learning Together to Improve Care - University of Virginia School of

Also Inside:
The Tools to Lead
Annual Report 2008–09
Fall 2009
Learning Together
to Improve Care
From the Dean
Creating Resilient Practitioners
A kind mentor once shared with me that all new deans are anthropologists. Studying the
culture of their institutions and learning the customs is always a first step. So after one year at the
School of Nursing, what have I discovered? At the University of Virginia School of Nursing, the rich
tradition of excellence in nursing education, practice, research, and service is celebrated with an eager
eye on the future.
Dean Dorrie Fontaine
But what traditions do we expand upon and strengthen as we forge new ones? Preparing
students to be part of the solution to the demands of health care reform and to engage with their
health care colleagues is essential. To that end, our faculty has focused on enticing students to a life
of creating nursing science, even as they learn the skills of caring for our most vulnerable patients,
families, and communities. We are embracing the calls to create a new generation of nursing leaders
who will stand shoulder to shoulder with their fellow health professionals. Building on our 108-year
legacy of excellence, we will graduate nurses who enthusiastically engage in the “big team science”
called for by the NIH. Our nurses will join and lead teams to change the future of health care.
In this issue of Legacy, you will read about emerging traditions that align well with the work of
the University’s Commission on the Future. We will strengthen the undergraduate experience by
expanding research and service opportunities, assisted by generous support from the Jefferson Trust.
Our students will catch the enthusiasm of our faculty for creating science and making discoveries.
Since science is created and patient care is delivered in teams, you will read about our new culture of
interprofessional education and our goal that every student can take advantage of all the resources of
this great university.
Recently, I spent eight days at a Upaya Institute Zen Buddhist Retreat, learning better care for the
dying. Through a generous gift from a friend of the School of Nursing, several faculty and nurses from
the UVA Health System joined 40 other nurses, physicians, and chaplains in a program called “Being
with Dying.” As I practiced mindfulness and learned the value and the art of contemplative practices
with my colleagues, I came to greater clarity about what we can all do together when our intention
remains to end suffering.
A first step is creating resilient practitioners. With our goal of adding mindfulness training
along with these new traditions of engaging undergraduates in creating science and encouraging
interprofessional education, we will be doing just that. We thank you for your continued support and
rely on your encouragement for our future work together. Please let me know your thoughts at dorrie.
[email protected].
Dorrie Fontaine
Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing and Dean
News
2
Fall 2009
Worth Noting
Find up-to-date news from the School of Nursing.
Editor
Julie Goodlick
Communications Editor
Dory Hulse
7
Read the latest updates on Nursing Alumni Association members, awards,
and activities.
Managing Editor
Lynn Woodson
Editorial Advisers
Victoria Brunjes (BSN ’98), Reba Moyer
Childress (BSN ’79, MSN ’91, FNP ’92),
Emily Drake (BSN ’85, MSN ’93), Randy
Jones (BSN ’00, MSN ’02, PhD ’05),
Lisa Kelley (BSN ’99), Traci Kelly (BSN ’10),
Emily Kusiak (BSN ’10), Emma McKim
Mitchell (MSN ’08, PhD ’10), Dorothy
Tullmann
Class Notes & News Editor
Elisangela Blevins
From the Nursing Alumni Association
Features
12
Learning Together to Improve Care
UVA’s Interprofessional Education Initiative promotes joint educational
experiences for nursing and medical students.
17
New Tools to Lead
Undergraduate research brings renewed vibrancy to the School of Nursing.
Design
Roseberries
Contributing Writers
Anna Tubbs Emery, Julie Goodlick,
Dory Hulse, Kathleen Valenzi Knaus,
Lynn Woodson; proofing by Gail Wiley
Photographers
Dan Addison, Elisangela Blevins, Anna
Tubbs Emery, Dory Hulse, Coe Sweet
Virginia Legacy is published
two times a year by the University of
Virginia School of Nursing and Nursing
Alumni Association.
University of Virginia School of Nursing
Alumni and Development Office
P.O. Box 800826
Charlottesville, VA 22908-0826
(434) 924-0138
(434) 982-3699 FAX
e-mail: [email protected]
20
Impact: Nursing Research
See how research at UVA is effecting change in nursing models for prevention,
practice, and policy.
28
Giving Summary and Annual Report for 2008–09
We thank our generous donors for the past year and offer a snapshot of the
year’s finances.
In Every issue
5
Student in Focus
24 Philanthropy
Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor
of Nursing and Dean
Dorrie Fontaine, RN, PhD, FAAN
25
Class Notes and News
University of Virginia School of Nursing
Established in 1901
26 Alumni in Action
Main Switchboard: (434) 924-2743
Admissions & Student Services
Toll-free: (888) 283-8703
33
Virginia Moments
Visit us on the web at
www.nursing.virginia.edu.
Feedback Welcome!
Please let us know what you think about
this issue of Virginia Legacy by writing to
us at [email protected] or the
address above.
Virginia Legacy is published using
private funds.
Printed on 10% postconsumer recycled paper
Cert no. SW-COC-002370
On the cover: Nursing student
Michael Mercer and medical
student Harmony Caton
collaborate in the clinic.
At right: Student Jess Keim
Virginia Legacy
1•
The Kluges’ gift will support two collaborative professorships—
one in the School of Nursing and one in the School of Medicine.
Worth Noting
News from the School of Nursing
Fostering Compassion in End-of-Life Care
F
or many patients nearing the end
of their lives, the experience brings
profound moments of self-reflection and, too
often, unnecessary pain. Nurses caring for
these patients need to know how to provide
John and Tussi Kluge are supporting new compassionate care initiatives.
•2
compassionate support during this challenging
time. A generous new $3 million gift from Tussi
and John Kluge will help the School of Nursing
better prepare caregivers to support patients
through complex end-of-life issues.
The Kluges’ gift will support two
collaborative professorships—one in the School
of Nursing and one in the School of Medicine.
A $2 million portion will fund the Tussi and
John Kluge Professorship in Contemplative
End-of-Life Care in the School of Nursing.
Virginia Legacy This professorship will provide instructional
resources for assisting students in building the
appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes
needed to address end-of-life issues among
patients and their families.
According to Dean Dorrie Fontaine, the
professorship will support the integration
of compassionate, contemplative care into
clinical practice, education, research, and
policy. Relevant educational content may
include ethics, end-of-life decision making,
caregiver resiliency, cross-cultural beliefs
surrounding death, and the exploration of
traditional medicine and emerging integrative
therapies for coping with pain, suffering, and
grief. Additional activities may include new
course development, colloquia and lecture
support, and financial assistance for related
workshops and conferences.
“A major focus will be teaching and
learning in interprofessional formats with
faculty and students from nursing and medicine
and other schools across the University,” says
Fontaine. “We expect the professorship to bring
about changes in care across the lifespan and
throughout UVA and the Health System.”
Tussi Kluge has a longstanding relationship
with the School of Nursing. She has worked with
faculty to foster a growing nursing resiliency
program and opened her home for nursing
faculty and student retreats. Recently, she
funded the renovation of a reflection/resilience
room in McLeod Hall, where she frequently
joins a weekly meditation group.
“Tussi Kluge is an inspiring woman, a
health care provider herself, who is committed
to holistic care that takes into account the
Fall 2009
worth noting
physical and psychological well-being of both
patients and their caregivers,” says Fontaine.
“I look forward to the meaningful work our
collaboration will make possible.”
“This initiative is an essential step toward
reclaiming the heart of health care,” says Kluge.
“Through the collaboration of nursing and
medicine, dying people will receive mindful,
compassionate care and clinicians will receive
support to keep alive their calling to service.”
A NASDAQ Salute to Nursing
L
ast May, in celebration of National Nurses
Week, Dean Dorrie Fontaine rang the
closing bell at NASDAQ. Speaking before the
group assembled, Fontaine recognized the
contributions of nurses in clinical practice,
education, research, and health policy. A
video highlighting UVA nursing played on
the NASDAQ MarketSite Tower at Times
Square. The event was made possible thanks
to Don Johnson (BSN ’80), a recently retired
NASDAQ managing director.
Better Designs for Health
Care? New Course Offers
Fresh Ideas
S
olving complex problems in the
health care setting can take a multitude
of skills. And such issues aren’t always solved
by the nurses and doctors who work there.
A graduate elective bio-innovation course
in the School of Nursing, now in its second
year, is teaching nursing students and their
peers from across Grounds how to resolve
problems in the health care environment using
an interdisciplinary approach.
Take, for example, the problem of reducing
possible contaminates in UVA’s operating
rooms. One team in the bio-innovation class—
representing students from the UVA Schools
of Nursing, Architecture, Engineering, and
Business—set out to tackle this issue. They
began by defining the scope of the problem,
doing a literature search about the issue, then
analyzing all of the personnel activity patterns,
and the various supply pathways coming into
and going out of the OR.
Together, they worked to come up with
creative solutions, including painting doors
www.nursing.virginia.edu
Faculty and friends gathered in New York to celebrate NASDAQ’s salute to nursing.
connected to sterile areas either red or green
by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson
indicating whether or not they should be
Foundation.
accessed. They also suggested moving some
“This is a relatively new area,” notes
team members out of the sterile area and
Conway, “but UVA has an exciting program.
substituting an intercom system as a means
Our program differs from the others in several
of sharing information instead. In addition,
ways. We include a business element to our
they recommended a reconfiguration of each
studies, and we have two MBA-educated
OR suite to keep surgical patients farther away
professors working on the faculty team. What
from doorways, where pathogens are most
is most important, our students work to solve
likely to enter. A number of these suggestions
real clinical problems, not ones developed by
may be implemented. The class brought an
faculty.”
enthusiastic response
from the students, who
enjoyed having real-life
problems to solve, as
well as from the staff,
who were eager to have
assistance in improving
patient outcomes and their
workplace.
Course instructor
Deborah Conway and
her colleagues from
UVA’s architecture and
bioengineering programs
were recently asked to
present their program at a
national Interprofessional
E d u c a t i o n i n He a l t h
Virginia Commissioner of Health Karen Remley, MD, (center, in white) is joined
Care Design Think Tank
by family of the late Catherine Strader McGehee after speaking at McLeod
o r g a n i z e d by E m o r y
Auditorium last spring as the 2009 Catherine Strader McGehee Memorial
University and Georgia
Lecturer. Remley addressed infant mortality and childhood obesity as key
challenges within the Commonwealth.
Te c h a n d s u p p o r t e d
Virginia Legacy
3•
worth noting
Faculty Achievements
R
eba Moyer Childress (BSN ’79, MSN ’91,
FNP ’92) presented at the 8th Annual
International Nursing Simulation/Learning
Resource Centers Conference, where she also
received the Sigma Theta Tau International
Nursing Honor Society, Beta Kappa Chapter’s,
Re s e a rc h Di s s e m i n a t i o n Aw a rd . He r
presentation focused on collaborative work
between the UVA Schools of Nursing, Medicine,
and Engineering to design, build, and test a
computerized prostate simulator that can be
used for teaching how to conduct prostate
examinations. Childress was also invited to
speak at an Advanced Initiatives in Medical
Simulation conference on nursing education
and medical simulation.
Enrollment Snapshot: 2009–10
358 Undergraduate
students
First-year students: 61
Second-year students: 74
Third-year students: 91
Fourth-year students: 92
RN to BSN students: 40
197 Master’s program
students
Nurse Practitioner: 92
Clinical Nurse Leader: 51
Clinical Nurse Specialist: 27
Community and Public Health
Leadership/Health Systems
Management: 27
15 Post-master’s
students
36 Doctor of Nursing
Practice (DNP) students
39 Doctor of
Philosophy (PhD)
students
See the School of Nursing website at
www.nursing.virginia.edu for
a complete listing of all programs.
•4
Virginia Legacy Barbara Parker, Sarah Anderson, and Jamela Martin (seated, with baby) traveled to the Congo to research health issues of
women and children.
Dean Dorrie Fontaine participated in a
live radio interview with Montel Williams while
attending the American Association of Critical
Care Nurses’ National Teaching Institute last
spring. She also unveiled the ninth edition of
Critical Care Nursing: A Holistic Approach,
which she co-edited.
Beth Merwin and Marianne Baernholdt
presented on rural health issues at the third
annual Hong Kong Nursing Forum, Promoting
the Health of Well and At Risk Populations:
Policy, Practice, and Research.
Arlene Keeling (BSN ’74, MSN ’87, PhD
’92) has been selected to become a fellow of
the American Academy of Nursing.
Karen Rose (PhD ’06) was recently named
chair-elect of the Southern Nursing Research
Society’s Research Interest Group on Aging.
This past summer, Rose was selected, through
a highly competitive process, to attend the
National Institute on Aging’s Summer Research
Institute. She is working with third-year
nursing student Denise Landers on a related
research project, with funding from UVA’s
Institute on Aging.
Anita Thompson-Heistermann won the
2009 International Society of PsychiatricMental Health Nurses poster award for Lighting
the Way to Better Sleep: The Effects of Red Filter
Flashlights on Sleep on an Inpatient Psychiatric
Service. See related story on page 21.
Barbara Parker, the Theresa A. Thomas
Professor of Nursing; Sarah Anderson (BSN
’92, MSN ’97, PhD ’07), nursing professor
and a forensic nurse in UVA’s Department of
Emergency Medicine; and nursing doctoral
student Jamela Martin (BSN ’04) traveled to
the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they
conducted interviews regarding the health of
the women and children living there.
Clay Hysell received a grant award of
$98,898 from the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services to support 2009–10 graduate
scholarships through the Advanced Education
Nurse Traineeship program. Scholarships
provided through these grants benefit students
pledging to work in underserved areas,
including the Tidewater region of Virginia,
the Shenandoah Valley, southside Virginia,
southwest Virginia, and West Virginia. This
year’s grant represents an approximate increase
of 5 percent from 2008.
Cathy Campbell and Marianne Baernholdt
received the Oscar and Ruth Lanford Research
Award for their study comparing patient and
family satisfaction with hospice care and
examining associations between satisfaction
and patient demographics, rural/urban
location, and content of hospice care. This
is a joint venture with Haven Hospice in
Gainesville, Fla.
Marianne Baernholdt has been appointed
to the core steering group for the International
Council of Nurses (ICN) Rural and Remote
Nurses Network. The core steering group has 14
members, averaging only two members from
each country represented. Baernholdt also
presented at ICN’s Congress in Durban, South
Africa. The presentation was funded in part
by the International Research Collaboration
Fall 2009
worth noting
Award from the School of Nursing’s Lancaster
Fund for Faculty Excellence.
Former faculty member Barbara Brodie
has been named one of four Living Legends
for 2009 by the American Academy of Nursing
(AAN). The Living Legend designation
recognizes extraordinary AAN Fellows who
have demonstrated impressive and sustained
contributions to nursing and health care
throughout their careers.
Connie Lee was recently named to a twoyear appointment as Director of Diversity
Initiatives for the UVA Medical Center and
the School of Nursing.
Marilu Dixon (BSN ’77, PNP ’81), part of
UVA’s wound, ostomy, and continence team,
received the Nurse of Distinction Award from
the University of Virginia Health System during
National Nurses Week.
Diane Boyer (BSN ’80, DNP ’12) and
Cathy Campbell were chosen as Academic
Community Engagement Faculty Fellows for
their proposal Appalachian Partnership for
Pain Management. They will be developing a
course based on their proposal.
Student in Focus
Jess Keim (CNL ’08, PhD ’12)
After earning her master’s in Public
Health Science from UVA in 2005, Jess Keim
found herself at a crossroads. She knew she
wanted to pursue advanced studies in the field
of health care, but wasn’t sure whether
medicine or nursing would be a better fit.
After graduation, she worked in the UVA
Clinical Trials office, and it was her exposure to
Jess Keim
nurses in this setting that helped her find her path.
“Nurses were able to spend more time with the patients,” says Keim. “Often, they acted as
navigators, helping patients through their cancer journey.”
Keim went on to complete the clinical nurse leader (CNL) program and then entered directly
into the School’s PhD program. An unusual path, Keim acknowledges, but one that made sense
for her. Her dissertation focuses on patients with advanced stage melanoma, a population that
faces a five-year survival rate of 15 percent or less. She hopes to learn what factors affect their
treatment decisions.
The decision-making process is particularly relevant for nurses, who often “walk into
situations where patients are trying to process facts and treatment options given by their
physicians,” says Keim. “Helping patients understand how their values and goals can help them
make decisions is a natural role for a nurse.”
Students Write from
Experience
K
risti Glakas (BSN ’09) took first place in
this year’s Creative Writing Contest for
UVA Nursing Students with her essay “Growing
Pains.” She read her essay for broadcast on
the regional National Public Radio station.
Eleanor Bergland (BSN ’09) took second
place with her essay “A Warm Hand to Hold,”
while Amy Nylund (BSN ’09) took third place
honors for her essay “As Simple As A Bath,”
and first place for her poem “Leaving Free.”
You can read the winning pieces online at
www.nursing.virginia.edu/CreativeWriting.
Assistant professor Jeanne Erickson
established the contest in 2002 to encourage
nursing students to use writing as a tool to help
process, understand, and share their clinical
experiences. The contest is supported by the
Nursing Annual Fund.
What’s Up in
McLeod?
Excerpt from “Growing Pains”
There is a language going on in my head that only belongs to these hours, that I can
only understand when I lay hands on a patient. I hear it when I’m doubled over the
dressing on a pressure sore, or when I’m massaging cream onto an open facial rash. I
hear it when a patient cries because she wants to go home and I’m the one she cries to.
It speaks to me the most clearly when I am leaning over her chest, all noise shut out
completely, and I hear the entrancing lub-lub of her heart, the swishing, humming
that I love.
Lots of activity. Renovations
began last summer, with plans for
a new food commons. For up-todate information, visit our website
at: www.nursing.virginia.edu/
expansion.
—Kristi Glakas, first-place essay
2009 Creative Writing Contest for UVA Nursing Students
www.nursing.virginia.edu
Virginia Legacy
5•
worth noting
Faculty and Students Step
Up to Support RAM
T
hanks to a host of capable volunteers,
the 2009 Remote Access Medical (RAM)
Clinic in Wise, Va., set a new patient record. By
5:30 a.m. on Friday, July 24, some 1,600 people
were already waiting in line with various health
care needs. Dean Dorrie Fontaine, nursing
and medical faculty, 17 nursing students, and
18 medical students were among the 1,746
volunteers, many from UVA, who provided care
to 2,715 patients in 5,598 treatment encounters.
This marks a 21 percent increase over last year’s
clinic. For patients who are uninsured or living
in areas that are medically underserved, the
RAM Clinic may offer the only health care they
receive this year.
Some of the nursing students joined
medical students in preparing for RAM
by participating in classes co-taught by
Audrey Snyder, assistant professor of nursing,
and Scott Syverud, professor of emergency
medicine. The students rotated through various
services on site, including assessment, client
education, and advocacy roles.
