University of South Florida College of Nursing faculty members participated in a Joining Forces Webinar Series: Teaching Nursing Students to Care for Veterans  Part VII on May 1, 2013. USF College of Nursing Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean, Master’s Program & Academic Affairs, Brian Graves, PhD, RN, ACNP-BC, and Military Liaison, Instructor and Coordinator, Graduate Simulation, Alicia Rossiter, MSN, ARNP, FNP, PNP-BC, spoke at the webinar series to discuss strategies for teaching students to care for active duty service members, veterans, and military families.

Joining Forces, a national initiative to support and honor America’s service members and their families, designed the webinar series to educate nursing faculty that are members of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) on how to implement initiatives set forward by the campaign. More than 650 schools of nursing around the country have pledged their support to the Joining Forces campaign. One priority of this national initiative is to make health care professionals more knowledgeable about veterans and their health care needs, particularly, as they return from modern deployments with characteristic injuries.

“The USF College of Nursing contributed to the webinar series to provide educational resources and assist schools that are AACN members as they engage in curricular development,” said Rossiter. “We are transforming the healthcare, transforming the lives of our active military, veterans, and their families. USF Nursing has become known nationwide as a leader in veteran research and how to care for our veteran population. We are very fortunate to have a Dean, Associate/Assistant Deans, faculty, and staff who are so committed to veteran health and research that improves the lives of our veterans and their families as well as the many educational initiatives that have helped make USF the 4th Friendliest Military University in the country.”

AACN reached out to Graves and Rossiter as well as Senior Associate Vice President, USF Health and Dean, USF College of Nursing, Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, and Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Academic Affairs and Interprofessional Initiatives, Rita D’Aoust, PhD, ACNP, ANP-BC, CNE, FAANP, FNAP, to speak at two out of seven webinar series. They were invited to participate for demonstrating leadership in military and veteran education and research and for the USF College of Nursing’s reputation as a leader in veterans healthcare. Rossiter, along with Dr. Morrison-Beedy and Dr. D’Aoust, were also part of the Joining Forces Webinar Series: Teaching Nursing Students to Care for Veterans  Part VI on April 24, 2013.

“We participated to support the Joining Forces campaign,” Rossiter said. “Many colleges of nursing are looking for ways to meet the challenge to educate nurses to care for the active duty and veteran population.  USF College of Nursing has become a leader in veteran health care, by creating initiatives such as RESTORE LIVES: Education and Research to Rehabilitate and Restore the Lives of Veterans, Service Members, and their Families, which helps develop life enhancing treatments through nursing research, and educate nurses with the knowledge and skills specific to the needs of treating veterans and service members. We were joining forces before Joining Forces was cool–we have had multiple veteran initiatives in place long before the Joining Forces campaign started.  Because of this, other colleges and universities are looking at us to see how they can develop and implement curriculum into their programs.”

Before speaking at the webinar series, faculty members from USF College of Nursing participated in a series of military and veteran focused presentations at AACN. Rossiter presented at the AACN Baccalaureate Conference in November 2012 in San Antonio, TX, and Dr. Graves presented at the AACN Master’s Conference in March 2013 in Orlando, Florida. In addition, USF Nursing Dean Morrison-Beedy, presented at the AACN Deans Conference in March 2013 in Washington, DC.

“We are meeting the challenge–our PhD researchers are creating the knowledge; the DNPs are translating the knowledge; our nurse practitioners and nurses are delivering the care; and our nurse educators and leaders are disseminating the knowledge and educating our students,” Dr. Graves said.

For more information on the Joining Forces webinar series click here.

 -RESTORE LIVES at USF Nursing-

Through ‘RESTORE LIVES: Education and Research to Rehabilitate and Restore the Lives of Veterans, Service Members, and their Families,’ USF College of Nursing faculty develop life enhancing treatments through nursing research, and educate nurses with the knowledge and skills specific to the needs of treating veterans and service members with innovative solutions, and conduct research specific to veteran and military health issues through training nursing leaders within military, and educating nurses at all levels in the special needs of the military, veterans and their families. For more information on RESTORE LIVES or the other priorities  at the USF College of Nursing visit  health.usf.edu/nursing/priorities

Budhrani, P. H. (Feb. 2013). Shades of survivorship, the importance of symptom survivorship in cancer survivors. Podium presentation in Belize City, Belize.

Morrison-Beedy, D. (2013, March). Joining Forces: Teaching Students to Care for Veterans. Podium presentation at the 2013 American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Spring Annual Meeting at the Fairmont Washington DC Hotel in Washington D.C.

Nelson, L., McCready, L., Gesink, D., Asnaran, K., Morrison-Beedy, D. Boakye-Yiadom, N. (2013, March). Associations between co-parenting, gender equity attitudes and sexual risk among adolescent mothers and the biological fathers of their children. Podium presentation at the Society for Adolescent Health & Medicine (SAHM) Annual Scientific Meeting at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, GA.

Chandler, R., Anstey, E., James, B., & Morrison-Beedy, D. (2013, February). The testimonies of black college female students about their HIV prevention intervention needs. Poster presentation at 2013 Southern Nursing Research Society (SNRS) Annual Conference at Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas.

D’Aoust, R. F. (2013, April). Simulation Based Evaluation of Interprofessional Teamwork Collaboration and Communication. Poster presentation at the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) 39th Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA.

University of South Florida College of Nursing Nurse Anesthesia Master’s Program student, Kelle Logan, RN, BSN, SRNA, has been invited to present at the Veteran Affairs for Nurse Anesthetists (AVANA) Annual National Meeting in Portland, Ore. on April 23 through 26, 2013. Logan will present a  lecture on Anesthetic Implications for Ventricular Assist Device Patients.

“I recognized this meeting as an excellent opportunity to inform VA anesthesia personnel of the anesthetic implications of ventricular assist device patients,” Logan said. “Several VA centers across the nation are ventricular assist device centers and the number of implanting hospitals continues to increase. Due to the improvement of technology, and increase in the number of patients with VADs, it is imperative for the anesthesia provider to maintain a general knowledge base on how to care for this patient population.”

Logan has presented at other conferences and workshops including Pan-American Ventricular Assist Device and Transplant Workshop, Tides American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Annual Conference, and Tampa General Hospital (TGH).

“Caring for ventricular assist device patients has had a profound impact on my nursing career,” Logan said. “Although my dream of becoming a nurse anesthetist will soon be met, I will never forget what I learned from these patients. Facing advanced heart failure, these patients exude bravery and compassion.  I feel informing anesthesia professionals about ventricular assist devices is my commitment as an advocate for this specialized population of patients.”

Logan is currently on clinical rotation at the James A. Haley VA and expects to graduate in Dec. 2013.

To see Logan’s full citation click here.

Logan, K. (2013, April). Anesthetic Implications for Ventricular Assist Device Patients. Guided lecture presentation at the Veteran Affairs for Nurse Anesthetists (AVANA) Annual National Meeting in Portland, Oregon.

McMillan, S. (2012, November). Trajectory of opioid-induced constipation: A nurse-sensitive outcome. Oral presentation at the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) 2012 Connections Conference at Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

Visovsky, C. (2012, November). Physical activity and mental health among survivors: The Breast Cancer Collaborative Registry study. Oral presentation at the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) 2012 Connections Conference at Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona.