The newest magazine of the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida, Nursing On The Move, is now available!

The Spring 2013 magazine of the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida, Nursing On The Move, is now available! This issue commemorates the College of Nursing’s 40th Anniversary and includes an invitation to all faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of the college to attend the Coming Home 40th Anniversary extravaganza.

Pick up a copy at the College or access the full magazine online!

Pick up a copy at the College or access the full magazine online!

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, Joanne Leo, 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 (TGH) 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 then, TGH has admitted 27 more evacuated Haitian patients, ranging from ages 1 to 75.

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?’” McCoy said. “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.”

Fevrier continued 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
Photo by Eric Younghans
Published in the Summer 2010 Nursing Life magazine

After graduating from USF College of Nursing’s Masters Program with a concentration in Nurse Anesthesia, LaSonya Malbrough had some major decisions to make. With all of the opportunities available to graduates in today’s marketplace, how would she determine the next steps in her life? For LaSonya, the choice was to enter the USF College of Nursing Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program. For her, making the decision to pursue the DNP was an easy one.

“It is not every day that you are given the opportunity to do something that you never even considered or dreamed. Considering that I am the first college graduate in my family – finishing undergraduate and master’s level education is something to be very proud of. I knew I had to complete the terminal degree–the question I began to ask myself was ‘why would you not do it?’” LaSonya said. “Passing up such an incredible opportunity just would not be wise! I hope to inspire others in my family and community to follow their dreams as well. If only one person goes to college as a result of my influence – I would be ecstatic.”

LaSonya is currently employed part-time with Florida Gulf to Bay Anesthesiology, P.A. Working for such a large anesthesia group provides her the opportunity to work in a variety of settings throughout the community, both in hospital and in outpatient settings. In addition, the position affords her the flexibility to work part-time while pursing her doctoral degree at USF. LaSonya is a recipient of the University Graduate Fellowship and the Nurse Traineeship Award. Receipt of these funds was one of the key factors in choosing USF to pursue the DNP. If she had not received funding, she would not have been able to commit to full-time enrollment in the program.

“The importance of having scholarships and fellowships for potential students is an invaluable recruiting tool for the College,” LaSonya said.

After graduation, LaSonya hopes to study the effectiveness of pain management in acute care and outpatient settings, especially as it relates to underserved/minority populations. She plans to seek dual employment in a hospital setting and as a part-time university faculty member. This will “allow me to maximize my growth and development as a doctorally prepared practitioner. To my core, I am a patient advocate in every respect.” With a passion for healthcare technology, she hopes to build upon her evidence based project to test the effectiveness of ultrasound guidance for central line insertion in the inexperienced anesthesia provider.

LaSonya often finds herself sharing with others the many opportunities that USF has to offer. Not only is she a mentor and graduate of USF, having the discipline and desire to pursue the DNP demonstrates her commitment and earns the respect of patients and colleagues alike.

Story by Marcia Parker
Photo by Luis Battistini
Originally published in the Summer 2010 Nursing Life magazine

The University of South Florida College of Nursing Clinical Collaborative Preceptor Partnership model aims to employ the best characteristics of traditional education combined with the breadth of the university education. This model, launched by the College in 2001 began a partnership with over a dozen health care hospitals/systems to facilitate practice collaboration among health care facilities in the Tampa Bay area and provide clinical training preparation of undergraduate nursing students. While doing so the program makes a large impact on the healthcare of the Tampa Bay community.

The Clinical Collaborative Preceptor Partnership model has formed a network that bridges traditional institutional boundaries and enlists cooperation among the Chief Nursing Officers and Vice Presidents of nursing services of area hospitals and the College of Nursing. Generating cooperative educational opportunities, the Clinical Collaborative has increased and enhanced the professional nurse experiences throughout the Tampa Bay area.

With over 350 traditional and second degree nursing baccalaureate students enrolled at the College at one time, each are required to complete around 885 clinical hours for their degrees, the College contributes approximately 318,600 hours of nursing care to area hospitals per cohort.

The program enables students to learn essential nursing skills under the guidance of an experienced nurse preceptor at a partnering health care organization facility from the first day of clinical experience. A unique feature that distinguishes this model from other traditional models is that students are required to complete their entire student experience at a single health care organization or team of hospitals. Some of the hospitals in the USF Clinical Collaborative provide the entire clinical experience at their facility while others have teamed with another hospital or two to comprise a hospital team.

Hospitals involved in the USF Clinical Collaborative include: All Children’s Hospital, Bayfront Medical Center, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, Morton Plant Mease, Shriners Hospitals for Children, South Florida Baptist Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Tampa General Hospital and University Community Hospital.

The innovative model process begins with a new cohort of students admitted and assigned to a hospital team, led by a College of Nursing academic faculty Team Coordinator (TC).The TC collaborates with College academic clinical faculty and hospital-based faculty to assign preceptors to each student in their first semester of clinical, and every semester thereafter. To avoid undue burden on the unit’s cadre of preceptors, no more than two students are assigned to a clinical nursing unit, and the preceptor to student ratio is 1:1. The students learn at the side of their preceptor, and the clinical faculty supports the preceptors by continually making rounds.