“The nurses, physicians, nurse practitioners, and other health system volunteers
participating in the RAM event provide ex-
Audrey Snyder consults with a nursing student on next steps.
cellent role models for service learning and
interdisciplinary collaboration to the nursing
and medical students who participate,” says
Snyder.
Five nursing students enrolled in the
Exploring Culture and Healthcare Access
elective course and completed special
•6
Virginia Legacy Nursing faculty and students work together with patients at the annual RAM clinic.
patient education projects through RAM. One
created laminated dental education cards, two
developed a smoking cessation poster, and two
collaborated on a nutrition board game and
coloring books. For children and adults waiting
in long lines, the game helped to pass the time
while raising awareness of
nutrition issues.
“All students should
attend a RAM event,” wrote
one nursing student in a
follow-up evaluation. “It is
an opportunity to practice
skills and assessments,
e x p e r i e n c e a d i f f e re n t
culture, and look at health
care reform issues firsthand.
I truly valued mixing nursing
and medical students in the
learning environment. I now
feel like I have a partnership
with medical students that
I have never experienced
before.”
“The most beneficial part was in meeting
the patients,” wrote another student. “I saw
how they stood in line for hours, often not
having eaten, and with many small children
in tow. They slept in fields, in cars, overnight,
some in wheelchairs, some with babies. They
were so desperate to receive care.”
Unrestricted Giving
Bridges the Gap
M
ost giving to the School of Nursing
is designated, or restricted, for specific
purposes, such as funding a program or
center. These gifts usually address specialized
priorities and provide essential support for
vital School needs.
To meet broader, overarching goals, the
School seeks a certain amount of unrestricted
support. These flexible gifts are a meaningful
way to drive innovation, providing pilot
funding for novel teaching projects, special aid
for students, or seed money for new research
efforts. Unrestricted funds serve as a hedge
against uncertainty, bridging national and
state funding gaps and weathering economic
shifts.
The Nursing Annual Fund is the largest
source of unrestricted support for the School.
This year, 1,496 individuals contributed
$307,403 to the Nursing Annual Fund. All
gifts to the Nursing Annual Fund are valuable
because they provide the dean with flexibility
to meet the emerging needs of students and
faculty. You can see a breakdown of annual fund
giving over the years on page 31. To make an
annual fund gift for this year, please use the
envelope enclosed or give online at campaign.
virginia.edu/supportnursing.
Fall 2009
From the Nursing Alumni
Association
From the President
M
Members of the 2009–10 Alumni Council (l to r)
Sharon Cumby Fay, Carolyn Jones DuVal, Marisa Kozlowski
Paul, Patricia Booth Woodard, Fran White Vasaly,
Lisa Kelley, David Strider, Mary Eckenrode Gibson, and
Amanda Cunningham
y first spring semester as Alumni
Council president was filled with School
of Nursing events that were both joyous and
inspiring.
In May at Final Exercises, I had the pleasure
of welcoming 117 BSN and 106 graduate
students into our ranks as alumni. They have
received a top notch education and are wellprepared to start their new careers. But I was
reminded of the challenges they face, especially
those in their first positions as RNs, when I
read an article about the nursing shortage in
our local newspaper. Some of these graduates
are fortunate to be in residency programs, but
those who are not will especially need support
as they learn to care for multiple patients and
make critical decisions. I encourage each of
you working in health care to seek out firstyear nurses and offer them your support
and encouragement. You could make a real
difference in their careers.
I also had wonderful experiences in
welcoming back several hundred of our fellow
nursing graduates at the Thomas Jefferson
Society Reunion in May and at Reunions
Weekend in June. Though I am fortunate to
spend time on Grounds regularly, I was able to
see through the eyes of those farther away when
I celebrated my own 40th Reunion in June. I was
thrilled to visit with some classmates I had not
seen since our days together in McKim Hall!
I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed
reconnecting with old friends and meeting
new ones, visiting with our earliest alumni at
the T.J. Society luncheon and welcoming the
Class of 2009 at Pinning. Seeing the continuum
of Virginia nursing excellence confirmed for
me why I enjoy being active with the Alumni
Association. Won’t you, too, share in the joy
and the pride our School offers us? I hope to
see many of you next year at Reunions—or at
any of the other activities that bring us together
to cherish our shared experiences and honor
the School that gave us so much.
Patricia Booth Woodard (BSN ’69)
Virginia Beach
www.nursing.virginia.edu
Virginia Legacy
7•
from the NAA
midwifery at UVA, Shenandoah University, and
Salisbury University.
She “retired” to the Bahamas, where she
has dedicated her time and energy to working
with the local hospital while teaching nursing
at the College of the Bahamas. Recently, she
has worked with pregnant teens. DeLashmutt
has volunteered countless hours to provide
free in-service training to local nurses, consult
with nursing administrators, provide childbirth
classes to families, and serve as a doula for many
childbirths. She is recognized as a role model
to nurses and others in her community and a
positive influence on island health care.
Young Alumni Award
Dean Dorrie Fontaine congratulates outstanding alumni Mary DeLashmutt and Peter Hill.
Recognizing Outstanding Alumni
E
verywhere you find them, UVA
nursing alumni are making a difference
in the lives they touch. Many are leaders in
clinical practice, teaching, research, or other
aspects of the nursing profession. Two of these
outstanding graduates received 2009 Nursing
Alumni Association Awards during Reunions
Weekend last spring.
Distinguished Alumni Award
This award is presented to an alumna or
alumnus who has demonstrated outstanding
contributions in scholarship and teaching,
leadership, clinical practice, research, and/or
contributions to the nursing profession. After
receiving her nursing degree from UVA, this
year’s recipient, Mary B. DeLashmutt (BSN
’67), earned masters degrees in science and
moral theology from Columbia University
and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, and a PhD in
nursing from George Mason University. Her
research on the spiritual needs of homeless
mothers raising children led her to develop
clinical experiences for nursing students in
homeless shelters.
DeLashmutt practiced as a certified nurse
midwife in eastern West Virginia and western
Virginia, providing care to an underserved
population of women needing both family
planning and pre-natal services. She went on
to practice in labor and delivery nursing at
hospitals in Northern Virginia for over 30 years.
DeLashmutt also taught maternity nursing and
This award is presented to an alumna or
alumnus who has graduated within the last
ten years and who has provided significant
contributions to clinical nursing practice,
teaching, research, or leadership. This year’s
recipient, Peter G. Hill (BSN ’01, MSN ’04),
established a solo nurse practitioner family
practice, the Elkton Family & Children’s
Medical Clinic, in the small town of Elkton,
Va. He was nominated for “his warm and
embracing welcome to the patients within
his waiting room” and applauded as “a
champion in advanced nursing practice who
provides excellence in care to the most needy
in his community regardless of time, effort, or
personal cost.” Hill has also offered clinical
learning opportunities to UVA nursing students,
allowing them hands-on experience in the
challenges of a vulnerable, socio-economically
distressed rural population. Hill originally came
to UVA through the RN-to-BSN program.
In June, ABC News aired Questions for the President:
Prescription for America, a program focused on health care
reform that featured a question-and-answer exchange with
President Obama. Fay Raines (BSN ’71, MSN ’74), president of
the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), was
invited to participate. Raines was joined by various experts in
health care, including a nursing student, Hershaw Davis, who
has been accepted to UVA to begin work on his MSN in 2010.
•8
AACN Representatives attending the White House event (from left): Dr. Janet Allan,
Dr. Vernell DeWitty, Fay Raines, Lauren Underwood, and Suzanne Begeny.
Virginia Legacy Fall 2009
from the naa
Honoring Exceptional Faculty
T
Innovative Teaching Awards
he School of Nursing Alumni
Association sponsors annual awards
to recognize faculty members for superior
accomplishments in teaching, research,
and service. Nominations are reviewed by
a committee of nursing alumni with input
from faculty. Award winners receive a cash
award and are recognized at several events
throughout the year.
Each year, the Nursing Alumni Council funds
creative projects that enhance and improve
the curriculum and the learning experiences
of nursing students. For 2009–10, the following
awards were made:
n “Using Simulation Technologies to Enhance
Acute Care Performance and Management”—
Sarah Delgado, Audrey Snyder, Reba Moyer
Childress
The Distinguished Professor Award went to Patricia Hollen.
n “What Is It That I Hear? Enhancing Acquisition
of Physiologic Organ Sounds Through Use of
Innovative Teaching”—Randy Jones, Reba
Moyer Childress
Sarah Farrell received the Faculty Leadership Award.
Faculty Leadership Award
The Faculty Leadership Award recognizes
School of Nursing faculty who have
distinguished themselves as leaders in the
nursing profession through their outstanding
contributions in research, legislative influence,
clinical service, or scholarly work. This year’s
recipient is Sarah Farrell (BSN ’81, MSN ’83),
associate dean for academic programs.
T he a wa rd s sel ection com mittee
commends Farrell as “an amazing faculty leader
who serves as a role model for the professional
nursing discipline, mentoring others, advocating
for clinical research, and supporting a robust
information technology infrastructure.”
David Strider (BSN ’89, MSN ’92, ACNP ’97),
awards committee chair, adds: “The University
of Virginia School of Nursing has benefitted from
her many contributions and commitment to
high quality nursing education.”
