California, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York and Virginia, as well as five international students.

School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences: Increase in Out-of-State Students
The SPTRS saw an increase in the number of students from out of state, many of whom have Florida connections and sought undergraduate degrees beyond Florida but returned for their professional education. In addition to pulling from undergraduate programs throughout Florida, many students starting in the SPTRS this fall came from out of state, including programs Purdue, Indiana, Butler, Georgia, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Michigan, Illinois State University, University of Mississippi, Tennessee Tech, Winona (MN) State.

Story compiled by Sarah A. Worth, photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications.

Tampa, FL (August 5, 2011) – The College of Nursing at the University of South Florida, for the third consecutive year, has been selected as a grant recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program (NCIN). During the 2011-2012 academic year, the USF College of Nursing will receive $50,000 to support students in the Second Bachelor degree program who are traditionally underrepresented in the field of nursing. The NCIN Scholarship Program was launched in 2008 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) to address the national nursing shortage, develop a diverse professional nursing workforce, and fuel the pipeline of nurse faculty and leaders.

“Through the NCIN program, we are challenging nursing schools across the country to expand nurse leadership and strengthen education, two clear goals of the landmark 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on The Future of Nursing,” said Denise A. Davis, Dr. P.H, RWJF program officer for NCIN. “By diversifying the nursing profession through these scholarships, we are also helping to create a health care workforce ready to meet the needs of the 21st century American patient.”

At the USF College of Nursing, five scholarships in the amount of $10,000 each will be awarded to five students entering the accelerated nursing program during the 2011-2012 academic year. To date, the NCIN program has supported 18 students over two years, and continues to develop culturally competent health professionals and future leaders of the profession.

Ten scholarship recipients, all funded in the grant’s first year, completed the program and are employed. One is enrolled in the USF family nurse practitioner master’s concentration, and another is a student in the BS to PhD program. A poster, reporting on results of a “Lunch with the Leaders” program involving the graduates, was presented at the NCIN National Summit in October 2009 and the Sigma Theta Tau International Delta Beta Chapter Research Conference in February 2010. One graduate has been invited to serve on a scholar panel at the NCIN National Summit this October.

Three of eight scholars funded in the program’s second year are expected to graduate this December. These students chose mentors from the first group of scholars who completed the program. They will participate in a leadership program during the upcoming fall semester.

“The NCIN program provides unique opportunities for Second Bachelor Nursing students at the USF College of Nursing,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, RN, PhD, FAAN, Senior Associate Vice President for USF Health and Dean of the College of Nursing. “This is just one example of how USF is creating the nursing leaders of tomorrow and the research that improves health.”

The NCIN program was created to enable schools of nursing to expand student capacity in accelerated baccalaureate and master’s programs, and build a more diverse workforce ready to serve the needs of a changing patient population. Schools receiving grants through NCIN provide scholarships directly to students from groups underrepresented in nursing or from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In the 2011-2012 academic year, 400 students in accelerated baccalaureate and master’s programs will receive scholarship funding. A complete list of schools receiving NCIN grants is included below:

Allen College
Azusa Pacific University
Bellarmine University
Boston College
College of Mount St. Joseph
College of St. Scholastica
Creighton University
DePaul University
Duke University
Edgewood College
Farleigh Dickinson
Georgia Health Sciences University
Hampton University
Indiana Wesleyan University
Kent State University
Linfield College
Loyola University Chicago
Marquette University
Medical University of South Carolina
MidAmerica Nazarene University
Mount Carmel College of Nursing
Mount St. Mary’s College
Nebraska Methodist College
New Mexico State University
New York University
Pennsylvania State University
Rush University
Saint Louis University
Salisbury University
Samuel Merritt University
Southern Connecticut State University
SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Stony Brook University
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Thomas Jefferson University
University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Delaware
University of Detroit Mercy
University of Hawaii, Manoa
University of Miami
University of Mississippi Medical Center
University of Missouri
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
University of Rochester
University of South Alabama
University of South Florida
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
University of Texas at El Paso
University of Wyoming
West Virginia University
Winston-Salem State University

The NCIN program addresses a number of the challenges confronting nursing education, professional development, and the national workforce shortage. Accelerated programs like the ones supported by NCIN provide scholars with the most efficient route to licensure as a registered nurse (RN) and create opportunities for adults who have already completed a baccalaureate or graduate degree in a field other than nursing. These programs prepare students to pass the licensure examination required for all RNs in as little as 12-18 months and provide quicker routes to workforce eligibility than traditional programs.

“AACN is proud to collaborate with RWJF on this unique effort. Through this partnership, the NCIN program continues to provide much needed scholarship support, mentoring and leadership development to students enrolled in accelerated nursing programs,” said AACN President Kathleen Potempa. “By focusing on students entering the profession at the baccalaureate and master’s level, NCIN aligns well with the recommendations for educational preparation of the nursing workforce advanced in the IOM Report on The Future of Nursing.”

By bringing more nurses into the profession at the baccalaureate and master’s degree levels, the NCIN program also helps to address the nation’s nurse faculty shortage. Data from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration show that nurses entering the profession via baccalaureate programs are four times more likely than other nurses to pursue a graduate degree in nursing. This trend is reflected in the NCIN scholars, as 91 percent of the students receiving funding in the first three years of the program indicate a desire to advance their education to the master’s and doctoral levels.

For more information about USF College of Nursing Second Bachelor program, visit http://health.usf.edu/nocms/nursing/AdmissionsPrograms/seconddegree.html. To find learn more about the NCIN program, visit www.newcareersinnursing.org.

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USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health and Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. Ranked 34th in federal research expenditures for public universities by the National Science Foundation, the University of South Florida is a high impact global research university dedicated to student success.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful, and timely change. For more than 35 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. Helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in our lifetime. www.rwjf.org

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is the national voice for university and four-year college education programs in nursing. Representing more than 670 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide, AACN’s educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor’s- and graduate-degree nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education, research, and practice. http://www.accn.nche.edu

Dr. Rowe joins USF from the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL, where she was a Professor and Nurse Scientist with the Veterans Administration. Known as a leading nurse scientist in geriatrics and Alzheimer’s research, Dr. Rowe joins a world-class innovative nursing faculty at USF ranked 28th nationally in National Institutes of Health funding.

Dr. Meredeth Rowe

“I am exhilarated about announcing the arrival of a faculty member with the national prestige of Dr. Meredeth Rowe,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, RN, PhD, FAAN, Senior Associate Vice President for USF Health and Dean of the College of Nursing. “The expertise and fresh outlook she brings to USF will aid her as she develops the Lewis and Leona Hughes Endowed Chair in Nursing Science to its fullest potential.”

Sarasota philanthropist Leona Hughes established The Lewis and Leona Hughes Endowed Chair in Nursing Science for the USF College of Nursing in the early 1990s.

“Leona Hughes was a wonderful friend to us and a leading member of the Sarasota community,” Dr. Morrison-Beedy said. “We deeply appreciate our relationship with Sarasota and our strong links with Sarasota Memorial Hospital.”

Dr. Rowe completed a bachelor’s degree in nursing at the University of Cincinnati, a master’s degree in critical care nursing at California State University, Long Beach, a PhD in physiologic and psychosocial stress and coping at the University of Rochester and a post-doctoral fellowship in geriatric nursing research at the Hartford Institute at New York University. Dr. Rowe is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Nursing and the Gerontological Society of America.

Dr. Rowe achieved national renown for her work with people with cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer’s disease or autism, and their caregivers. Dr. Rowe’s research on caregiving challenges led to the development of a night home monitoring system (AlzAlert™) that can be used to manage nighttime activity, thus reducing injuries and giving the caregiver peace of mind. Law enforcement agencies across the United States guide their searches for lost persons with Alzheimer’s disease based on her research in this area.

“The College of Nursing at the University of South Florida is the ideal place for me to accelerate my research and the sharing of valuable results,” said Dr. Rowe. “Additional tools and techniques for caregivers of cognitively impaired people will be an enormous benefit to the greater Tampa Bay area.”

Ranked 34th in federal research expenditures for public universities by the National Science Foundation, the University of South Florida is a high impact global research university. As part of USF Health, the College of Nursing achieved more than $4.8 million in external funding for faculty and students in fiscal year 2011. Dr. Rowe’s research expertise and experience with the Veterans Administration will allow her to successfully interact with and enhance the efforts of the College’s Centers for Research Excellence in Women’s Health, Veteran’s Health, Oncology and End-of-Life Care, Symptom Management, and Cognitive Function/Psychoneuroimmunology.

USF Health

USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health and Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. Ranked 34th in federal research expenditures for public universities by the National Science Foundation, the University of South Florida is a high impact global research university dedicated to student success.

Poised for another jump to the top 25, the College recently welcomed Cindy Munro, ANP, PhD, as associate dean for Research and Innovation. With a background steeped in research, Dr. Munro said she is eager to help advance the school to this next level, as well as guide it toward other innovative milestones.

Dr. Cindy Munro

Prior to joining USF, Dr. Munro was the Nursing Alumni Endowed Professor at the School of Nursing, Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition, she held affiliate faculty appointments in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and the Department of Emergency Medicine, both in the School of Medicine at the Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Munro has been federally funded for more than a decade for her research in improving outcomes for critically ill adults. Dr. Munro is currently coeditor of the American Journal of Critical Care. She also volunteered two days each month as an adult nurse practitioner at the Petersburg Health Care Alliance in Petersburg, VA.

Dr. Munro said she was drawn to the USF nursing school by its foundation in research.

“The USF College of Nursing has really strong senior researchers and a lot of energetic up-and-coming researchers, providing a long road ahead for producing quality scientific investigation,” she said.

“All of the faculty I’ve met so far have wonderful ideas about how to improve patient care, many of which should be translated into ground-breaking studies.”

Helping fuel the College’s research efforts are its strategic Centers of Research Excellence, where faculty members craft interdisciplinary grant proposals that have appealed strongly to NIH and allowed the college to remain competitive even in recent fiscally challenging years. These centers focus on the nursing research areas of symptom management/end-of-life care, women’s health, and psychoneuroimmunology.

“Dr. Cindy Munro is a distinguished author, a researcher in the prevention of pneumonia in mechanically ventilated patients, has expertise in developing interdisciplinary research, and is nationally recognized as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, dean of the USF College of Nursing and senior associate vice president of USF Health.

“All of this experience made her the natural choice as the College of Nursing’s new associate dean for Research and Innovation. Cindy is just the right person to move USF Nursing to the next level of national prominence in research and I am proud to have her as part of team nursing.”

Dr. Munro earned her undergraduate degree in nursing from the Millersville University of Pennsylvania, her master’s degree in medical-surgical nursing from the University of Delaware, and her adult nurse practitioner certificate from the Virginia Commonwealth University.

She earned her doctoral degree from the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Clinical Science Program, which partners the School of Nursing and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Basic Health Sciences. Her dissertation was titled “Sucrose-derived Exopolysaccarides of Streptococcus mutans are virulence factors in dental caries and endocarditis.” She graduated with a near 4.0 grade point average.

Dr. Munro is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Her funded research includes grants from the NIH National Institute of Nursing Research, NIH National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, and the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as the Department of Defense, among others.

She is currently the principal investigator on a 9-year study looking at the reducing the incidence of infection associated with inserting a ventilator tube in patients with pneumonia.

In addition to USF’s strong nursing research, Dr. Munro said she was also attracted to USF because of the exceptional access faculty have to clinical facilities, such as Tampa General, Haley VA Hospital and Moffitt.

“These are world-class clinical facilities,” she said.

Dr. Munro added that the feeling she had after visiting USF seemed to make the decision to join even easier.

“I had such a sense of engagement and of interdisciplinary work,” she said.

“It felt real. I’m so glad I said yes.”

Story by Sarah A. Worth, photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

“This is a wonderful recognition of Dr. Lengacher’s substantial achievements in research focused on improving the lives of women with breast cancer,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, senior associate vice president for USF Health and dean of the College of Nursing.

Dr. Lengacher is one of only two new fellows from Florida among the 142 new AAN Fellows, who will be inducted during the Academy’s 38th annual meeting and conference in October in Washington, DC.

“Selection for membership in the Academy is one of the most prestigious honors in the field of nursing,” said Academy President Catherine L. Gilliss, DNSc, RN, FAAN. “Academy fellows are truly experts. The Academy Fellowship represents the nation’s top nurse researchers, policymakers, scholars, executives, educators and practitioners.”

Dr. Lengacher will join more than 1,600 current AAN fellows, including USF nursing faculty Drs. Dianne Morrison-Beedy, Patricia Burns, Mary E. Evans, Maureen E. Groer, Susan C. McMillan, Linda E. Moody, Cindy L. Munro, and Meredeth A. Rowe.

In this new role, Dr. Elk will develop and maintain relationships with service members and their families, military agencies and veteran groups by increasing the visibility and involvement of the college in the military community locally, regionally and nationally. She will also explore and encourage potential education, service and research collaborations.

Carrie Elk, PhD

Dr. Elk leads the clinical military mental health specialist team for the federally-funded RESTORE LIVES (Research to Improve Emotional Health and Quality of Life among Service Members with Disabilities) project. She is an investigator for one of the studies evaluating Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), a therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder that integrates one-on-one therapy and back-and-forth eye movements, similar to those experienced in REM sleep, to help people replace disturbing images from a life-threatening experience with something positive.

Dr. Elk supports and hopes to expand the RESTORE LIVES project, which was established to help soldiers of Iraq and Afghanistan, heal from symptoms of combat exposure, including post traumatic stress and mild traumatic brain injury. The project builds upon the larger veterans reintegration strategy at USF, tapping into the University’s vast interprofessional resources in education, research and service to help develop innovative interventions.

Dr. Cadena, assistant professor and director of the Center for Global Health, was nominated to sit on this national body as the nursing member by both the American Nurses Association and the America Psychiatric Nurses Association. The CPT codes for psychological and psychiatric services have not been updated since 1995.

Dr. Sandra Cadena

“I am very proud that Dr. Sandra Cadena, a USF nursing faculty member, was chosen to serve on this CPT panel,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, RN, PhD, FAAN, senior associate vice president for USF Health and dean of the College of Nursing. “This is great recognition of Dr. Cadena’s expertise in psychiatric mental health to be chosen to represent the nursing profession on this important national committee. Health care reform is a reality in this country, and Dr. Cadena will be on the front lines with other national leaders helping us to make the right choices.”

The American Medical Association is the official source for CPT, the industry standard for medical nomenclature used to report medical procedures and services under public and private health insurance programs. CPT is maintained by several specialty editorial panels that meet three times a year to discuss issues associated with new and emerging technologies as well as difficulties encountered with procedures and services and their relation to CPT codes.

“CPT codes may be more familiar to people as the five digit codes healthcare providers use when billing to your insurance companies,” Dr. Cadena said. “Their use mandates uniformity in naming medical procedures and services that is so important to insure that billing is done correctly. I am deeply honored to be chosen to be a part of this important effort.”

As health care changes new codes are developed for new services and current codes may be revised or removed as recommended by the CPT Editorial Boards. Thousands of codes are in use, and they are updated regularly. The AMA publishes guides and manuals that are used by insurance companies, clinics, hospitals, and other healthcare providers nationwide.

USF Health

USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health and Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. Ranked 34th in federal research expenditures for public universities by the National Science Foundation, the University of South Florida is a high impact global research university dedicated to student success.

Media contact:
Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing Communications
(813) 396-9642, or ahudak@health.usf.edu

Dr. Constance Visovsky

“The idea is to provide a smooth process for students from admission to graduation to alumni connections,” Dr. Visovsky said.

“Every point should be a good experience for every student. We’re closely monitoring all of the pieces, like advising and progress through the program, and want to intervene and help early on when problems come up.”

Dr. Visovsky joined USF in February as associate dean for Student Affairs and Community Engagement at the College of Nursing.

“Dr. Connie Visovsky brings a wealth of expertise in student services that will serve her well at USF,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, dean of the USF College of Nursing and senior associate vice president of USF Health.

“Additionally, Dr. Visovsky is a recognized by the National Cancer Institute as a leader in the area of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and is integral to our developing Centers for Research Excellence in symptom management and oncology/end of life issues. Connie is a great example of modern nursing leadership and I am thrilled she made the choice to join USF Nursing!”

Dr. Visovsky has taken on many projects and tasks in her new job and, to give her a clearer understanding of the types of experiences USF nursing students have, made it a point to attend commencement and pinning ceremonies, as well as closely follow the applications and admissions process for students starting classes this fall. And last month, she welcomed her first group of nursing students, who started classes for the summer term.

“The key is to understand the complex issues that take students from interview to graduation,” Dr. Visovsky said.

In addition to tracking students’ progress through the program, monitoring graduation rates and examination pass rates, and conducting exit surveys of student satisfaction, Dr. Visovsky said she has also set improved communications as a priority, both between administration and students and between and among faculty and advisors.

Helping with that will be increasing her student affairs team to 10 staff members and offering improved tracking systems, such as email notifications at key points along students’ admission and academic tenure. In addition, the student affairs department is undergoing renovation to better suit the needs of students, such as including computer work stations and private advising space.

Before  joining USF, Dr. Visovsky was director of the master’s program for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Nursing. The nursing program there spanned five campuses across the state, giving her experience in running a program in a complex organization that she said translates well to her new duties here at USF.

“Although less spread out than the Nebraska program, the USF program is more complex in its offerings to students, providing multiple programs for students at a variety of education levels,” she said.

“I was very happy at Nebraska but found the USF program very intriguing, with a lot of energy. The College is growing in a way I want to be a part of, both on the research side and the clinical side. USF is research intensive, yet clinically focused.”

Another hat Dr. Visovsky is wearing at USF is that of director of Community Engagement. In that role, she said, she will be working both locally and globally to ensure the College is meeting the needs of the healthcare community.

One example of that effort is her intent to monitor the local workforce to see if USF nursing graduates are measuring up to the demands of current healthcare jobs. In one-on-one interviews and in focus groups, she is meeting with local employers for feedback.

“If we’re not meeting employers’ needs, then we need to reexamine what we’re teaching our students,” she said.

At the global level, Dr. Visovsky is working with Sandra Cadena, PhD, ARNP, assistant dean for Undergraduate Programs and director of Global Health for the USF College of Nursing, on projects for the College’s exchange program with the University of Panama.

“We’re expanding our connection there to include masters students clinical experiences and faculty research,” she said.

“This is just one of many global opportunities the USF nursing program is taking and I am eager to build bridges with other programs.”

Dr. Visovsky earned her undergraduate degree in nursing from the University of Rochester and her PhD from Case Western Reserve University. She conducted her post-doctoral research fellowship at Case Western Reserve University.

She has earned several honors and awards, her most recent being the 2009 Alumni Award of Excellence from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University. The annual award recognizes an alumna who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and achievement in nursing. She also earned the May Kay Lehman Excellence in Teaching Award from Case Western.

Prior to joining USF, Dr. Visovsky directed the graduate nursing program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She also held several faculty positions at Case Western Reserve University, one of which was course coordinator for several nursing courses.

Her research and clinical work has focused mostly on cancer. Her research interest is in the neurotoxic and myotoxic effects of chemotherapy and she has received funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Cancer Institute, among others. One of her more recent studies is investigating the effectiveness and feasibility of home-based resistance programs for improving neuromuscular fatigue and weakness in women undergoing chemotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer.

Dr. Visovsky’s research has resulted in several dozen publications, books and abstracts, as well as presentations at national meetings.

Story by Sarah A. Worth, photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

Dr. Carrie Elk, assistant professor and military liaison at the USF College of Nursing, and Dr. Kevin Kip, executive director of the College of Nursing Research Center, greet U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa.

USF Health researchers recently updated U.S. Congresswoman Kathy Castor on a variety of research projects she helped get funded through Congress.

Dr. Kevin Kip and Dr. Carrie Elk from the USF College of Nursing briefed Castor during her June 9 visit to campus about a study testing the effectiveness of Accelerated Resolution Therapy, or ART, among veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It’s one of five RESTORE LIVES studies, totaling $2.1 million, aimed at helping soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan overcome psychological trauma and other health problems that come from serving in combat operations. The other studies include web-based therapies for veterans with PTSD and mild traumatic brain injury, an investigation of the extent of PTSD and high-risk behaviors associated with the condition, and a study of how women veterans cope with stress, anxiety and other symptoms of PTSD.

Castor was briefed by USF Health faculty on various research projects funded by Congress that she helped sponsor.

ART is a therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder that integrates one-on-one therapy and back-and-forth eye movements, similar to those experienced in REM sleep, to help people replace disturbing images from a life-threatening experience with something positive. It can be completed in considerably less time than traditional cognitive behavior therapy.

Dr. Kip, epidemiologist and principal investigator for RESTORE LIVES, said the College expects to begin enrolling veterans in the ART study in early August. The researchers have already treated some civilians using the novel approach. “We think this therapy has great promise, but the data need to bear that out,” he said.

Other projects presented to Castor by the USF researchers included:

• Translational research related to battlefield injuries, including studies assessing how umbilical cord blood cells and GCSF, a growth factor that mobilizes stem cells, may help treat traumatic brain injury. Presented by Dr. Paul Sanberg, USF senior associate vice president for research and innovation and director of the USF Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

• Health informatics research tied to USF Health’s PaperFree Florida initiative to bring electronic prescribing to physicians in 11 counties across Florida. The project includes a piece with James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital to develop the interoperability of electronic health records. Presented by Dr. Jay Wolfson, distinguished service professor of public health and medicine and USF associate vice president for law, health policy and safety.

• Countermeasures to combat protozoan parasites, toxoplasmosis and malaria, including using genetic tools to identify new treatment targets and advanced technologies to more effectively screen potential drug candidates. Presented by Dr. Tom Unnasch, professor of global health and co-director of the USF Center for Biological Defense; Dr. John Adams, professor of global health; and Dr. Robert Deschenes, chair of the Department of Molecular Medicine, USF College of Medicine.

Dr. Paul Sanberg, USF senior associate vice president for research and innovation, welcomes Castor.

Dr. Tom Unnasch, co-director of the federally-funded USF Center for Biological Defense, spoke about the center’s initiatives to guard against emerging global infectious diseases.

Dr. Robert Deschenes, professor and chair of molecular medicine, touched on collaborative toxoplasmosis and malaria-related research at USF Health.

Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, and photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

The IHSC team of 21 students from the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health, and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences worked together to develop sustainable health projects in underserved communities of Panama.

In order to improve the sustainability of the project, the IHSC partnered with the Panamanian Ministry of Health. Dr. Aleyda Tejeira and Dr. Angel Alonzo, the Regional Directors of Health and Public Health, respectively, of the Coclé province of Panama, worked alongside the IHSC team.

During the trip, students carried out community need assessments, daily process evaluations, a health fair, and health education programs in addition to delivering donations for the elementary school and constructing latrines. During this first trip to the area, the group built 14 modified latrines and donated materials for 11 additional latrines (a new record for the IHSC!).

Over the past three years, the IHSC has been actively involved in the development of sustainable health projects in remote areas of Panama, including the Veraguas and Coclé regions and also the predominantly indigenous Ngabe Buglé Comarca.

Check out the new IHSC blog .

The designation recognizes nurse practitioner leaders who have made outstanding contributions to health care through clinical practice, research, education or policy. As part of the honor, fellows of the AANP meet annually to strategize about the future of nurse practitioners and health care.

Dr D’Aoust is a national expert on interprofessional education and practice initiatives who joined USF last summer. 

“This is a well deserved and prestigious honor,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, senior associate vice president for USF Health and dean of the College of Nursing.

In her letter sponsoring Dr. D’Aoust’s nomination, Dr. Morrison-Beedy noted:

“Dr. D’Aoust has a genuine passion for improving nurse practitioner practice through a commitment to the development of state-of-the-art advanced practice programs that prepare primary care and specialty nurse practitioners to apply evidence-based research, interprofessional collaboration and advanced technology as a foundation for providing high quality, cost effective, outcomes- focused health care. …

“The scope and influence of her work related specifically to education and practice is manifest by her numerous awards, nominations, educational research, and her successful attainment of external funding to support nursing education programs.”

Frances Sahebzamani, ARNP, PhD, FAANP, assistant professor and interim director of USF’s Doctorate of Nursing degree program, also provided a sponsoring nomination letter, in which she noted:

“She has significantly contributed to nursing practice and education through the development of innovative educational programs uniquely designed to promote interprofessional training and practice while incorporating advanced delivery models and simulation methodologies.”

Since joining USF, Dr. D’Aoust has taken roles in several interprofessional programs, including the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS). In addition, she received completed training in Team STEPPS, a national program developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to improve patient safety through an evidence-based teamwork system to improve communications and teamwork skills among health care professionals. USF Health is adopting Team STEPPS as a common faculty teamwork approach to use in education and clinical practice — interprofessional education for interprofessional practice. Four nursing faculty,  including Drs. D’Aoust and Laura Gonzalez, and Erik Rausch and Melisa Belote, have completed this rigorous training and received Master Team STEPP Trainer certification.

“Integration of Team STEPPS in our nursing and health profession curricula will provide a collaboration ready workforce will the knowledge and skills to work in teams and  improve patient safety and quality,” Dr. D’Aoust said.

Dr. D’Aoust, who is one of 50 nurse practitioners chosen nationally to be inducted this year, will be honored at the FAANP’s induction ceremony this June in Las Vegas.

Story by Sarah Worth, photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

Tampa, FL (Feb. 25, 2011) - The University of South Florida College of Nursing received a 28th place ranking in research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2010* — the college’s highest spot yet. The latest ranking represents a 12 percent jump in NIH funding – from $1.53 million in 2009 to $1.71 million in 2010.

The College of Nursing is working toward achieving a top-25 ranking in NIH research funding. Helping fuel its efforts are strategic Centers of Research Excellence where faculty members craft interdisciplinary grant proposals that have appealed strongly to NIH and allowed the college to remain competitive even in recent fiscally challenging years. These centers focus nursing research in the areas of symptom management/end-of-life care, women’s health, and psychoneuroimmunology.

Dr. Dianne Morrison-Beedy, USF nursing dean

“Developing Centers of Excellence that advance translational research – moving what is developed in science to patients and the community – has played a pivotal role in making the USF College of Nursing a national leader in transforming health care,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, dean of the College of Nursing, and senior associate vice president of USF Health. “The types of nursing research conducted at USF address some of the most pressing global healthcare issues today.”

Grants and contracts from federal sources, including NIH, are considered among the most competitive and coveted funding sources.

NIH releases data annually on projects funded, and analysis shows the USF College of Nursing not only increased its funding, but continues to surpass all nursing schools in the Florida State University System. In addition, USF has grown competitive in nursing research funding with schools in the American Association of Universities (AAU), comprised of 63 of the most prestigious and well known schools in North America.

“Nursing’s rise in NIH ranking showcases the excellence of our faculty in the college as well as the focus on research and innovation throughout USF Health.” said Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, CEO of USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine. “Recruiting a dean of the caliber of Dianne Morrison-Beedy and the focus of the entire college on new scientific discoveries will allow nursing and USF Health to help lead USF’s continued ascendancy as a nationally prominent research institution.”

“This achievement is really a team effort that requires not only the expertise of our faculty and PhD students, but the specialized skills of the staff in our Nursing Research Center and the Biobehavioral Laboratory, which supports state-of-the art biological data analysis,” said Kevin Kip, PhD, interim associate dean for research and innovation and executive director of the Nursing Research Center.

The College of Nursing will continue working with colleagues across USF and at other institutions in Florida, nationwide and globally to boldly pursue discoveries that will improve health care for patients and their families, Dr. Morrison-Beedy said. “We will build on the people, purpose, passion, partnerships and quality that are the foundations of USF.”

USF Health

USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health and Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School Physical of Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. With more than $394.1 million in research grants and contracts in FY2009/2010, the University of South Florida is a high impact global research university.

*Note: Federal fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2009 and ending Sept. 30, 2010

Media contact:
Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing Communications
(813) 396-9642, or ahudak@health.usf.edu

In summer 2011, a new team of 12 undergraduate nursing students will be created and will conduct all clinical training at Sarasota Memorial Health Care System. The Clinical Collaborative model, launched by USF Nursing in 2001 in partnership with 10 health care hospitals/systems, facilitates practice collaboration among health care facilities in the West Central Florida area and provides clinical training preparation of undergraduate nursing students. It enables students to learn essential nursing skills in a one-on-one mentorship under the guidance of an experienced nurse preceptor at a collaborative partner hospital. 

“USF Nursing has received national attention for our Clinical Collaborative model of baccalaureate education, and it has proven to be very successful over the past ten years for both the College and our collaborative partners,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, dean of the USF College of Nursing and senior associate vice president of USF Health. “Adding this new clinical site is a natural outgrowth of our strong continuing relationship with Sarasota Memorial Hospital and USF Sarasota-Manatee’s campus. ”

L to R: Dr. Arthur Guilford, regional chancellor for USF Sarasota/Manatee; Jean Marie Lucas, director Medical-Surgical Division, Education, Clinical Practice and Research, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System; and Dr. Dianne Morrison-Beedy, senior associate vice president of USF Health and dean of the College of Nursing.

The Clinical Collaborative Preceptor Partnership model has formed a network that bridges traditional institutional boundaries and enlists cooperation among area hospitals and USF Nursing. Generating cooperative educational opportunities, the Clinical Collaborative has increased and enhanced the professional nurse experiences throughout the Tampa Bay area. Sarasota Memorial Health Care System joins our other Clinical Collaborative partners in the area at:  All Children’s Hospital, Bayfront Hospital, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, Morton Plant Mease Hospitals, Shriners Hospital for Children, South Florida Baptist Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospitals, Tampa General Hospital and University Community Hospitals.

“We have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with both USF Tampa and USF Sarasota-Manatee. Many of our nurses have obtained a fine educational experience through the USF College of Nursing programs. In fact, we have several nurses currently completing a doctoral program at the USF College of Nursing in Tampa,” said Jean Marie Lucas, ARNP, MSN, MBA, CEN, Director Medical-Surgical Division, Education, Clinical Practice and Research, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System. “We believe that this project will serve our hospital and our community well and we are pleased to be a clinical partner in this collaborative effort.”

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System has been designated a “Magnet” hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Widely accepted as the gold standard of patient care, Magnet is a 4-year designation awarded sparingly to hospitals that demonstrate excellence and professionalism in nursing. Just 5 percent of U.S. hospitals have earned Magnet designation – and only 300 worldwide.

A unique feature that distinguishes the Clinical Collaborative model from other traditional models is that students complete the majority of their clinical experience at a single health care organization or team of hospitals. The students learn at the side of their preceptor, and the clinical faculty supports the preceptors by continually rounding on the dyads. The preceptor serves as a role model for professional nursing practice, engages students in aspects of patient care management appropriate to their level of study, and reinforces classroom learning through clinical skills. Students advance through their program of study as a cohort in a single hospital team, establishing a bond with each other, their preceptors, and their health care system. This Clinical Collaborative model helps facilitate the recruitment of students to that hospital as they enter into practice after graduation.