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 the needed psychomotor skills. The clinical faculty ensure the students are applying didactic content and concepts by focusing on clinical reasoning and critical thinking. The College’s academic faculty evaluates student performance with input from both the preceptors and clinical faculty. 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.

Story by Ashlea Hudak
Photo by Eric Younghans
Originally published in the Summer 2010 Nursing Life magazine

The USF College of Nursing Diversity Committee is looking forward to an exciting list of priorities and strategic objectives for this year. These objectives range from increasing student involvement and examining student success to hosting the 4th Annual Diversity Celebration.

The mission of the Diversity Committee is to create and maintain a fully inclusive environment that actively promotes and values diversity in its broadest sense. Specifically this includes ensuring broad representation of students, faculty, and staff across multiple indicators of diversity defined by age, gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic level, national origin, religious belief, and sexual orientation, as well as by prior educational attainment and work experience that are cross-disciplinary. The committee meets on a monthly basis to discuss issues pertinent to the mission.

In accordance with its objective to increase student involvement, the committee is partnering with students such as Pam Lozano, President of the Masters Student Nursing Organization and Diversity Committee Student Representative. Student participation and input is central to “Translating the Mission Statement of the College of Nursing Diversity Committee into a plan of action” (USF College of Nursing Strategic Plan).

For Pam, reaching out to a broad representation of students is important because it gives them “hope that higher education can be possible despite the struggles of speaking another language or having cultural differences. It provides students with role models and mentors throughout their nursing education
process.” She participates in the College of Nursing Diversity Committee because “USF has the ability and resources to truly make a change for nursing students by offering education, research, and resources regarding diversity in healthcare settings.” Pam hopes that nursing students will get involved in multicultural activities offered throughout the University. Students from the College of Nursing currently participate in the Annual Diversity Celebration
and Cultural Competence Seminar as well as in the USF Health Cultural Fiesta.

The Diversity Committee welcomes student input. Any suggestions on activities or services to involve and/or serve students can be emailed to nurstudent@health.usf.edu.

Story by Marcia Parker
Photo by Luis Battistini
Originally published in the Summer 2010 Nursing Life magazine

On Saturday, November 21, 2009, University of South Florida College of Nursing Alumni and Friends Society welcomed alumni underneath the USF Nursing Tailgate Tent outside of Raymond James Stadium for the Homecoming Reunion Tailgate. Over brunch alums spent the morning catching up with one another and reminiscing about their time as students at the College of Nursing. There was plenty of Bulls’ spirit in the air to celebrate the USF Nursing pride!

“Not only were the accommodations, giveaways and food great, it was an excellent opportunity to meet with and speak to alumni from the College’s early years.” said Nursing doctoral student, faculty, and Alumni and Friends Board member, Marisa Belote.

College of Nursing Alumni and Friends Board President, Christine Olney ’07 noted, “It was so exciting to meet colleagues and learn about how the College made a difference in their lives. Not to mention being in the middle of the pregame Homecoming activities!”

After the tailgate, nursing alums helped cheer on the USF Bulls to a 34-22 victory over the Louisville Cardinals.

“I had such a great time at the College of Nursing Homecoming Reunion Tailgate,” said Belote. “As a member of the faculty and as a doctoral student I am proud of the caliber of nurse our College produces and I am looking forward to Homecoming 2010!”

Planning for the 2010 Reunion has begun! Class Presidents and Class Agents (Classes of 2010, 2005, 2000, 1995, 1990, 1985, 1980 and 1975) are encouraged to contact the College of Nursing Alumni Relations at (813) 974-6850 or lbaylis@health.usf.edu to help ensure the success of this exciting event.

Story by Leanna Baylis
Photo by Luis Battistini
Originally published in the Summer 2010 Nursing Life magazine

On December 12, 2009 and May 8, 2010, the USF College of Nursing Alumni and Friends Society held its newest tradition at the USF College of Nursing, the Alumni Path of Light. College of Nursing alumni led the processions of nursing graduates into the USF Health auditorium. Holding lighted candles that signify their pledge taken in the tradition of Florence Nightingale, the “Lady with the Lamp”, the alumni formed a pathway for their fellow new alumni and colleagues. Christine Olney, ’07, College of Nursing Alumni and Friends Board President lead the procession and addressed the graduates including leading all nurses in the nursing pledge. With over 400 guests in attendance at the fall ceremony and nearly 700 in attendance in the spring, this ceremony has become one of the College’s most recent points of pride.

This new tradition along with the pinning ceremony was made possible through efforts lead by Melissa Molinari Shelton ’05, ‘08 co-chair of the Awards and Recognition Committee of the Society. “All of us working on the project were so pleased with the response from alumni and graduates. Since the Convocation, I have had a number of alumni and student alumni ask how to become involved. I can’t think of a better sign of success,” said Shelton. “I’ve told them to watch
the College of Nursing Alumni and Friends Society website for the details to participate in our next Alumni Path of Light as we hope to light the entire length of the aisle!”