Distinguished Professor Award
The Distinguished Professor Award recognizes
superior accomplishments in teaching, research,
or service that directly benefit the School of
Nursing and UVA. This year’s recipient, professor
Patricia Hollen (BSN ’67, PNP ’71), is honored
www.nursing.virginia.edu
n
“Healthy Appalachia: Advanced Practice
Nursing Preceptorships in the Virginia
Coalfields”—Elke Zschaebitz
n
“Utilizing Experiential Learning to Foster
Communication, Leadership and Peer/
Faculty Relationships in the Clinical
Setting”—Kristi Gott
Marianne Baernholdt was recognized for excellence in
teaching.
n “Resilience for Nursing Students: Developing
for her kind and professional mentoring of
students and her ability to inspire nursing
scholars. As principal investigator for several
large, federally funded research projects, Hollen
has become known for her high expectations of
herself and others and for engendering a high
level of respect and fostering effective team
building in her groups.
Program Excellence”—Gina DeGennaro,
Edie Barbero, Cynthia Brown
n “Combining Interactive Computer Instruction
with Lecture for Teaching Congenital Heart
Defects”—Mary O’Laughlen
n “Connecting Student Learning and Evidence-
Based Practice Through Implementation and
Evaluation of a Health Fair for Members of
Blue Ridge Clubhouse”—Anita ThompsonHeisterman, Rebecca Harmon, Reba Moyer
Childress
Excellence in Teaching Award
The Excellence in Teaching Award recognizes
superior teaching at the undergraduate level.
Assistant professor Marianne Baernholdt,
this year’s recipient, is recognized for her
commitment to “curricular excellence.” One
student also commended her “ability to distill
complex ideas and broaden the idea of nursing
as a practice that extends beyond direct patient
care to encompass the health care system,
policy decisions, and the community.”
Nominations for both the alumni and
faculty awards are accepted at any time of year.
Find nomination guidelines online at www.
nursing.virginia.edu/alumni/awards.
n “Let’s
Play: Teaching Students and Parents
How to Encourage Play to Promote Healthy
Development”—Vickie Southall
n
“Pharmacology Field Trips”—Elizabeth
Epstein
Virginia Legacy
9•
from the NAA
Reunions 2009
Reunions 2009
Memories Made and Shared
Attendance and enthusiasm ran high
at School of Nursing reunions last spring. In
May, nearly 140 alumni and guests attended the
Thomas Jefferson Society Reunion luncheon.
Members of the Class of 1959 were welcomed
into the T.J. Society, while they also celebrated
the completion of 10 years of fund raising to
fully endow the Anne Pollok Hemmings Clinical
Excellence Fund.
At June Reunions, the School of Nursing
set a new record for attendance. Across all
activities—Saturday luncheon, building tours,
and Sunday brunch—the School welcomed back
186 alumni and their families and guests.
Virginia “Gib” Pulley shares a laugh with Jane Trevillian Nott
at their 45th reunion.
The BSN Class of 1959, then
(above), and at this year’s
T.J. Reunion (left).
Joan Eubank Decosmo and Sue Fishel Ramzy, Class of 1974,
sample the barbecue at the Nursing Reunions luncheon.
Amy Alderman enjoys reconnecting with fellow members of
the Class of 2004 at their five-year reunion.
Do you have photographs, letters, or other memorabilia from your time as a UVA nursing student or from the early days of your nursing
career? Consider donating these items to the Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry to add to your Reunion experience and to help preserve
nursing history. For more information, contact the CNHI staff at [email protected] or (434) 924-0083.
• 10
Virginia Legacy Fall 2009
Reunions 2010
Reunions 2010
Looking
Ahead
Save the Dates
Thomas Jefferson Society Reunion
May 17–19, 2010
Welcoming the Class of 1960 into the society
and honoring all current Thomas Jefferson
Society members
Visit
www.virginiareunions.com
for details from the UVA Alumni Association.
UNDERGRADUATE CLASS Reunions
June 4–6, 2010
Celebrating the classes of 1965, 1970, 1975,
1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005.
Above: From the class of 1999, celebrating their 10-year
reunion: Kristi Kimpel, Lisa Kelley, Carey Lowe Waters, and
Marisa Kozlowski Paul.
Do We Have Your
Email Address?
Help us achieve our goals to
be “greener” and leaner. Every
additional email address from alumni
and friends allows us to be better
stewards of our environment and our
financial resources. As we increase
our use of electronic communications,
we want to make sure to keep you
informed and educated about
happenings at the School of Nursing.
You can provide us with your email
address and update all other
information, as well as submit a news
note, at www.nursing.virginia.edu/
alumni/update.
www.nursing.virginia.edu
Sign Up Now! Host a 2010 ’Hoos Coming to Dinner
Do you love to entertain
or plan events? Or just
love to visit with other
UVA nursing grads? If
so, consider signing
on to help the Nursing
Alumni Association
gather groups together
across the country to
celebrate Mr. Jefferson’s birthday in April.