“We are incredibly pleased with this high level collaboration and education to the community,” said Dr. Arthur Guilford, regional chancellor for USF Sarasota-Manatee. “The need for highly educated nurses is one of the first things we have found in our assessment study and we are excited to help facilitate the training that enables USF nursing graduates to be among the most sought after in the country.”

* * *

USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health and Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School Physical of Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. With more than $394.1 million in research grants and contracts in FY2009/2010, the University of South Florida is a high impact global research university.

* * *

USF Sarasota-Manatee is a comprehensive university for those interested in pursuing a baccalaureate or master’s degree, professional certification, or continuing education credit.  USFSM offers the prestige of a nationally ranked research university with the convenience of a hometown university, including classes in south Sarasota County.

                                                                                                     * * *

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is a regional referral center offering Southwest Florida’s greatest breadth and depth of inpatient, outpatient and extended care services, with more than 700,000 patient visits a year. Sarasota Memorial’s 806-bed acute care hospital has been recognized repeatedly as one of the nation’s largest, safest and best, with superior patient outcomes and a complete continuum of outpatient services — from urgent care walk-in clinics and physician groups, laboratory and diagnostic imaging centers, to home health and skilled nursing & rehabilitation.

Media contact:
Ashlea Hudak, College of Nursing Communications
(813)396-9642 or ahudak@health.usf.edu

Dr D’Aoust, who has been involved in interprofessional education and practice initiatives for more than 20 years, came to USF from the University of Rochester, where she is known as a pioneer for building a nursing program centered on interprofessional education and interdisciplinary collaboration. In addition, she helped implement interdisciplinary simulation across multiple health specialties including medical and nursing students throughout the University of Rochester Medical Center. She is an acute care nurse practitioner and adult nurse practitioner (ANP). As an ANP, she directed for more than 12 years the volunteers who provided care to the uninsured in a neighborhood center in Rochester.

“Dr D’Aoust brings with her both a clear understanding of the complex issues facing nursing education – from the baccalaureate to the doctoral levels – as well as leadership experience for developing and evaluating inter-professional educational initiatives,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, RN, PhD, FAAN, senior associate vice president for USF Health and dean of the USF College of Nursing.

“She is an out-of-the-box, innovative thinker dedicated to improving the nursing profession through partnerships, using outcome data to determine choices for program improvement, and integrating nimble, flexible thinking to address the health care needs of tomorrow.”

Dr. D’Aoust connected with USF when she presented on the topic of interprofessional education last summer. While here, she met several key faculty members and soon realized that USF Health, and more specifically the USF College of Nursing, offered her the opportunity to combine her strengths for building interprofessional collaborative programs and developing innovative nursing curricula.

Since joining USF, Dr D’Aoust has spearheaded the development of USF’s Center for Interprofessional Education and Simulation (CIPES) for the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) and participated in the development and approval of interprofessional competencies for the four health professional colleges within USF Health. 

“I fell in love with the faculty and the energy here,” Dr. D’Aoust said. “Everyone had a can-do attitude. I never heard ‘oh we can’t.’ The vision at USF Health for a true interprofessional education program, beginning with CIPES, is a definite plus. This is on the cutting-edge of health education nationally and will help put USF Health and the College of Nursing in the national spotlight.”

While at the University of Rochester, Dr. D’Aoust developed and directed a center for instructing faculty how to use simulation technology at the School of Nursing. As director, she guided the School in the use of high-fidelity simulation and handheld devices to improve student learning and patient outcomes. Through this effort, the School was the first in the country to use iPod Touches and iPhones with native applications by collaborating with corporate partner Skyscape, Inc. to produce iPod/iPhone applications.

“Simulation is a vital strategy to supplement clinical learning and complement direct patient care opportunities,’ Dr. D’Aoust said. “Informatics has the potential to enhance the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare delivery, but analysis of its impact on the clinical education of health professions students has been limited, and many nursing programs do not include informatics content in students’ coursework.”

Dr. D’Aoust’s research focuses on nursing education and she has secured funding as principal investigator on a $900,000 HRSA D10 grant to increase enrollment in the accelerated nursing program. She also has funding from the Helene Fuld Foundation, USBC Bank, a USA Trustee grant for more than $6 million, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for accelerated nursing student scholarships. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing recognized her expertise by appointing Dr. D’Aoust to serve on the national task force to evaluate the impact of the IOM report, Health Professions – A Bridge to Quality, and the Baccalaureate and Masters’ Essentials of Education on national nursing curriculum standards. She has published extensively on interdisciplinary clinical education and learning with simulation, and serves as book review editor for the Journal of Interprofessional Care.

Story by Sarah A. Worth, photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

Mike Conway, recently retired USF campus police, gets his flu shot from nursing student Nereida Valle, with nursing student Alys Garcia in background.

Working in collaboration with the Hillsborough County Health Department (HCHD), the school’s clinical faculty and HCHD nurses provided 1,237 adults with their vaccinations against this year’s predicted influenza viruses (H1N1, H3N2, and B/Brisbane). The HCHD provided the clinical supplies and the vaccine, and the COPH purchased the vaccine from the health department as a public health service to the community.

COPH Global Health graduate student Elizabeth Helfert helps register.

In addition to the vaccinations, educational exhibits were provided, including information on flu prevention, food safety, cardiovascular health, Florida KidCare and Cover Florida, COPH student organizations, USF Health Service Corps, COPH and USF Health academic programs, and USF Health Physicians Group.

Seventy-one volunteers from throughout USF Health helped staff the drive.

“Thanks to all of the volunteers, more than 1,237 adults from USF and our local community benefited from the flu shot drive this year,” said Ellen Kent, MPH, student research grants coordinator and ERC coordinator at COPH and coordinator of the annual community service.

“And a special thanks to our wonderful student volunteers from the medicine and nursing who skillfully administered the flu shots; our COPH student volunteers who helped with the very important aspects of food, registration, greeting folks, parking, and health education tables; our PHSA leaders who ordered the cool t-shirts and refreshments; our  absolutely wonderful colleagues from the Hillsborough County Health Department who provided all clinical supplies and the vaccine; our wonderful USF Health clinical faculty supervisors, Kay Perrin, PHD, MPH, RN, and Deanna Wathington, MD, MPH, and our Occupational Medicine residents;  our COPH Dean Donna Petersen and administration for supporting this annual event; and our entire USF COPH support staff.”

Story by Sarah A. Worth, photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

But now Cindy Selleck, ARNP, DSN, director USF Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program, is leaving USF Health to take a new position at her alma mater: the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she will be associate dean for Clinical Affairs and Partnerships in the School of Nursing.

Dr. Cindy Selleck

Dr. Selleck joined USF in 1987, teaching Family Health Nursing in the College of Nursing. She went on to chair the graduate concentration in Family Health Nursing as associate professor before being named in 1994 acting center director for the newly formed USF AHEC.

The goal of AHECs, which the Congress formed in 1972, is to forge partnerships between academic medical centers and their communities. One of Dr. Selleck’s first priorities when taking the post 16 years ago was to establish two regional AHEC centers (Gulfcoast North AHEC based in Land O’Lakes and Gulfcoast South AHEC based in Sarasota), expanding USF’s AHEC reach to a nine-county service area: Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota, Desoto, and Charlotte.

It can be estimated that, under Dr. Selleck’s leadership, USF AHEC secured more than $50 million in state and federal funding and more than 300,000 students, health professionals, youth and community members have benefited from the programs and services of the USF AHEC Program, said Anne Maynard, MPH, CHES, program director of USF AHEC.

Some of these highlights include:
• More than 10,000 health professions students (from USF, as well as from affiliated academic partners) were provided with educational opportunities, including rotations through rural health clinics.
• More than 93,000 students (K through 12, and undergraduate) heard about options for entering health professions through routine ACCESS Days held at USF, as well as off-site informational sessions.
• More than 160,000 people from throughout the state met with AHEC at community events, including health fairs, education classes and group sessions.
• More than 3,000 people participated in AHEC-sponsored tobacco education and cessation programs and/or were trained how to host such programs.
• More than 40,000 health professionals received continuing education through AHEC (such as programs on infectious disease, osteoporosis and domestic violence) and/or were preceptors for students.

“Cindy has always been committed to caring for the underserved, using primary care as her model,” said Laurie J. Woodard, MD, associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine.

“I would invite her to teach our medical students in physical diagnosis the fundamentals of women’s health care because she was able to clearly provide a balanced, informative and compassionate approach to the care of women. Cindy is so bright and articulate. She is someone who can take an idea and bring it to fruition making many friends along the way – a real ‘can-do person’. She has been able to bridge the world of the academic health center and our community with warmth and grace that has been unequalled. She is a very classy woman, an exceptional leader – a truly exceptional person.”

For Dr. Selleck, connecting educational with clinical service is almost genetic. Her father was a physician and her mom was a nurse; her sister is a nurse, and her brother is a veterinarian.  Her research has focused on alcohol and substance abuse (especially for pregnant women), family health issues such as teen pregnancy, health disparities, and medically underserved populations.

The USF Health community will honor Dr. Selleck at a reception Friday, Sept. 24, from 3 to 5 p.m. on the third floor of the Children’s Medical Services Building.

Story by Sarah A. Worth, USF Health Office of Communications

“USF Nursing is known for leading this type of innovative, evidence-based research in collaboration with our colleagues in other fields. USF Nursing has the right people, in the right place at the right time to make RESTORES LIVES a reality,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, Dean of the USF College of Nursing and Senior Associate Vice President of USF Health. “The research conducted through the RESTORE LIVES Center is unique in the nation and is critical as we now have the largest number of combat veterans re-entering mainstream America since the Vietnam era. The cutting-edge therapies tested are designed to literally restore the lives of our honored soldiers and veterans.”

Kevin Kip, PhD, is principal investigator for the RESTORE LIVES Center grant

The RESTORE LIVES Center will conduct five studies investigating state-of-the art therapies, including the promising Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART). The ART method is intended to help clients bring problems to a quick and effective resolution. The client uses back-and-forth eye movements, which integrate activities in the left and right sides of the brain, as their thoughts are focused by the psychological therapist. The revolutionary intervention employs a technique known as Voluntary Memory/Image Replacement, in which the client can replace a negative memory with a positive memory of their choice, or reinterpret the memory. Studies with non-veterans have shown that clients were able to resolve memories of painful or disturbing experiences in just one or two therapy sessions, and the RESTORE LIVES researchers will evaluate whether veterans experience this same level of benefit.

 “Our principal goal is to aid our courageous military personnel,” said principal investigator Kevin Kip, PhD, associate professor and executive director of the College of Nursing Research Center. “With this research funding, we aim to evaluate and ultimately provide evidence for novel, flexible, and rapid methods to treat emotional problems and related symptoms that arise from serving in combat operations.”

Based at the USF College of Nursing, the RESTORE LIVES Center is a collaborative project with the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital and includes national participation by current and former members of the Armed Forces, clinical psychologists, nurse scientists, educators and research support personnel. The grant was awarded and will be administered by the U.S. Army Medical Research & Materiel Command and the Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center at Fort Detrick, MD, under contract number: W81XWH-10-1-0719.

“The RESTORE LIVES Center will be a research hub for collaborative and cross-disciplinary studies that address a range of emotional and physical difficulties faced by military members,” said Dr. Kip. “It is part of the larger veterans reintegration strategy at USF.”

Dr. Kip’s team recently trained licensed psychologists and mental health professionals at the USF Counseling Center and across the greater Tampa Bay area in the use of ART. “This research project has the potential to greatly benefit our student-veterans and has the support of the USF Office of Veterans Services,” said retired Lt. Col. Larry Braue, director of the USF Office of Veterans Services, which assists more than 1,000 veterans enrolled in academic programs at USF.

In addition to Dr. Kip, other key personnel include Maureen Groer, RN, PhD, FAAN, Gordon Keller Professor of Nursing, University of South Florida; John Forsyth, PhD, Director, Anxiety Disorders Research Program, University at Albany, State University of New York; Edward Hickling, PsyD, Research Scientist; and Heather Belanger, PhD, Neuropsychologist at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, Tampa, FL, as well as Laney Rosenzweig, LMFT, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist at the Rosenzweig Center for Rapid Recovery, Hartford, CT.

Dr. Kip and colleagues expect to begin recruiting participants for the individual studies in spring 2011.

- USF Health -

USF Health (www.health.usf.edu) is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as pharmacy, and physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With more than $394.1 million in research grants and contracts in FY2009/2010, the University of South Florida is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of only 25 public research universities nationwide with very high research activity that is designated as community-engaged by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

MEDIA CONTACT:  Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing Communications, (813)396-9642 or ahudak@health.usf.edu

Nursing instructor Stacy Lee Cornell, RN, explains patient handling to physical therapy doctoral students.

On the first day, 96 first-year undergraduate nursing students came to the School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences and participated in a class taught by 35 physical therapy doctoral students (DPT), learning basic skills for handling patients. Students rotated through six stations that included body mechanics and posture, levels of assistance and bed mobility, wheel chair management, transfer training, ambulation with crutches/walkers on level surfaces with different weight bearing statuses, and the last station included walking with crutches/canes on stairs and curbs. 

Photo left: DPT student Cella Brady (left) instructing two nursing students. Photo right: DPT student Cynthia Chamberlain demonstrates how to handle wheelchair-bound patient Amy Holz, also a DPT student.

On the second day, the 35 DPT students went to the George and Marian Miller Center for Virtual Learning and Clinical Simulation. While there, the DPT students were instructed by the nursing faculty in a simulated intensive care unit, an acute care unit, and a sub-acute unit. During the interactive lesson the nursing faculty provided several demonstrations of simulated cases of a patient connected to a various pieces of medical equipment.

“This was a great opportunity to see students interact with each other, across disciplines,” said Larry Mengelkoch, PT, PhD, associate professor in the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences.

“The opportunity for nursing students and DPT students to work and learn from each other is just one way USF Health is partnering together to promote interdisciplinary approach to learning,” said Laura Gonzalez, ARNP, PhD, assistant professor in the College of Nursing and director of the Center for Virtual Simulation.

“Students see firsthand that healthcare is interdisciplinary when they see their faculty collaborating and sharing expertise, it plants the seed for them as future healthcare professionals.”

Drs. Mengelkoch and Gonzalez co-coordinated the interdisciplinary teaching sessions. Additional faculty involved in supervising or instructing the sessions include: Jeannie Stephenson, PT, MS, NCS, Seok Hun Kim, PT, PhD, Matthew Lazinski, DPT, OCS, Stacy Lee Cornell RN, Janet Sprehe, RN, MS, Carly Lynn Paterson, RN, Allyson Radford RN, and Lilly Zambrano.

Story by Jackie de la Parte, USF Health Office of Communications

Top photo by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications. Additional photos courtesy of the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences and the College of Nursing.

Preventing excessive weight gain in pregnancy is the goal of a leadership project spearheaded by two certified nurse-midwives from the University of South Florida Colleges of Nursing and Medicine.

Jessica Brumley, CNM, MA, and Cecilia Jevitt, CNM, PhD, will design and offer group prenatal care with a focus on optimal nutrition, caloric intake and physical activity at the USF Medical Clinics. They expect to pilot the group prenatal care project this fall at the USF Health South Tampa Center for Advanced Healthcare. Interprofessional teams from nursing, medicine, nutrition and physical therapy will provide this innovative alternative to traditional individual prenatal checkups.

Brumley is a PhD student at the USF College of Nursing and nurse-midwife with the USF Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Jevitt is an associate professor with joint appointments in the USF Colleges of Nursing and Medicine.