Story by Leanna Baylis
Photo by Luis Battistini
Originally published in the Summer 2010 Nursing Life magazine

When the Gordon Keller School of Nursing closed its doors in 1972, Hillsborough Community College acquired the facility and the nursing program, but the College of Nursing at University of South Florida adopted the school’s alumnae.

On the eve of its 100-year anniversary, passing on the school’s legacy is particularly important to some of these women who still meet each May to celebrate their memories. Jean Thomas, a 1953 graduate, is part of this group. Interacting with today’s nursing students at USF, she finds herself reflecting on her experience as a young nurse at the Gordon Keller School.

“My parents chose Gordon Keller because it had the highest scores on state boards of any school in Florida,” she explained, “but it was also a very controlled
atmosphere. My dad was a lawyer and he wouldn’t let me go just anywhere.”

Gordon Keller was an all-girls nursing school and the women lived on campus for the duration of the three-year program.

“We were not allowed to be married or get married while enrolled, and male visitors were not allowed in our rooms,” she remembered.

The curriculum was very intense. The first six months were a probationary period. Nurses on probation mainly attended classes with short sessions on the hospital floors. After the first six months they were put to work as if they were already RNs.

“We were in class from eight in the morning to four in the afternoon and could be assigned to work anytime we were not in class,” Jean says.

The student nurses were also required to perform a certain amount of night duty from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. When they were not working, they had three hours of free time in the evening to go anywhere followed by two hours of study and quiet time. For girls who were not assigned the night shift, lights were out at 10 p.m.

“We had a house mother and we had to sign in and out whenever we left or returned. Can you imagine that today?” she exclaimed. But the restrictive schedule had a huge payoff. In addition to classroom learning, Gordon Keller’s nurses in training administered total care of patients, performing rotations on medical and surgical floors from obstetrics to the psychiatric ward.

“It was a real hands-on experience,” Jean said. “We spent a month in the operating room mainly as scrub nurses.”

The Gordon Keller School of Nursing produced very experienced nurses ready to meet the region’s medical challenges. But after the school closed and the nature of nursing programs began to change, the school’s alumnae, now veteran leaders in the medical community, became very concerned that recent graduates were knowledgeable but lacked practical skills.

“There were complaints that we were hiring bright young nurses and finding they didn’t have much clinical experience,” Jean said. So the group was excited about the opportunity to align themselves with USF’s nursing program.

“Dean Burns was building an outstanding program that incorporated academics with practical training. We wanted to be a part of that.” Jean said.

The alumnae banded together and established the Gordon Keller Alumni Association Scholarship to support strong students with demonstrated financial need. They also founded the Gordon Keller School of Nursing Professorship to support research that would improve the effects of nursing in acute care.

Jean worked as the assistant supervisor of surgery at Tampa General Hospital and was on call when the first aorta implant procedure was done there. She remembers using a huge tub filled with bags of ice to cool the patient off slowly. The medical staff had to tie off the blood vessels by hand.

“We certainly didn’t have fancy equipment, but we were very well prepared,” Jean said.

She believes that advances in medicine and technology can ease a nurse’s job, but emphasizes that state of-the-art equipment is only useful if you know how to use it. This means it’s essential for nurses today to be well educated and well trained. The culture and curriculum may be about a century apart but the goal of nursing has not changed. That’s why Jean and her fellow alumnae are honoring their Gordon Keller birthright by helping students of their adopted alma mater receive excellent training to deliver excellent care.

In 1910, The Gordon Keller Memorial Hospital and Gordon Keller School of Nursing opened to provide improved medical services to the community. When the 32-bed hospital closed in 1927, the nursing school moved to Davis Islands with the new Tampa Municipal Hospital. The “notorious” class of 1953 are shown here in front of that 250-bed facility. Both the school and hospital named in honor of the late Tampa businessman, philanthropist and city treasurer, Gordon Keller, are now gone. However, the school’s impact lives on through the contributions of its graduates.

Story by Deena Kemp Pople
Images courtesy of the private collection of Jean Thomas
Originally published in the Summer 2010 Nursing Life magazine

The College of Nursing at the University of South Florida has achieved its highest research ranking ever from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 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 funding 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.

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 the helm with such outstanding colleagues,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, who joined USF Health in April 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 sixth 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 stepped 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 a new Biobehavioral Laboratory, this year which supports state-of-the art biological data analysis for 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.”

(Left to Right) Dr. Versie Johnson-Mallard, Dr. Kevin Kip, Nancy Lee, Dr. Cecile Lengacher and Dr. Denise Passmore meet to discuss a collaborative, interdisciplinary research project. Photo by Candace Mundy, Courtesy of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Story by Anne DeLotto Baier
Photo by Eric Younghans
Originally published in the Summer 2010 Nursing Life magazine