Jessica Brumley (right), CNM, MA, a PhD student in the USF College of Nursing, was chosen for the Sigma Theta Tau International Maternal-Child Health Leadership Institute. Her local mentor for the group prenatal care project is Cecilia Jevitt (left), CNM, PhD, associate professor of midwifery and nursing.

The 18-month project is part of the Maternal-Child Health (MCH) Leadership Academy offered by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), and Johnson & Johnson. Through the Leadership Academy, Brumley and Jevitt will receive expert mentoring from Diane Spatz, RN, PhD, an internationally-known expert in maternal child health from the University of Pennsylvania.

“Excessive weight gain in pregnancy and maternal obesity increase numerous risks in pregnancies, including maternal high blood pressure, gestational diabetes and prolonged labor,” said Jevitt, who has studied weight gain in pregnancy for a decade. “Keeping maternal weight gain within ranges needed for healthy fetal growth reduces these risks and helps prevent future obesity for both mother and child.”

Group prenatal care has been proven as a strategy for delivering comprehensive preterm care, but not yet been used to optimize weight gain in pregnancy. The USF pilot will adapt the Centering Pregnancy model developed by a certified nurse-midwife at Yale-New Haven Hospital. In this centering model, mothers-to-be spend more time with their health care providers and peers with similar due dates, giving them the opportunity to learn together and share experiences. The groups are designed to give patients the same level clinical expertise and care as those who opt for individual care, while focusing on psychological, social and behavioral factors to promote healthy pregnancy.

This year’s MCH Leadership Academy includes 20 pairs of mentors and mentees addressing such topics as breastfeeding of near-term infants and infants with congenital heart disease, post-partum patient education, child safety, and initiatives to successfully handle obstetric emergencies. The Academy prepares maternal-child health nurses for effective interprofessional team leadership as they strive to improve the quality of health care for childbearing women and children up to 5 years old.

“In large measure the health of the world is linked with the health of women and children,” said Karen Morin, RN, DSN, ANEF, president of STTI. “Developing the leadership abilities of individual nurses so that they can influence practice and policy related to healthy mother-baby and child outcomes is a priority.”

Dr. Cuevas, associate professor of molecular pharmacology and physiology, and a team of other USF and Tampa Bay medical professionals arrived in the small Haitian village of Dilaire in June. It was what they believed to be the village’s first medical mission. Over four days, the team of ten would see more than 1,600 patients, some of whom had rarely, if ever, received medical care. 

They treated people with conditions now rare in the United States — untreated eye infections that had turned eyelids swollen and red; horrific fungal infections spread across the scalp; and wounds that had festered and turned septic after weeks without medical treatment.

But it was what happened when it rained that showed Dr. Cuevas how desperate Haiti’s circumstances truly are.

“We had a huge rainstorm, and there was a ditch in the side of the road,” he said. “People were jumping into it to bathe. There’s nothing here that compares to that poverty level. I could not believe the poverty level people were living in.”

Even Dr. Steve Morris, another member of the USF group, found himself shocked although he has provided medical aid after disasters around the world, from Thailand to Myanmar.

“The poverty there is astounding,” said Dr. Morris, MD, RN, an assistant professor and project director for bioterrorism and disaster training in the College of Nursing.

It was that poverty that originally inspired the USF group to plan the trip to Dilaire, not the January earthquake that devastated the island nation. Faculty members had planned to take a group of students. After the earthquake, it was determined that the students’ safety could not be assured. But the other faculty and staff members decided to make the trip anyway.

In addition to Dr. Cuevas and Dr. Morris, other USF health care providers making the trip were Glenn Whelan, PharmD, an assistant professor and pharmacist in the College of Medicine; Sandy Lesieur, RN, operating room nurse at the Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare; and Dr. Edgardo Nicolas Toro, clinical assistant professor and an internist at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital.

The group also received an outpouring of money, supplies and other help from other USF colleagues, Tampa Bay community groups and Haiti aid organizations.

The group chose Dilaire, a village of 4,000 in the northeast corner of Haiti, for its medical mission because Corpus Christi Catholic Church, where Dr. Cuevas is a member, already traveled there for church missions. Although the USF trip was, of course, not a religious mission, those ties did provide contacts for the logistical help needed to set up a sizable temporary clinic. The group was able to set up its clinic in a Dilaire church, and group members who traveled there stayed at the home of a local priest.

Dr. Morris treated one woman who moved to Dilaire after her entire family — husband, children and extended family — was killed in the earthquake.

“Her story brought tears to my eyes,” Dr. Morris said.

Most of the patients suffered from chronic poor health, compounded by a lifetime of poverty and failure to receive medical care. Over 1,000 such people had moved into the small town of Dilaire after the earthquake, further stressing the area’s infrastructure.

The doctors saw terrible cases of chronic infections. Bleary red eyes and fluid-filled ears. Every kind of cellulitis they could imagine. UTIs and vaginitis.

Glaucoma, blindness. Severe asthma. Minor surgical procedures. Infected, ingrown toenails that had to be removed.

They treated tropical diseases that are rare here, such as malaria and elephantiasis. They arranged for a girl with a cleft palate to be brought to the United States for surgery.

Hypertension is commonplace in Haiti, and they saw it with stunning frequency.

“I had three patients in a row with systolic pressures over 200 and diastolic pressures over 160,” said Dr. Cuevas.

At first, he thought his equipment must be broken, but another blood pressure cuff confirmed his findings of three consecutive patients in hypertensive crisis.

The medical team found one bright spot in the high infection rate.

Because most of the patients had never received treatment, they responded incredibly rapidly to antibiotics. One man came in with a cut from a machete, so deep it had exposed the bones of his hand. The injury was days, perhaps weeks old, and the infection was already so bad that in this country doctors would most likely have chosen to amputate the hand.

“We had no choice but to give him high doses of antibiotics,” said Dr. Morris. “Fortunately, one of our donations was a complete set of IV antibiotics, along with the complete intravenous set-ups.”

When the man returned the next day for a follow-up visit, they were delighted, if surprised, to see that the infection had begun to improve.

Another man came in with pneumonia, already so weak that his family members had to carry him into the clinic.

“If they hadn’t been able to get this gentleman into a truck to come here, he would have died,” Dr. Cuevas said.

But with antibiotics, he made a remarkable recovery. He was able to walk out of the clinic himself.

Operating the clinic required improvisation and battlefield-style logistical maneuvers. Each night, the clinic’s pharmacy was dismantled, the drugs tallied and taken to the house where the group stayed. Each morning, the pharmacy had to be put together again.

Pharmacists filled some 500 prescriptions a day. Some patients needed three or four drugs; the pharmacists had to find substitutes as they ran out of more common medicines.

Patients signed up to visit with little notice, and sometimes accompanying family members turned out to need medical attention as well.

The team sometimes had to confront grim realities. Not every patient could be helped, not everyone successfully treated. One man came in with a perforated bowel. “Here, he would have been in the O.R. in five minutes,” Dr. Morris said.

But there, they didn’t have surgical facilities. They treated him as best they could and arranged for transportation to the nearest hospital — an hour-long journey in a truck over Haiti’s notoriously bad roads.

They soon heard the man had died within an hour of arriving at the hospital.

Faculty members believe USF medical, nursing, public health and pharmacy students could learn much by trying to cope under such circumstances, and seeing patients with new conditions.

“That’s another reason it would be great for students,” Dr. Morris said. “You don’t see those diseases anymore.”

Students would learn in other ways as well.

“Because you don’t have a million fancy tests, it’s medicine at its most basic,” Dr. Cuevas said. “You have to really practice the art of medicine and nursing.”

The group hopes to make the mission to Dilaire an annual event. They even discuss going twice a year, often enough, Dr. Morris pointed out, to provide regular preventive health care for Dilaire’s residents.

“I know that, even in the few days we were there, we saved some lives,” Dr. Cuevas said.

They see a value to going to this remote corner of Haiti last month, with the world’s attention, once riveted on the relatively distant Port-au-Prince, now beginning to fade.

Once the TV cameras and the outpouring of aid are gone, Dilaire will still need help.

“The definition of a disaster is that the need is greater than the resources available,” Dr. Morris said. “Haiti is a textbook example. We couldn’t fix everybody. But we did a lot in that clinic.”

-Story by Lisa Greene, USF Health Communications; photos courtesy of Dr. Steve Morris

Those who provided other aid and assistance to the medical mission included:

Corpus Christi Catholic Church, which raised more than $30,000; the USF Latin American Medical Student Association; Dr. Stephen Klasko, dean of the USF College of Medicine; Project World Health;  Dr. Eddy Gonzalez; Dr. Richard Roetzheim; Dr. Lucy Guerra; Dr. Mike Kovac, dean emeritus of USF Engineering; Patricia Eddy of Help Brings Hope for Haiti; Mike McCormick, director of pharmacy, James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital; Father Janvier Joseph of St. Michael the Archangel parish in Dilaire, Haiti.

Tampa, FL (August 12, 2010) –- The University of South Florida College of Nursing has received a five-year, $1.3-million federal grant to train nursing faculty throughout the state in the use of simulation learning, informatics and telehealth. USF was one of only two institutions in the nation recently awarded such a grant by the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

“USF Nursing will develop and implement a training program designed to integrate emerging technologies into nursing education and practice,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, dean of the USF College of Nursing and senior associate vice president of USF Health. “This really is national recognition of USF Nursing as a leader in cutting-edge health education technology, and will allow us to share our successes with our colleagues throughout the state and to impact nursing education across a broad spectrum of schools.”

This study will examine the use of these technologies to supplement nursing students’ clinical experiences, to reduce the pressure on over-stressed hospitals that serve as settings for hands-on learning, and to create nurses better prepared to enter today’s high-tech healthcare field.

USF will develop and implement a training program designed to integrate emerging technologies, like simulation and telehealth, into nursing education and practice.

“The goal is to ultimately improve the nursing graduate so that they have the tools to be successful,” said principal investigator Laura Gonzalez, PhD, ARNP, CNE, assistant professor and director of the Center for Virtual Simulation at the USF College of Nursing. “We need to incorporate telehealth at a greater pace. It is becoming much more widespread, and we should be adding it to our classrooms!”

As a result of the grant, Dr. Gonzalez hopes to develop a first-of-its-kind consortium in Florida where nursing faculty and technology experts can share ideas. This initiative develops a multi-institutional collaborative with the expertise to provide ongoing education and faculty support in using emerging technologies for nursing education and practice. Using a “train-the-trainer” model, USF Nursing will aim the program at nursing faculty from other regional universities and community colleges. The University of South Florida will provide project leadership and resources with additional expertise provided through collaboration with the University of Florida.

In addition to Dr. Gonzalez, other key personnel from the USF College of Nursing include Denise Passmore, PhD, instructional designer and director of web instruction; Joan Perl, MS, RN, instructor; and Vicente Saadeh, instructional design support specialist. William C. Mann, PhD, OTR, senior telehealth expert at the University of Florida, will serve as a consultant for the study.

“Dr. Mann is forward-thinking and a pioneer in his field,” said Dr. Gonzalez. “Having him on the grant will allow us to provide participants the latest in telehealth technologies.”

Nursing graduates must have a basic understanding of computers, data gathering devices and decisional support software. “Simulation is a vital strategy to supplement clinical learning and complement direct patient care opportunities,” said Rita F. D’Aoust, PhD, ANP-BC, CNE, associate dean for academic affairs and director for interprofessional initiatives. Informatics has the potential to enhance the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare delivery, but analysis of its impact on the clinical education of health professions students has been limited, and many nursing programs do not include informatics content in students’ coursework.

“The USF College of Nursing aspires to evolve into the leading simulation training center for nursing education in the southeastern United States,” said Dean Morrison-Beedy. “The potential for collaboration between education and industry in this type of enterprise is unmistakable, and we look forward to the results of the study and the next steps in its evolution.”

- USF Health -

USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as pharmacy, and physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With more than $380.4 million in research grants and contracts last year, the University of South Florida is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of only 25 public research universities nationwide with very high research activity that is designated as community-engaged by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

News release by USF College of Nursing Communications, and photo by Luis Battistini

           It took only a few minutes to get the first cry for help.

           Something was terribly wrong in the delivery room.

           Dr. Hoffman, director of the USF gynecology oncology division, and Dr. Kathleen Kilbride, a colleague of 29 years, ran to the delivering mother to discover that the situation was dire. As the baby began to move through the birth canal, the shoulder had gotten stuck inside.

         Shoulder dystocia is one of the most feared emergencies in obstetrics. It usually happens without warning. Obstetricians run practice drills on techniques to unblock the baby’s shoulder. As a last resort, they may break the baby’s collarbone or even push the baby back inside for an emergency Caesarean.

         Without skilled help, the baby can suffer brain damage or die.

         They didn’t want that to happen here. Tampa Ob/Gyn Dr. Kathleen Kilbride performed an episiotomy and began manipulating the baby. They directed a nurse to move the mother’s legs in a maneuver known to ease pressure on the baby’s shoulder. Dr. Hoffman worked on the other side, pushing on the mother’s belly to free the baby’s shoulder.

        It worked. The baby was delivered safely. A few hours earlier, and that wouldn’t have happened. Drs. Hoffman and Kilbride knew that if they hadn’t been there, the baby would have died.

        Dr. Hoffman set out to help in Haiti after January’s devastating earthquake after hearing stories from other doctors and his own daughter Emily, who had volunteered in Haiti several times over the years. He returned to Tampa last month after a six-day stay on the nation’s southern peninsula.

        While Dr. Hoffman knows the team saved lives while there, he was blunt about his overall impact. Haiti’s health problems, he said, are staggering. They require more than a visiting doctor, or even a team of visiting doctors.

        ”The kind of help I have isn’t what they really need,” he said. “Their needs are at the most basic level. It’s sprawling, abject poverty.”

       The sheer magnitude of the public health needs, the organization required to provide safe water and food and hygiene, is overwhelming.

***

       Dr. Hoffman’s trip to Haiti was organized through two non-profit groups, Help Brings Hope for Haiti and Haiti Help Med. Various groups helped provide supplies for the trip as well.

        The group focused their efforts on the northern coast of Haiti’s southern peninsula, at a rural hospital in the village of Miragoane. They made a side trip to another village, Paillant. Haiti Help Med is building a new operating room and dental clinic addition at a small hospital there, as well as working to improve health and living conditions throughout the region.

       Dr. Hoffman found himself admiring the beauty of Haiti’s mountains and beaches.

       “It’s beautiful country,” he said. “That’s part of the untold story. Parts of it are breathtaking.”

       Yet that beauty is marred not only by the devastation of this year’s earthquake, but also by the scars of poverty. Dr. Hoffman shot beautiful photos walking on the beach at sunset.

       Just outside the photo’s borders, mounds of trash sprawl on the shore. Another photo shows the busy local fish market, stocked from local waters. What doesn’t show here: since vendors didn’t have any refrigeration, the market soon reeked of rotting fish.

       The team was advised before the trip that they would need to bring all medical supplies they needed with them. Even so, Dr. Hoffman said, it’s hard to realize just how few supplies were available. Patients didn’t receive IV fluids and pain medicines unless family members could supply them.

       At one point, the team was treating a woman who was hemorrhaging from an ectopic pregnancy. At first, they were told no blood was available. Then two bags of blood were located. A nurse insisted it was the correct type.

       Dr. Hoffman and the team members had no choice.

      “This lady was dying quickly,” he said. “We weren’t sure the blood was safe, but we had to give it to her.”

      Once again, fortune was on their side, and the patient survived.

      But for many patients, the odds are long. Drs. Kilbride and Hoffman delivered a 29-week-old premature baby girl who then shared an incubator with another baby. In the U.S., the girl would most likely survive — about 90 percent of such babies do.

      But here, born too young to have developed a good sucking and swallowing reflex, the girl’s chances were iffy. Dr. Hoffman was told that she was likely to die.

      Other patients faced steep odds as well. For all the injuries and health problems caused by the earthquake, Dr. Hoffman knew that Haitian women already cope with poor health conditions. Pregnant women have high rates of such complications as hemorrhage, infection, and preeclampsia. Only about one in four births are attended by skilled healthcare workers.

       For every 100,000 babies born, 670 Haitian women die — compared to just 11 in the U.S. A child born in Haiti is ten times more likely to die before his fifth birthday than a child born in the U.S.

***

       When the team arrived, they discovered that the anesthesia equipment was in such bad repair that their anesthesiologist deemed it unsafe to use. They had to perform all their surgeries with spinal pain medication rather than general anesthesia.

       While Dr. Hoffman was there, he saw Haitian nurses, but no doctors, available to care for patients. Two Cuban doctors were staying at Miragoane to help as well.

        After an operation, Haitian nurses ordered patients to stay in bed — just the opposite of today’s medical standards in the U.S.

       “We would get them up and walk the patients ourselves,” Dr. Hoffman said.

       Privacy was nonexistent. Many patients lay in bed naked. Sanitary conditions were bad; it was hot, flies crawled everywhere, there was no running water or bathroom facilities, and patients had to rely on family members to help them use bedpans and dispose of waste.

       At first, conditions and differences led to frustration with the Haitian nurses. Over time, team members realized that the staff members faced difficulties as well. They got paid irregularly and often worked hungry.

       Despite such conditions, there were successes. Dr. Hoffman and Dr. Kilbride, a USF College of Medicine graduate who was a resident with Dr. Hoffman, worked smoothly as a team. The anesthesiologist, Lilian Pereiras, repeatedly performed flawless spinal anesthesia and worked tirelessly to keep the patients comfortable. The operating room nurse, Karen Carraher, kept everything and everyone organized and running smoothly. The leader of Haiti Help Med, Dr. Ralph Gousse, and his wife Ninotte, met constantly with community members and oversaw various projects.

         Dr. Hoffman was asked before he made the trip if he could operate on one particular patient. This woman had to have a colostomy months earlier, when her bowel was injured after a miscarriage. Dr. Hoffman and Dr. Kilbride were able to remove the colostomy, repair her bowel, and help her recover from surgery.

        The team found another patient in the hospital who had delivered a stillborn baby a day earlier. She was slipping close to death: she had had seizures and she couldn’t see. She could barely move, and her blood pressure had skyrocketed. Nobody had diagnosed what was wrong.

       But Drs. Hoffman and Kilbride thought they knew. The woman had developed eclampsia and was suffering from PRES Syndrome, a brain swelling that can be fatal if left untreated. They began treatments to lower her blood pressure and she recovered.

      Dr. Hoffman is already planning what he will do differently if he returns to Haiti in the fall. He would bring more equipment. He might work out of Paillant, where Haiti Help Med is building its new operating room. He would spend more time training others. He would try to bring someone who speaks Creole, but would love to work again with the same team.

– Story by Lisa Greene, USF Health Communications; photos courtesy of Dr. Mitch Hoffman

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: HELPING IN HAITI

        Haiti Help Med, one of the groups that helped organize the trip to Haiti, is led by a Haitian-born medical oncologist from Orlando, Dr. Ralph Gousse, and his colleague, Henri Jabon.

         Dr. Gousse was part of the team that Dr. Hoffman joined to go to Haiti. The team also included Dr. Kathleen Kilbride, a USF College of Medicine graduate who was a resident with Dr. Hoffman; Lilian Pereira, an anesthesiologist from Tennesse; Karen Carraher, the nursing director of a St. Petersburg outpatient surgery center; and Ninotte Gousse, Dr. Gousse’s wife.

        The team and the supplies it needed were organized by Hillary Aubin and Patricia Eddy through their organization Help Brings Hope for Haiti. Eddy chairs the group, which concentrates on education, supplies and sustainable food and water sources for a region of northeastern Haiti. Aubin flew with a large amount of donated supplies and ensured their delivery in advance of the team’s arrival.

        “I was so lucky to wind up working with such a great team,” said Dr. Hoffman said.

        He had praise for the entire group: Dr. Kilbride’s obstetric skill and “big heart;” Dr. Pereira’s “brilliant” anesthesia work; Carraher’s “wonderful deameanor and organizational skills;” and Ninotte Gousse’s empathy and talent for nurturing others.

        Dr. Hoffman was especially impressed with Dr. Gousse’s efforts to improve health and living standards throughout the region with Haiti Help Med.

       “He shows incredible leadership and vision for this community,” Dr. Hoffman said.

Baccalaureate nursing students file into the USF Health Auditorium for Convocation.

Leading USF nursing graduates into the darkened USF Health Auditorim, College of Nursing alumni and faculty carried lighted candles signifying their pledge taken in the tradition of Florence Nightengale, the “Lady with the Lamp.”

The graduating nursing students, along with their family and friends, gathered Saturday afternoon, May 8, for the Spring 2010 Path of Light Convocation, before making their way to the USF Sundome to walk in the university’s graduation ceremony that evening.

More than 600, an overflow crowd, attended the CON Convocation.

Of the College’s 180 spring graduates,  101 students received baccalaureate degrees, 43 received master’s degrees and 4 were awarded doctorate degrees (2 PhD and 2 DNP).

The ceremony was a chance to recognize the accomplishments of the graduating students, as well as the faculty and alumni who mentored them, and included the presentation of awards for outstanding scholarly and clinical excellence and service.

New nursing dean Dr. Dianne Morrison-Beedy congratulated the graduates and their families, faculty and alumni.

“We have high expectations of you. We expect the best, but we know you can deliver,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, dean of the College of Nursing. “Think about the mentors who helped you get where you are today, and your role as a mentor for the future generation nursing who will follow you.

“We will never forget you. You are our shining stars, so go out into the world to shine brightly and light the world for others.”

 Dr. Christine Olney, president of the CON Alumni & Friends Board

Each baccalaureate student received a green-and-gold pin from the clinical collaborative team coordinator who helped oversee their clinical training in Tampa Bay area hospitals.  At the center of the pin was the Nightingale lamp, surrounded by a golden flame representing honor, loyalty and worthiness.

Both the baccalaureate students and graduate students, honored in separate convocations, recited the Nursing Pledge at the close of the ceremony.

The College’s alumni and graduating students students recited the Nurse’s Pledge.

Graduates strike a pose.

Dr. Patricia Burns, former dean of nursing, received a Recognition of Service Award from the Florida Nursing Student Association at USF.

L to R: Dr. Patricia Burns, former nursing dean; Dr. Cheryl Zambroski, interim assistant dean  of academics, CON Undergraduate Program; and Dr. Dianne Morrison-Beedy, the new nursing dean.

For the first time, the Convocation was broadcast LIVE via Facebook.

A round of applause for family and mentors.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications
Streaming Video Production by Klaus Herdocia, Elizabeth Peacock and Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

USF nursing student Steven Clark

Steven Clark bench presses over 500 lbs and has a resting heart rate of 51 beats per minute.

The self-employed personal trainer’s dedication to his own, personal good health, which started when he was a child, has become the foundation for his life’s goal. A senior in USF’s nursing program, Clark is passionate about serving humanity as a health care professional and plans to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist.

Read Clark’s story….

Story by Mary Beth Erskine and photo by Aimee Blodgett

Tampa, FL (March 31, 2010) — The University of South Florida College of Nursing has achieved its highest research ranking ever from the National Institutes of Health. The College ranked 30th among nursing schools nationwide in NIH funding for 2009* – vaulting from a 66th place ranking in 2008.

USF nursing faculty members attracted more than $1.53 million in NIH in 2009 for research including palliative and end-of-life care, stress reduction in breast cancer survivors, and postpartum stress and immunity. They surpassed all other Florida nursing schools most recently ranked by the NIH, including the University of Miami and the University of Florida.

The latest round of NIH research rankings, released earlier this month, has the USF College of Nursing gaining ground on nationally-prominent nursing schools at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Emory University and the University of Maryland-Baltimore, to name a few.

Dr. Kevin Kip, executive director of nursing research at USF Health, with the three senior faculty members attracting the most NIH awards to the College of Nursing — from left to right, Dr. Susan McMillan, Dr. Cecile Lengacher and Dr. Maureen Groer.

Grants and contracts from federal sources, including NIH, are considered among the most competitive and coveted funding sources.

“The ranking is a credit to the skill, persistence, creativity and experience of our faculty,” said Kevin Kip, PhD, executive director of the Research Center at the USF College of Nursing. “The fact that we’ve managed to substantially expand our research portfolio in such a competitive environment — at a time when the NIH is funding fewer and fewer grant applications — is quite an accomplishment.”

“This is an impressive achievement that takes team effort, support, and plain old hard work. I am so excited about taking over the helm with such outstanding colleagues,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, who will join USF Health April 30 as the new nursing dean. A federally-funded researcher herself, Dr. Morrison-Beedy was assistant dean for research at University of Rochester School of Nursing – a school ranked seventh in NIH awards.

The USF College of Nursing’s total funding for research and contracts increased 120 percent over the last four years, from slightly over $1.3 million in fiscal year 2006-07 to more than $2.8 million in 2009-10 (state fiscal year-to-date). In that same period, NIH funding climbed from $324,832, or 25 percent of total awards, to more than $1.8 million, or about 65 percent of total awards.

Three senior faculty members – Maureen Groer, PhD; Cecile Lengacher, PhD; and Susan McMillan, PhD – pulled in the most NIH research funding at the USF College of Nursing in 2009. All three were successful in winning economic stimulus funding from NIH, available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to help supplement their ongoing studies.

With support from the National Institute for Nursing Research (NINR), Dr. Groer is tracking changes in women’s immune systems in the months following childbirth, including how breastfeeding may influence postpartum stress and immunity. Dr. Lengacher is conducting a clinical trial funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) on the use of mindfulness-based stress reduction for breast cancer survivors. Dr. McMillan leads a NCI-sponsored clinical trial on managing medication-induced constipation in cancer patients; she is also testing a NINR-sponsored psychoeducational intervention to teach family caregivers how to better cope with specific symptoms of hospice patients with heart failure.

Dr. Kip points to the vision and leadership of Patricia Burns, PhD, who steps down as USF’s nursing dean after 12 years, in helping the University advance its research stature. Dr. Burns vigorously supported dedicating the time needed for faculty to pursue grant writing and conduct research studies. Working with Dr. Kip, she also strengthened the College’s research infrastructure – including establishing this year a new Biobehavioral Laboratory, which supports state-of-the art biological data analysis for several faculty and student projects.

The strong showing in the NIH research ranking will help the College of Nursing in its national recruitment of top-level nurse scientists – both faculty and research-oriented master’s and doctoral students, Dr. Kip said. It will also bolster the College’s prospects for a prestigious NIH Institutional Research Training Grant (T32), a program to support novel and advanced training of predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows, he said.

- USF Health -

USF Health (www.health.usf.edu) is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With more than $380.4 million in research grants and contracts last year, the University of South Florida is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of only 25 public research universities nationwide with very high research activity that is designated as community-engaged by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

*Note: Federal fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2008 and ending September 30, 2009.

Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, and photo by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

Dr. Morrison-Beedy will join USF Health April 30 from the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, where she is assistant dean for research in the School of Nursing.

“We are thrilled that Dr. Morrison-Beedy is joining USF Health,” said Dr. Stephen Klasko, CEO of USF Health and dean of the USF College of Medicine. “She truly understands our vision of how USF Health will shape the health care of the future. Her energy makes her the ideal candidate to lead the College of Nursing to the next level.”

Dr. Morrison-Beedy takes over as dean from Patricia Burns, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of the College of Nursing for 12 years. Dr. Burns announced last February that she would step down after 12 years as dean. “I would like to thank Dean Patricia Burns for her years of excellent leadership of the College of Nursing,” Dr. Klasko said. “Her contributions have been invaluable, and we remain in her debt.”

Dr. Morrison-Beedy will lead a college that offers a broad range of nursing programs from the undergraduate to graduate level, including a DNP in nursing and master’s nurse practitioner programs in six different specialties. The USF College of Nursing was among the first in the nation to offer the Doctor of Nursing Practice and Clinical Nurse Leader degrees.

Dr. Morrison-Beedy said she was drawn to the university because of the high energy level and leaders’ commitment to making the university better.

“It was evident to me that everyone I met wants to move this university forward to become the best university in the state of Florida,” she said. “USF is already recognized as one of the up-and-coming universities, and it’s clear that it will soon be recognized nationally as one of the best.”

The College of Nursing is part of USF Health, which also includes the College of Public Health and the College of Medicine, along with its School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences and School of Pharmacy.

That concentration of health disciplines under one roof allows for more innovative collaboration in research, education and patient care. It’s a key reason why Dr. Morrison-Beedy wanted to come to USF.

“When I visited, I saw immediately how different colleges within the university could work and partner together,” Dr. Morrison-Beedy said. “True inter-professional education, research and clinical initiatives across all the colleges. That’s how we can make things better for the people of Tampa, of Florida, and of the world when it comes to health care and education.”

Dr. Morrison-Beedy’s commitment to the inter-professionalism of USF Health and her strong research background makes her the perfect fit for USF, said Donna Petersen, dean of the College of Public Health and chair of the search committee.

“Dianne brings a tremendous amount of creative energy, a solid commitment to raising the research profile and a strong desire to promote the visibility of the College, its faculty and its students in the community,” said Dr. Petersen. “She has many strengths, including extensive experience in development, faculty recruitment, improving student diversity, community-based participatory research, building internal and external partnerships, and creating innovative learning models.”

At USF, Dr. Morrison-Beedy wants to support and encourage nursing faculty members as they develop research opportunities and initiatives and facilitate their recognition globally for their outstanding contributions as nursing leaders.

“One predominant strength within the College of Nursing is its outstanding faculty members,” she said.

Dr. Morrison-Beedy’s own research focuses on HIV prevention in adolescent girls and young women. She has received several awards for her research, including the Excellence in HIV Prevention Award from the Association for Nurses in AIDS Care and the New York State Distinguished Nurse Researcher Award from the Foundation for the New York State Nurses Association. 

Her work has benefitted from hearing from many different voices, she said.

“My research team is comprised of people in many different disciplines,” she said. “I love working with people on teams with many different backgrounds. You can get much better answers to your questions that way.”

Dr. Morrison-Beedy has a PhD from the University of Rochester and a master’s in nursing from the Women’s Health / Adult Primary Care Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Buffalo, as well as a B.S. in nursing from Niagara University. She is a certified women’s health nurse practitioner and an R.N.

At the University of Rochester, Dr. Morrison-Beedy also holds the Endowed Chair in Nursing Science. She has published widely and received grants from several sources, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Nursing Research. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, of the American Academy of Nursing, and of the National Academies of Practice.

Dr. Morrison-Beedy, her husband Michael, and their children, Megan and Mason, are now in the process of moving to Tampa.

“At USF Health, we’re working to revolutionize the delivery of health care,” said Dr. Klasko. “That’s hy recruiting visionary leaders like Dr. Morrison-Beedy is so important. She will play a vital role in helping USF Health transform health care in Tampa Bay, Florida and the world.”

This year’s USF Health Research Day began with a thank you as the student oral presentation session was officially renamed the Annual Joseph Krzanowski, PhD, USF Health Invited Oral Presentations Session.

The gesture was meant to honor Dr. Joseph Krzanowski, who is an emeritus professor and former associate dean for the USF College of Medicine, and who was instrumental in expanding Research Day into its current form.

“Dr. Krzanowski was very influential in furthering the research programs at USF Health and throughout USF,” said Phillip J. Marty, PhD, associate vice president for USF Health Research. “Renaming the oral sessions after him is a way to recognize him for his generous contributions to Research Day, to the college and to the institution.”

Dr. Phil Marty and Dr. Joseph Krzanowski.

The oral presentations were only part of the day-long event that highlights the research of graduate and postgraduate students residents, and even faculty and staff, from throughout USF Health, as well as from across the USF campus.

Nearly 200 posters representing the work of these up-and-coming researchers filled bulletin boards that lined the Rotunda and College of Nursing foyer. Judges made their rounds to each presentation, asking the lead researchers to further explain their methods, results and conclusions before deciding on the award-worthy entrants.

The oral sessions at the beginning of the day showcased the outstanding work of eight researchers. From the College of Medicine: Jesse Arbuckle (PhD student), Dana Cruite (first-year medical student), Christina Drenberg (PhD student), Swathy Kolli, MD (resident), and Derrick Rowe (PhD student).
From the College of Nursing: Natalia Saunders (PhD student).
And from the College of Public Health: Natalie Hernandez (PhD student), and Matthew Tucker (PhD student).

CON graduate student Natalia Saunders and COPH graduate student Natalie Hernandez were among the eight invited to make oral presentations.

Jo Ann Moore checks in Research Day judges Dr. Byeong Cha and Dr. Jun Tan.

Dr. Robert Deschenes judges one of the poster presentations.

COPH doctoral student Christopher Wheldon sets up his poster with the help of COPH graduate student Rachel Williams.

The day also included a bake sale fundraiser for the Lab Rats. Enticing goodies were offered by Nhan Tu and Erica Fratz.

The day-long event, now in its 20th year, is a prime opportunity for collaboration and acts as a “practice run” for many of the presenters, whose work may garner spots at national research meetings.

Culminating the day was the Roy H. Behnke Disntinguished Lectureship, featuring Jean-Francois Rossignol, MD, PhD, FRSC, who presented “Translational Research: Myth or Reality or the Discovery of the Thiazolides.”

Dr. Jean-Francois Rossignol was this year’s keynote speaker.

As the day wound down, winners were announced at the Awards Ceremony.

This year’s winners.

Winning this year:

USF HEALTH VICE PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ORAL PRESENTATION: Jesse Arbuckle

WATSON CLINIC 4th YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT AWARD: Ariel Lufkin

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS: Christina Miller, Neurosciences; Jorge Fernandez

MEDICAL STUDENT AWARDS: Thomas Hayman, Cancer Biology; Qiyuan Liu, Basic Science; Tim Miller and Joshua Smith, Clinical Cases and Chart Review.

POST DOCTORAL FELLOWS: Elena Suvorova, Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Disease; Chetna Purohit, Cancer Biology; Anfernee kai-wing Tse, Cancer Biology; Thandavaray an Kathiresan, Molecular Medicine.

RESIDENT AWARDS: Steven Finkelstein, Cancer Biology; Abhishek Mathur, Cancer Biology; Rias Ali, Cardiovascular; Yvonne Pierpont, Clinical Medicine and Education; Kiran Turaga, Clinical Studies and Cases Reports.

GRADUATE STUDENTS: Josh Radke, Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Disease; Kenrick Semple, Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Disease; Rebecca Linger, Cancer Biology; Sandra Acosta, Neuro and Behavioral Science; Mibel Pabon, Neuro and Behavioral Science.

COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Jaime Myers, Community and Family Health; Janus Patel, Environmental and Occupational Health; Stephanie Kolar, Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Christen Mayer, Global Health.

Story by Sarah A. Worth, USF Health Communications
Photos and video by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications
Video editing by Klaus Herdocia, USF Health Communications

Click here for Research Day Abstracts

For two decades, researchers representing the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Public Health have displayed their work along the corridors of USF Health for fellow researchers and mentors to review and for faculty judges to critique.

On Feb. 19, nearly 200 faculty, students, and even staff, will once again set up their posters in the pre-dawn light, preparing for the 20th Annual USF Health Research Day.

This year’s program – which includes 196 abstracts, including two from the College of Medicine’s newest program with Lehigh Valley Network – starts at 8 a.m. in the USF Health Rotunda and the College of Nursing atrium and foyer.

Culminating the day is the Roy H. Behnke Disntinguished Lectureship, featuring Jean-Francios Rossignol, MD, PhD, FRSC, who will present “Translational Research: Myth or Reality or the Discovery of the Thiazolides” at 1 p.m. in the USF Health Auditorium.

The outstanding work of eight student researchers will earn them an invitation to present their work in an oral session at 8:30 a.m. that morning (USF Health Auditorium).

Finally, the winning research will be announced at the Awards Ceremony, with a reception to follow.

For more information about the 2010 USF Health Research Day, please contact Jo Ann Moore at jamoore@health.usf.edu.

The Biobehavioral Laboratory, which opened in the summer of 2009, is a comprehensive wet laboratory research facility that enables College researchers to launch and support biological data analysis for multiple faculty and student projects. The sophisticated, state-of-the-art lab allows the use of biological markers to develop deeper understandings of health and disease, as well as the effects of nursing interventions on patients.

“The new lab provides an incomparable resource for biobehavioral research, which has allowed many PhD students to add important biomarkers to their dissertation research,” said Maureen Groer, RN, PhD, FAAN, director of the Biobehavioral Laboratory, as well as director for the Center for Women’s Health Research.

Dr. Maureen Groer.

With more than 2,000 square feet, the Biobehavioral Laboratory supports the College’s Research Center and the Center for Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) and houses equipment for conducting blood assays, such as inflammatory markers, stress hormones, proteomics, and RNA and DNA analyses. The facility also includes multiple patient rooms for conducting physical examinations, clinical measurements, and treatments for health care and research purposes.

The benefits of the new Lab are many and go beyond simply providing a facility with equipment. For example, faculty researchers are able to apply for a broader range of grants and faculty recruitment is expanded to include a broader range of researcher, Dr. Groer said.

“Several faculty members are putting in grants that include endocrine, immunological and molecular measures that will be analyzed in the new lab, and plans are underway to recruit post-doctoral scholars into this area of research as the college is preparing its first major institutional research support grant,” she said.

“It is anticipated that the availability of the lab facilities will attract seasoned faculty who will help the college achieve its research strategic goals.”

The research projects taking place in the Biobehavioral Laboratory are varied, but here are a few examples of how faculty researchers are using the space.

Dr. Groer and her collaborators, staff and students are currently measuring a variety of hormones, acute phase proteins, cytokines, cellular structure and function for a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded study of postpartum health. As the grant research nurse coordinator, Monalisa Harrington, RN, makes two or three visits to the homes of women enrolled in a study to collect stress and mood data, perform a short physical exam, screen for postpartum thyroid disease, and collect a blood sample, which is brought back to the Biobehavioral Lab for immediate processing.

Lab volunteer Nancy Le.

In the Lab, technician Nichole Williams processes the blood sample, which involves separating the lymphocytes and storing them in liquid nitrogen for later flow cytometry, aliquoting plasma samples, counting cells and performing multiple assays on these samples in batches. Also assisting in the Lab are Jessica Heckle, a USF College of Nursing doctoral student interested in genetics research; Brittany Hasty, a USF Honors College graduate planning to attend medical school; Nancy Le, a lab volunteer preparing for a career in cancer research; Ellen Marcolongo, a USF Nursing PhD student preparing for a dissertation on the immune effects of night shift working nurses; Melissa Molinari Shelton, a PhD student planning a genetics-focused dissertation in pregnancy and stress; Blake Rankin, a University of Tampa student studying chemistry and accounting; and Jeanne Van Eepoel, a Nursing PhD student studying with Dr. Groer.

Lab technician Nicole Williams and volunteer Nancy Le.

In addition, Dr. Groer is also collaborating with Terri Ashmeade, MD, from Tampa General Hospital, on a study comparing the biology of milk from mothers who have delivered preterm infants with milk from mothers who have delivered full-term infants. Preliminary finding indicate important differences in the chemical compositions of the milk, particularly of the cytokines, and suggest that mother’s milk, no matter when the infant is born, is uniquely suited to meet that infant’s needs.

A lab research assistant removes a rack of sample from a liquid nitrogen tank.

Dr. Groer and her staff recently completed a study made possible through a contract with Meggitt’s Training Systems, Inc., that measured salivary stress markers across 150 police officers participating in a virtual reality stress scenario. The data was presented at the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society meeting in Colorado, as well as at the USF College of Nursing Center for Psychoneuroimmunology’s second annual national conference.

Theresa Beckie, RN, PhD, FAHA, developed a “genetics bench” in the Lab, where she and her students are analyzing DNA and RNA, looking for critical gene mutations in cardiovascular disease.

And Cecile Lengacher, RN, PhD, utilizes the Lab for her NIH-funded study on the immune and stress-reducing effects of mindfulness meditation in women with breast cancer. Her research staff and students bring saliva samples they’ve collected from participants to the Lab for processing and analysis of the stress hormone cortisol.

Genetics research is a priority for the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) and in the past two years, four USF College of Nursing students have been selected to attend the Summer Genetics Institute sponsored by NINR. In addition, Drs. Groer, Beckie, and Cecilia Jevitt, CNM, PhD, have completed an intensive molecular biology summer training program sponsored by New England BioLab in order to learn the latest in genetics techniques and measurements.

Photo of Dr. Groer by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications.

All other photos by Luis Battistini, College of Nursing.

L to R: USF nursing students Vatanie Turenne, Sheronda Fevrier and Joanne Leo

When the first group of Haitian earthquake survivors arrived in Tampa General Hospital’s emergency room Tuesday evening (Jan. 26), three USF nursing students of Haitian descent were there to help translate.

Sherhonda Fevrier, 22, Joanne Leo, 22, and Vatanie Turenne, all in their second year of the baccalaureate nursing program at USF, were born in the United States but speak fluent Creole. All three women have family members in Haiti who were left homeless by the devastating earthquake; a cousin of Fevrier’s perished in the disaster. All go to school full-time and work part time – Fevrier and Turenne as nursing techs and Leo as a licensed practical nurse. The trio studies together, sometimes carpools to classes and socializes.

“We really wanted to go to Haiti to help, but because of our obligations we couldn’t, so God brought Haiti to us,” Leo said.

The nine critically-injured patients, transported to Tampa General Hospital from a triage staging area at Tampa International Airport, included young adults and several children accompanied by a parent or guardian. They arrived with infected burns, spinal cord injuries, broken bones and other injuries. Since Tuesday, TGH has admitted five more evacuated Haitian patients ranging from ages 3 months to 47.

On Tuesday, Fevrier, Leo and Turenne were among 12 USF undergraduate nursing students at TGH conducting a medical-surgical clinical rotation that began at 7 a.m. Late that afternoon, Fevrier, who was rotating through the ER along with Leo, overheard a physician saying that the hospital would be receiving patients from Haiti that evening. Fevrier asked TGH administrative nursing supervisor Anita McCoy, a clinical instructor for USF nursing students, if she and her two classmates who spoke Creole could stay on as volunteers after their shift to help translate.

“She said ‘please can we do this?’” said McCoy. “They were more than ready to help, and I was glad to help facilitate that opportunity. They are outstanding students – strong, independent and real go-getters… Tampa General was extremely happy to have them there to translate.”

After completing their rotations (Vatanie was working on a cardiac surgery floor of the hospital) and a post-clinical conference, the three students grabbed a quick bite to eat and went back to the ER to wait for the patients. They began to arrive by ambulance shortly before 10 p.m., and teams of physicians, nurses and other health practitioners sprang into action to stabilize the patients – many with extensive medical needs.

“The first patient I saw was a 23-year-old man who had been in a car when the earthquake hit and the vehicle exploded,” Fevrier recalled. “He had third degree burns on both arms and his face was burned.”

Leo remembers another young man, whose spinal cord had been crushed, paralyzing him from the mid-chest down. “It was very sad,” she said. “I had to explain to him the CT scan… that he would be put into a long, narrow tube… and that everyone was trying to do the best they could to help him.”

For nearly three hours, the three students translated – sharing patients’ experiences with the ER staff, explaining procedures patients would be undergoing, helping facilitate informed consent, reassuring and consoling, obtaining phone numbers of patients’ relatives for the chaplain. The patients were quickly treated and sent to hospital rooms, many in intensive care.

Fevrier made it home about 1 a.m. – exhausted, yet grateful, after a 16-hour day. “I’m surprised I made it through the night without crying, but I feel blessed to have been able to do something.”

The next day, Patricia Burns, PhD, dean of the USF College of Nursing, received a call from Rhonda Warren, RN, MSN, emergency department education specialist at TGH, who commended the nursing students’ for their initiative and volunteer service.

Postscript: Fevrier continues to visit and help translate for recovering Haitian patients and their relatives in the pediatric intensive care and burn units at TGH.

- Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, and photo by Eric Younghans; USF Health Communications

RELATED STORY:
USF Health physicians mobilize to treat Haitian patients

Sandra Cadena, PhD, ARNP, (center) director of Global Health at the USF College of Nursing, with visiting nursing faculty members, from left to right, Lourdes Graciela de Alguero, Universidad de Panama in Panama City; Amanda Lucia Bonilla M., Universidad El Bosque in Bogota, Colombia; Yaira Pardo, Universidad El Bosque in Bogota, Colombia and Linnette Palacios de Castillo, Universidad de Panama in Chitre, Panama.

Nursing faculty from Colombia and Panama visited the USF College of Nursing Jan. 28 to talk about the health care systems in their Latin American countries and how nursing is taught and practiced there. Nearly 50 USF undergraduate nursing students and faculty members attended the presentations.

The four Latin American nursing faculty members, along with four from Japan, were sponsored by the local Delta Beta chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Society of Nursing. The next day, Jan. 29, they were featured speakers at the chapter’s annual Research Conference in Tampa; the theme of this year’s conference was “Global Nursing: Get Connected” in keeping with the society’s focus on international nursing.

Sandra Cadena, PhD, ARNP, assistant professor and director of Global Health at the USF College of Nursing and a past-president of the Delta Beta chapter, hosted the visitors during their stay in Tampa. Dr. Cadena was instrumental in establishing a USF College of Nursing exchange program with the University of Panama School of Nursing nearly five years ago. Since then, more than 65 USF nursing students, accompanied by faculty, have traveled to Panama during the summer for field experiences in variety of community health settings — from pediatric and maternity community clinics, mental health hospitals, and the mountain villages of Panama’s native Indian tribes, the Peninsula of Azuero, to more traditional settings within Panama’s university.

Dr. Cadena also has global health connections in Colombia, South America, where she conducted a Fulbright Specialist project this fall. Consulting with faculty at El Bosque University in Bogota, Colombia, she helped develop a graduate psychiatric-mental health nursing curriculum, expand research focused on cultural competency, and foster educational exchange opportunities for nursing faculty and students.

“There is an expectation and a desire on the part of our students to reach out and to understand people from other parts of the world,” Dr. Cadena said. “It is important that we position our students to positively contribute to various aspects of global health.”

- Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, photo by Eric Younghans; USF Health Communications

In addition, four students from the College of Nursing earned scholarships from the Florida Nurses Foundation. The students are Jessica Ann Dorey, Stewart Hood, Carol Parrales, and Susan Thorsen.

FNA chose the 100 nurses based on nominations by peers for excellence in diverse areas of nursing practice. Each received a commemorative pin and certificate at the FNA’s Centennial Convention Great 100 Nurses Gala, held last fall.

The Great 100 Nurses from USF included the following.

Within the Education category: Cecilia Jevitt, CNM, PhD, Associate Professor; and Barbara Redding, RN, EdD, Professor and Director of Nurse Education.

Within the Role Model category: Patricia Burns, RN, PhD, FAAN, Professor and Dean of the College; Mary Evans, RN, PhD, FAAN, Professor and Associate Dean of Research and Doctoral Studies; and Cecile Lengacher, RN, PhD, Professor.

Within the Research category, Audrey Nelson, RN, PhD, FAAN, Adjunct Director of Clinical Research.

Click here to view the online version of The Florida Nurse (http://24.149.18.154/Florida/Florida.pdf.)

Theresa Beckie, PhD, of the USF College of Nursing, compared the physical and psychosocial effects of a traditional cardiac rehabilitation to a program geared specifically for women.

ORLANDO, FL. (Nov. 17, 2009) — Depressive symptoms improved among women with coronary heart disease who participated in a motivationally-enhanced cardiac rehabilitation program exclusively for women, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2009.

Depression often co-occurs with heart disease and is found more often in women with heart disease than in men. Depression also interferes with adherence to lifestyle modifications and the willingness to attend rehabilitation.

“Women often don’t have the motivation to attend cardiac rehab particularly if they’re depressed,” said Theresa Beckie, Ph.D., lead investigator and author of the study and professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Nursing in Tampa, FL. “Historically women have not been socialized to exercise and their attendance in cardiac rehabilitation programs has been consistently poor over the last several decades. This poor attendance may be partly due to mismatches in stages of readiness for behavior change with the health professional approaching from an action-oriented perspective and the women merely contemplating change — this is destined to evoke resistance.”

Cardiac rehabilitation programs tailored to the needs of women and to their current level of readiness to change may improve adherence to such programs and potentially improve outcomes for women, she said.

The primary goals of the 5-year randomized clinical trial were to compare multiple physiological and psychosocial outcomes of women who participated in a 12-week stage-of-change matched, motivationally enhanced, gender-tailored cardiac rehabilitation program exclusively for women compared to women attending a 12-week traditional cardiac rehabilitation program comprised of education and exercise. Depressive symptoms of 225 women (average age 63) who completed this trial were examined after the interventions as well as after a 6-month follow-up period.

Women with cardiac disease have unique needs and confront different challenges than men in adopting healthy behaviors as they recover, Beckie says.

Participants completed the 20-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale prior to beginning the intervention, one week after completing the intervention, and again six months later. The questionnaire asked them about how often in the past week they felt depressed, hopeful, lonely, happy and fearful.

Depression scores for the women participating in the traditional cardiac rehab dropped from 16.5 to 14.3 in 12 weeks, while scores in the augmented group dropped from 17.3 to 11.0 – “a significant decline compared to the traditional group,” said Beckie.

After a six-month follow-up, the traditional rehab group had an average score of 15.2 and those in the women-specific program had a mean score of 13. Beckie said “we found that improvements in depressive symptoms were sustained at the 6-month follow-up in the augmented group while those in traditional cardiac rehab were essentially unchanged. This intervention also led to significantly better attendance and completion rates than those in the traditional cardiac rehabilitation program.”

The intervention was guided by the transtheoretical model of behavior change and was delivered with motivational interviewing clinical methods. The motivationally-enhanced intervention began with an assessment of their stage of motivational readiness to change regarding three behaviors: healthy eating, physical activity, and stress management. The investigators then applied appropriate stage-matched strategies to promote the uptake of health behaviors.

“The stage-matched intervention used in conjunction with motivational interviewing applied the patient-centered principles of expressing empathy, rolling with resistance to change, respecting patient autonomy and supporting self-efficacy for change” Beckie said.

“We didn’t push them if they weren’t ready to make the changes,” Beckie said. “We have found that if some patients receive long lists of behaviors they are expected to change immediately — such as quitting smoking, eating healthier, exercising regularly — they are overwhelmed. Pushing such patients who are not ready can lead them to tune out or drop out. Instead, for these women, we acknowledged their ambivalence about change and gave them strategies to move toward being ready by reinforcing their own motivations for changing. It’s unrealistic to expect all patients to change their lifestyle all at once, right now in front of you.”

The positive impact of the women-centered program remained six months after the 12-week study ended.

The woman-centered program is a more individualized approach to rehabilitation.

“You can’t treat everyone the same when it comes to changing health behaviors,” she said.

Beckie hopes these results will lead to symptoms of depression being assessed more often in women suffering from heart disease and to more motivationally augmented, women-specific rehabilitation options. The participants may not be completely representative of the national population because they all had health insurance.

Beckie’s co-author is Jason Beckstead, PhD. The National Institute of Nursing Research funded the 5-year study.

- USF Health -

USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With more than $380.4 million in research grants and contracts last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

It was all part of a gala to launch the public phase of the most comprehensive capital campaign in USF’s history. The goal: to raise $600 million. More than 500 donors, alumni, faculty, staff and friends were on hand to hear the announcement by Judy Genshaft, president of the USF System, USF Foundation CEO Joel Momberg and Campaign Chair Les Muma.

The USF Health exhibit presented a vision of Health 2020.

So far, the campaign has raised $317 million in donor gifts and pledges.

“Tonight is a night to celebrate two things: perseverance and promise,” said Genshaft. “Our students are solving big problems. Our faculty is changing the world. USF is building the university of the future. We believe our mission to serve the educational, economic and health needs of our community, Florida and the world are too important to be deterred or delayed.”

President Judy Genshaft displays a test tube full of USF Health’s favorite beverage: a Health-tini.

Two of the campaign’s most significant early gifts have gone to benefit projects at USF Health. Frank and Carol Morsani donated $10 million, used to help build the Frank and Carol Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare, as well as for sports facilities.

Muma and his wife, Pam, donated $6 million to fund neonatal research, as well as to build an neonatal intensive care unit at Tampa General Hospital. They gave another $3 million to athletics.

At Tuesday’s event, the USF Marshall Student Center was transformed by nearly two dozen exhibits showing off USF programs. At the USF Health exhibit, guests were treated to the “Health-tinis,” full of pomegranate antioxidants and delivered in mock test tubes. Video monitors featured Dr. Stephen Klasko, CEO of USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine, sharing USF Health’s vision for the future of health care, Health 2020, along with a montage of images from medicine, nursing and public health.

NBC News correspondent Kerry Sanders gets his balance checked by physical therapy students Heather Matako, left, and Elizabeth Morgan.

Physical therapy students helped guests measure their balance using a Biosway Balance machine. Guests who stood on the machine’s platform – including a spell with their eyes closed, teetering on a block of foam – got to see how they compare to others their age on several measures of balance. Physical therapists can use the data to develop therapies to improve balance and prevent falls.

He may be the CEO, but Dr. Stephen Klasko still delivers babies…real or, in this case, simulated.

The star of the show may have been the exhibit’s youngest member: the simulator baby. Faculty members from the College of Nursing dressed the baby in a “Future Bull” T-shirt and named him Rocky to mark the occasion. A steady stream of visitors came to play with Rocky, hearing him cry, feeling his heart beat, and even watching him turn blue because of breathing difficulties. Each time, of course, he was swiftly rescued by clinical instructor Jenny Molloy and teaching lab assistant Freida Lahti, who demonstrated some of the skills that nursing and medical students learn by caring for Rocky.

Dee Jeffers, program director in the College of Public Health’s Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies, stopped by and was captivated. She donned a stethoscope and listened to Rocky breathe.

“I didn’t know we did this,” she said. “There’s so much happening at USF, you just can’t keep up with it. The knowledge explosion for students – it’s amazing.”

Freida Lahti helps Baby Rocky’s simulated breathing return to normal.

- Story by Lisa Greene, USF Health Communications
- Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

Versie Johnson-Mallard, PhD, ARNP, assistant professor in the USF College of Nursing, has won a competitive grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to study strategies to prevent the spread of viral sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among college students and young adults.

Dr. Johnson-Mallard is one of just 15 nurse educators from around the country to receive the three-year $350,000 Nurse Faculty Scholar award this year, which is given to junior faculty who show outstanding promise as future leaders in academic nursing. The grant period begins this month.

“The generous support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will enable me to test an innovative web-based sexual health education intervention and hopefully slow the spread of viral sexually transmitted infections on college campuses,” Dr. Johnson-Mallard said.

In her research, Dr. Johnson-Mallard will develop a PowerPoint educational intervention STI prevention messaging presentation on the Human Papillomavirus, Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), Hepatitis B (HepB), and Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV). This intervention will be delivered in an innovative web messaging format. Follow-up surveys will determine whether students exposed to the innovative format, are more knowledgeable about the diseases, had a better understanding of the risks associated, and were more likely to take prevention measures such as vaccinations, abstinence and condom use.

Ultimately, she hopes to use her findings to develop a standard electronic prevention-education protocol for use on college campuses.

Cecile Lengacher, PhD, professor at the USF College of Nursing, and Anna Giuliano, PhD, a researcher at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, will serve as her mentors.

“Instead of having to stand in front of a poster on campus or read a brochure in a doctor’s office, this project will enable college students to learn about viral sexually transmitted infections in private settings, through an electronic format,” Dr. Lengacher said. “This will hopefully give them more time to study the materials and more knowledge about the diseases, which will hopefully lead to lower rates of infection.”

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Nurse Faculty Scholar award aims to strengthen the academic productivity and overall excellence of nursing schools by developing the next generation of national leaders in academic nursing.

Supporting junior nurse faculty will help curb a severe shortage of nurse educators that threatens to undermine the health and health care of all Americans. Many nursing schools lack the resources needed to hire and support enough faculty to train the next generation of nurses. As a result, nursing schools are turning away thousands of qualified applicants—rejecting the very people who can help reverse a serious looming nurse shortage. As the supply of nurses shrinks and the demand for their services grows, patient care will suffer.

The Foundation’s Nurse Faculty Scholars program aims to curb the effects of the nursing shortage by helping more junior faculty succeed in, and commit to, academic careers. The program provides talented junior faculty with salary and research support as well as the chance to participate in institutional and national mentoring activities, leadership training, and networking events with colleagues in nursing and other fields, while continuing to teach and provide institutional, professional and community service in their universities.

The program will also enhance the stature of the scholars’ academic institutions, which will benefit fellow nurse educators seeking professional development opportunities.

To receive the award, scholars must be registered nurses who have completed a research doctorate in nursing or a related discipline and who have held a tenure-eligible faculty position at an accredited nursing school for at least two and no more than five years.
The program is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered through the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. To learn more about the program, visit www.rwjfnursefacultyscholars.org.

Sandra Cadena, PhD

Tampa, FL (Aug. 3, 2009) — Sandra J. Cadena, PhD, ARNP, assistant professor and director of global health at the University of South Florida College of Nursing, has been selected for a Fulbright Specialists project in Colombia, South America. She will be based at El Bosque University during Fall, 2009 semester, according to the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Dr Cadena will provide consultation to develop a graduate psychiatric/mental health nursing curriculum, expand research projects focused on cultural competency, and provide educational opportunities for nursing faculty and students.

Dr. Cadena is one of over 400 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad this year through the Fulbright Specialists Program. The Fulbright Specialists Program, created in 2000 to complement the traditional Fulbright Scholar Program, provides short-term academic opportunities (two to six weeks) to prominent U.S. faculty and professionals to support curricular and faculty development and institutional planning at post secondary, academic institutions around the world.

The Fulbright Program, America’s flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Over its 60 years of existence, thousands of U.S. faculty and professionals have taught, studied or conducted research abroad, and thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the United States. Over 285,000 emerging leaders in their professional fields have received Fulbright awards, including individuals who later became heads of government, Nobel Prize winners, and leaders in education, business, journalism, the arts and other fields.

Recipients of Fulbright Scholar awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement. Among the thousands of prominent Fulbright Scholar alumni are Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize-winning economist; Alan Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet; and Craig Barrett, Chairman of the Board of Intel Corporation. Distinguished Fulbright Specialist participants include Mahmoud Ayoub, Professor of Religion at Temple University, Heidi Hartmann, President and CEO, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Percy R. Luney, Jr. Dean and Professor, College of Law, Florida A&M University, and Emily Vargas-Barone, Founder and Executive Director of the RISE Institute.

- USF Health -
USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With more than $360 million in research grants and contracts last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

The University of South Florida College of Nursing has partnered with Cerner Corporation to add the Academic Education Solution (AES), a fully integrated electronic medical record, to the College’s state-of-the-art human simulation lab. The AES is the only full clinical information system adapted to support academic curricula and classroom instruction. The system will enable students to use an interactive approach to learn evidence-based clinical practices, critical thinking skills, and data-driven decision making.

The USF College of Nursing’s adoption of electronic health records (EHR) into its curriculum and classroom instruction is part of a growing national movement to digitize the medical record-keeping process.

The complexity of care, volume of patients, and rapid growth of healthcare knowledge are beginning to push the physical and intellectual limits of healthcare professionals. Care providers need to quickly understand a patient’s complete past and present health information to apply the latest effective clinical practices for improving or managing the patient’s health. EHRs facilitate better access to this important information.

Improving Health Professionals’ Education

To address this evolution in patient care, the USF College of Nursing recognized the need to improve the methods of educating future healthcare professionals. The College plans to embed the EHR into the health professions’ curricula, as well as use it as a teaching and learning tool. The Academic Education Solution, coupled with the College’s simulation lab, enhances the faculty’s ability to teach the clinical process, critical-thinking and problem-solving skills and making evidence-driven decisions.

“By exposing students to the EHR early in the curriculum we are meeting two goals — improving students’ healthcare information technology skills and, with that added skill set, increasing the market appeal our nursing graduates to our collaborating partners,” said Dr. Laura Gonzalez, director for the Center of Virtual Simulation at the USF College of Nursing. “New graduates will have had substantial training prior to employment, which will result in cost savings in terms of new hire training expenses.”

Paving the Way for Success

Healthcare technologies are widely recognized as an effective tool to counteract today’s crippling shortage of qualified healthcare providers. The USF College of Nursing’s students embrace technology as part of their education and training process, easing the transition from the academic to the professional setting. This translates into more efficient, confident new nursing graduates in increasingly automated healthcare environments where safety and accountability are driving forces.

- Story by Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing Communications

Sandra Cadena, PhD

Tampa, FL (April 13, 2009) – Sandra J. Cadena, PhD, ARNP, CNE, director of Global Health at the USF College of Nursing, has been appointed by the National League for Nursing to serve as an NLN Ambassador. As a member of this elite corps, Dr. Cadena will help keep USF nursing faculty and administration informed about the NLN’s initiatives, grant opportunities, conferences, publications, workshops, and other benefits available to NLN members.

“We created this selective program to make it as easy as possible for nurse faculty and nursing programs at all levels of academia to understand what the NLN has to offer to enhance professional development and status,” said NLN CEO Dr. Beverly Malone. “At the same time, we expect the Ambassadors to communicate to NLN professional staff and the board what issues and challenges are of greatest concern to nurse educators in the field so that we can maximize the effectiveness of our programming and services. The Ambassadors are, in effect, the NLN’s ‘eyes and ears’ on campus.”

Dr. Cadena has been instrumental in advancing the College of Nursing’s vision throughout her nine-year University career. Before joining USF fulltime, she was an entrepreneur in her field of psychiatric nursing, and in private practice for more than 15 years. She has published in peer-reviewed journals and most recently had a book chapter accepted in the soon to be released NLN book, Giving Through Teaching: How Nurse Educators are Changing the World.

It is anticipated that, as do all NLN Ambassadors, Dr. Cadena will encourage colleagues at USF to participate in NLN professional development programs, apply for research grants, submit abstracts for the annual Education Summit and manuscripts to the NLN’s peer-reviewed journal, Nursing Education Perspectives, volunteer for task groups and special committees, run for elected office, nominate colleagues for awards, and complete research surveys.

The NLN Ambassador Program was established in fall 2006 with an initial cadre of 126 members who teach in all types of nursing programs – practical nurse, associate degree, diploma, baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral. Today there are more than 700 ambassadors representing schools of nursing in 49 states. New ones are appointed periodically to meet the goal of having at least one NLN Ambassador in every school of nursing.

“We are confident that the insights gained through this valuable relationship will help make the NLN more responsive to the needs of our dedicated nurse educators,” Dr. Malone said.

- USF Health –
USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With more than $360 million in research grants and contracts last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu

- National League for Nursing -
Dedicated to excellence in nursing education, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education offering faculty development, networking opportunities, testing and assessment, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its 27,000 individual and over 1100 institutional members.

Janine Overcash, PhD, ARNP

In teaching nursing students the intricacies of doing patient assessments, Janine Overcash, PhD, ARNP, makes it clear that the typical patient is not what is depicted on Grey’s Anatomy. “Older patients are the primary consumers of health care services. I try to sensitize student to the fact that much of the time, as a nurse in a hospital setting, that’s who they will be seeing,” says Overcash, an assistant professor of nursing at USF Health.

In addition, if current demographic trends continue, cancer will become primarily a disease of older individuals, she says. And that means nursing students must focus on combining the principles of caring for the elderly with the special circumstances involved in caring for the older person with cancer — Overcash’s area of expertise, as well as her passion.

“I have always wanted to be a nurse,” says Overcash. “I became interested in aging and care of older adults while in high school volunteering in a nursing home.” During graduate school at USF, she conducted research in aging and advancing nursing care of the older adult, specifically geriatric assessment, and working at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center focused her on geriatric oncology. The recipient of a prestigious Hartford Foundation post-doctoral fellowship, Overcash has published widely on topics including aging, the role of the nurse in geriatric oncology, older women with breast cancer, constructing comprehensive geriatric assessments and geriatric nursing protocols for best practice.

Overcash says that the curriculum in USF’s College of Nursing is demanding, but students are highly motivated and committed to achievement. She particularly enjoys teaching undergraduates and sharing stories about her experiences as a young nurse. “We work hard but we laugh a lot, too.”

That sense of camaraderie along with an office door that is always open to students enables Overcash to carry out what she believes is one of the most important roles of a university professor — mentorship — including modeling a positive outlook towards the nursing profession. “One of the first things my students hear me say is how much I love nursing.”

She also loves her teaching at USF. “USF provides the tools for academic success for students as well as faculty,” she says. “It’s an energetic and positive place to work.”

During her 12-year tenure, Patricia Burns, PhD, RN, FAAN, built a thriving, nationally-prominent USF College of Nursing

Tampa, FL (Feb. 9, 2009) – After a highly successful 12-year career, Patricia Burns, PhD, RN, FAAN, has announced that she will step down as Dean of the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida. Dr. Burns is well respected in the nursing profession and the Tampa Bay community for her immeasurable contributions towards making life better through research, education and healthcare.

“I will miss the College of Nursing a great deal; however, the time has come for me to embark on a path towards a new chapter in my life,” Dr. Burns said. “I will always cherish my years at the College of Nursing and I’m looking forward to continuing a relationship with the community that I have been so much a part of for the past 12 years.”

In the Tampa Bay area, nursing shortages and nursing faculty shortages are greater than the national average. Under Dr. Burns’ leadership, the USF College of Nursing has developed new advanced degree programs and created innovative education models to fill this need in the profession. She established the Clinical Collaborative Initiative, a partnership between local healthcare agencies in the Tampa Bay area and the USF College of Nursing. The Initiative gives students seeking bachelor’s degrees the opportunity to reside in a single agency for clinical coursework. Students are often eligible and qualified to serve as nurse technicians, and employed by the agency after the first semester.

Addressing the Nursing Shortage
“The USF College of Nursing has fostered innovative programming between the community and college to address the nursing shortage by expanding student numbers and needs for more educators and enhancing the research focus within hospitals,” said Sandra K Janzen MS, RN, CNAA-BC, associate director of patient care services at James A Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Florida, “This forum is an exemplary model of community and academic collaboration that addresses current and future needs while systematically exploring innovative ideas together.”

The College of Nursing has built healthcare partnerships across 10 counties in Florida and forged collaborations across the University, state, nationally and internationally. The College’s exchange program with the University of Panama is now in its third year. To date, three delegations totaling nearly 45 nursing students have participated in the program, a hands-on community health learning experience.

Clinical community partnerships are imperative for preparing nurses in advanced clinical roles as much needed educators and researchers. One such partnership is the College’s longstanding collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center, the only comprehensive cancer center in Florida designated by the National Cancer Institute. USF offers the only oncology nursing master’s program in the state.

Innovative Graduate Nursing Programs
The College’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), Nurse Anesthesia, and Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) advanced graduate degree nursing programs epitomize Dr. Burns’ vision of the ideal innovative education model. One of the first colleges in the country to offer the CNL and DNP programs, USF has graduated some of the first nurses in the country with these degrees. Started in Fall 2006 in response to the nationwide demand for more anesthesia providers, USF is only the third public university to offer the nurse anesthesia program out of seven accredited nursing programs in Florida. USF’s program is the first in the Tampa Bay area. In Fall 2008, 100 percent of USF’s charter class of 12 nurse anesthetists graduated with a job already lined up.

Nursing baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral program students and graduates provide safe competent healthcare in hospitals across the greater Tampa Bay area, a testament to the significant community impact of the collaborations Dean Burns initiated.

To facilitate the growth of research initiatives in the College and bring together diverse faculty and student research interests, Dr. Burns created a Nursing Research Center within the College. The Center has significantly broadened the College’s research portfolio, including multidisciplinary collaborations, and substantially upgraded its research infrastructure and capacity, including enhanced administrative support and expertise in data management, project management and statistical analyses.

Strengthening Research Collaboration
Recently, the College of Nursing increased its research awards by 64 percent and achieved its goal of raising both public and private funding by 40 percent – resulting in the highest percentage jump for a single college in research funding at USF for FY 2007-2008. The University’s overall research funding for FY2007/2008 rose by 17 percent over the previous fiscal year.

Dr. Burns further strengthened the College’s research endeavors by establishing a Biobehavioral Laboratory. Scheduled for completion this year, the laboratory will support the Research Center and the College’s Center for Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). Occupying more than 2,000-square-foot of space, it will house state-of-the art equipment for conducting blood assays, such as inflammatory markers, stress hormones, proteomics, and RNA and DNA analyses. The facility will also include multiple patient rooms for conducting physical examinations, clinical measurements, and treatments for health care and research purposes. Enabled by the College’s productive research environment and clinical partnerships, the PNI Center pursues research, education, and the translation of knowledge into clinical practice.

The College of Nursing’s collaborative structure encourages a community of scholars and clinicians interested in related topics. This benefits the college by providing a framework for research studies and partnerships. Ultimately, this strong research foundation benefits patients through evidence-based clinical care — another way Dr. Burns’ leadership has profoundly influenced healthcare in the Tampa Bay community.

Continued community support and individual contributions are vital to the future of the College of Nursing. As dean, Dr. Burns fostered a large increase in financial donations to the College; endowments have grown by more than $5 million during her 12-year tenure.

Building National Prominence
The College has received national support and accolades as well. The USF Master’s Program in Nursing was recently ranked 72 by U.S News and World Report — a large jump from 115 scored when the program was last ranked in 2003. The USF profile included in the 2009 Princeton Review “Best 368 Colleges” praises the College of Nursing. Among the candid comments of USF students surveyed for the book: “There’s a great nursing program.”

USF’s nursing programs have steadily flourished to accommodate a growing student population. As of Fall 2008 the College of Nursing had 1,888 students enrolled across its baccalaureate, masters, doctoral and continuing education programs – up from 628 students in Fall 1999. Dr. Burns oversaw the College of Nursing facility’s much needed physical expansion. Members of the College, University and community gathered to dedicate the new building in May 2005 and celebrated renovations that tripled the size of the College of Nursing facility, from 25,000 to 75,000 square feet.

In 2007, Dr. Burns launched the College on an exciting and momentous endeavor – a comprehensive five-year strategic planning process. Carefully constructed through student, faculty, staff, alumni and community involvement, the strategic plan has set the mission, vision, goals and values to help guide the College of Nursing to future success and prominence regionally, nationally and internationally.

As her lasting legacy Dean Patricia Burns leaves a successful, nationally-recognized College of Nursing built upon innovative education models, collaborative clinical partnerships, advanced practice graduate degree programs and a facilitative multi-disciplinary scientific research infrastructure.

- Story by Ashlea Hudak, College of Nursing Communications

Laura Moody, the anchor of Fox-13 News Good Day, Tampa Bay, broadcast two live spots from the USF College of Nursing Simulation Center Wednesday morning, Jan. 28.

The live shots led into a taped feature exploring why the nursing shortage continues despite no slack in demand for nurses in today’s tough economic climate. The segment included interviews with USF College of Nursing student Jamie Simpson, who will graduate in May, and CON Associate Dean Sandra Cadena. While many companies are laying off employees, the nursing profession appears recession-proof. Ninety percent of all USF nursing students have jobs lined up before they graduate, and Dr. Cadena said she doesn’t expect that to change.

The program was shown on the big screen in the USF College of Nursing gathering space.

Fox-13 News anchor Laura Moody checks out one of the patient simulators before her live broadcast from the USF College of Nursing’s simulation center.

- Newsbrief by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications
- Photo by Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing Communications

L to R: USF charter CRNA students LaSonya Malbrough, Latanya Lawrence, Anita Lee, Tae Garrison, and Georgia Vong at a clinical rotation.

At the Dec. 13 commencement ceremony, 100 percent of USF’s charter class of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, or CRNAs, graduated with a job lined up — proof that the demand for this specialized health professional remains strong even in a slow economy. The 12 graduates, who received Master of Science degrees, are working in hospitals across the greater Tampa Bay area including Tampa General Hospital, Morton Plant Mease Hospital, University Community Hospital in Carrollwood and Lakeland Regional Medical Center.

CRNAs are anesthesia professionals who administer nearly 65 percent of the 26 million anesthetics given to patients each year, according to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. CRNAs are the sole anesthesia providers in nearly half of all hospitals and more than two-thirds of the rural hospitals in the United States.

USF’s CRNA program, the first such certified program in the Tampa Bay area, began in fall 2006 as a response to the nationwide demand for more anesthesia providers.

It was only the third public university to offer the CRNA certification out of seven accredited nursing programs in Florida.

USF’s CRNA program, directed by Sierra Gower, MS, CRNA, was designed to provide a high-quality, competitive program that combines extensive education with practical clinical experience.

“The need for CRNA’s nationally and in the Tampa Bay community has never been greater and we are extremely proud that 100 percent of the charter class of nurse anesthetists secured employment upon graduation well before completing their degrees,” Gower said. “These 12 very skilled people will become Certified Registered Nurses Anesthetists and provide much needed safe, competent anesthesia care.”

A 1990 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services drew attention to a national shortage of nearly 5,400 nurse anesthetists. Recognizing the increasing numbers of healthcare procedures requiring anesthesia, many retiring CRNAs, and decreasing graduation rates of nurse anesthetists, the study concluded that nurse anesthesia educational programs must produce between 1,500 to 1,800 graduates annually to meet expected demands for nurse anesthetists by the year 2010. Currently, about 1,000 nurse anesthetists graduate annually.

The graduates from USF’s charter CRNA class were: Joshua Beason, Thomas Benafield, Mary Bergin, Julia Cramer, Kimberly Durham, Jason Edwards, Tae Garrison, Kathleen Harley, Lisa Hollett, Dean Jani, Lasonya Malbrough, and Anita Lee-Newkirk.

- Story by Sarah Worth, USF Health Communications

Laura Gonzalez, PhD, ARNP, director of the USF College of Nursing’s Center for Virtual Simulation, instructs students using one of the laboratory’s patient simulators.

New technologies have advanced ways to simulate hands-on, real-time patient experiences, including computer-controlled mannequins that can be programmed to display certain health conditions and complications in humans. Human patient simulators allow students to repeatedly practice skills and procedures and to make judgements and errors in a controlled setting. These virtual patients have helped revolutionize nursing education by providing another level of safety before students care for real patients in hospitals and other clinical settings.

“Students learn to think on their feet and enjoy using the simulation lab to practice honing their skills,” said Laura Gonzalez, PhD, ARNP, director for the Center of Virtual Simulation at the University Of South Florida College Of Nursing.

I-Stan (TM), completely wireless and tetherless, is the latest model of human patient simulator. Unlike previous models, I-Stan is controlled wirelessly through the computer and all the simulator’s operating machinery is housed inside its body. The instructor uses the computer to control all actions of the simulator, changing the physiological symptoms manually as the students administer treatment to the virtual patient. The USF College of Nursing plans to create a control room where instructors can operate the patient simulator while viewing the students’ actions through a one-way mirror. In addition, the room housing the I-Stan will be modeled to resemble a hospital room or an intensive care unit.

The simulation lab meets the needs of today’s students by complementing traditional teaching methods with technology. The use of simulators is not inteded to replace classical education, but rather to enhance learning. The process of learning through assessment, evaluation, decision making and error correction is considered a stronger learning environment than passive instruction, experts say.

In a “mock code” simulation nursing students are put in a situation in which the patient undergoes respiratory and cardiac arrest and must be given immediate care to survive. The students must call upon their training and knowledge of how to respond in an emergency without wasting any time.

Fred Slone, MD, adjunct faculty member in the College of Nursing, demonstrates the latest model of human patient simulator, I-Stan, for the college’s Community Awareness Nursing Development Leadership Education (CANDLE) group.

During four-hour monthly sessions students also work with the birthing simulator Noelle. A specialized robot-mannequin, Noelle is capable of delivering a baby vaginally, simulating a fetal heart rate and illustrating physiological changes throughout the birth. Students can view cardinal movements internally and externally as the birth progresses. They get a complete, first-hand experience before, during and after delivery — caring for mom and newborn.

“Skills that may not be available for practice in a clinical environment are practiced in the lab to increase their exposure,” said USF College of Nursing faculty member Jenny Molloy MS, ARNP, RNC. “Because their roles would primarily be as an observer, skills the students may not be able to practice can be practiced in the simulation lab.”

Clinical nursing instructor Jenny Molloy MS, ARNP, RNC, helps students “deliver” a newborn using a specially-designed labor and delivery simulator.

The George & Marian Miller Center for Virtual Learning at the USF College of Nursing also meets the changing needs of students while increasing the quality of education. Topic-specific software helps students learn indispensable skills that require considerable practice.

With the support of an interdisciplinary grant, the College of Nursing and the College of Engineering created nursing educational software to help students learn and practice elements of hands-on nursing skills such as inserting a naso-gastric tube. Other interactive programs allow students to practice reading and interpreting chest X-rays and heart rhythms.

There is a strategic plan to incorporate more laboratory simulation throughout the curriculum. “The goal is to have simulation used in every semester’s coursework, from novices to experts,” Dr Gonzalez said. “We don’t need to stop with nursing students; practicing nurses always need a refresher, especially in high-risk, low-volume situations.”

- Story by Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing Communications
- Photos by Luis Battistini, USF CONECT, Joseph Gamble, USF Communications, and Ashlea Hudak.