We are looking for hosts and co-hosts
to plan and implement a “birthday event” to
be attended by fellow nursing alumni in your
area. It doesn’t have to be dinner. Hosts may
plan lunches, cocktail receptions, backyard
barbecues, breakfasts, or coffee/dessert
gatherings. Or, you may prefer to arrange a
small dinner reservation at a restaurant, a
cookout in a local park, a casual happy hour
at a local bar, or a wine and cheese reception
at an elegant lounge. You could even set up an
on-site lunch or coffee break in a conference
room at your workplace with other UVA nurses.
Whatever you choose is fine—as long as it
brings together UVA
nursing alumni in a
shared celebration.
Your gathering
should take place
between April 13 and
18. You (and any cohosts you invite to
join you) handle the
location and any local logistics. You may choose
to cover the expenses for your gathering, or
you may ask your attendees to pitch in (such
as dutch-treat or potluck meals). The School’s
alumni office will help you with the invitation
process and some UVA materials and prizes.
Please sign up to host by February 1, 2010.
An online form is available at www.nursing.
virginia.edu/alumni/hoosdinner/, or you may
e-mail [email protected]. If you’d
like to get more information or brainstorm
event ideas, please call Amanda Cunningham
(BSN ’05), event chair, at (804) 337-2830, or
Julie Goodlick, director of alumni affairs, at
(434) 924-0084.
Virginia Legacy
11 •
Learning
Together
to Improve
Care
UVA’s Interprofessional Education Initiative
promotes joint educational experiences for nursing
and medical students
By K at h l e e n Va l e n z i K n au s
were making an
emergency landing at
Chicago’s notoriously busy O’Hare airport and discovered that the
air traffic controller didn’t speak the same language you did? How
would you assure a safe and healthy landing of the people on your
airplane?
According to UVA’s Valentina “Tina” Brashers, MD, this
hypothetical situation is no less troubling than being a young
doctor—trained in the specialized language and skills of your
profession—and finding yourself with a patient whose care requires
the language and skills of a nurse. If you were that young doctor,
would you know what to do?
For Brashers, the question is not rhetorical. Years ago, on her first
day of work at a family medicine clinic in rural Virginia, she faced a
challenge that her fellowship in pulmonary disease had not prepared
her to handle: a 14-year-old having an asthma attack arrived after
the nurses had gone home for the day. While her pulmonary training
prepared Brashers to order the correct medications, she didn’t know
how to actually administer them because nurses had always handled
that task for her.
Nursing professor Tina Brashers (center) and nursing and medical
students (clockwise from left) Alicia Dean, Michael Mercer, Harmony
Caton, Tara Albrecht, Allison Rowe, and Jim Edwards
Virginia Legacy
13 •
The next day, a woman came to the clinic complaining
of chest pain, shortness of breath, and nausea. Brashers
immediately began traditional medical evaluation and treatment
for a presumed heart attack. She was interrupted by a nurse,
who shared her knowledge of the patient’s medical, social, and
psychological history. That day was the anniversary of the death
of the woman’s husband from a heart attack. Each year on that
date, she had come to the clinic with the same complaints.
By sharing her compassionate and in-depth knowledge of the
patient, the clinic nurse helped Brashers rule out a serious
physical illness and work to reassure and support the patient.
Both of these challenges gave Brashers a new, and visceral,
appreciation for collaborative care—an appreciation that has
guided her career, both as a scholar of collaboration across
professional lines and as a teacher and practitioner of it.
The Arrival of Interprofessional Education
According to Brashers, a “remarkable juxtaposition of
pressures and events” has led to “interprofessional education”—
the term used to describe two or more professions learning
with, from, and about each other to improve collaboration and
quality of care—becoming a priority for institutions dedicated
to educating health professionals. In 1999, the Institute of
Medicine published “To Err Is Human,” a report describing
interprofessional collaboration as essential to providing safe,
effective, and efficient health care. In 2003 the Institute of
Medicine published “Health Professions Education,” a report
documenting the need for interprofessional education and citing
it as the basis for developing a “collaboration-ready workforce”
capable of addressing the crucial issues of increased access to
health care, expansion of the health care workforce, improved
quality and safety of patient care, and increased efficiency
leading to cost savings. The American Association of Colleges
of Nursing and the Association of American Medical Colleges
also now stress the need for learning that is “interdisciplinary
team-based” and that strives to educate “skilled interprofessional
teams of practitioners” while promoting “interdisciplinary
research teams.”
Even though interprofessional education, or IPE for short,
is a new and not widely recognized term, many examples
of it can already be found at UVA. One of the earliest is the
interdisciplinary Basic Patient Care Skills training program that
IPEI Subgroups & Chairs
“Administration and Development”: Christine Peterson
“Building on What Is and New Proposals”: Tina Brashers
“Grant Proposal Development”: Terry Saunders
“Marketing and Building an Institutional Culture for IPE”: Suzanne Burns
• 14
Virginia Legacy School of Medicine Dean Steven DeKosky and School of Nursing Dean Dorrie Fontaine share a
commitment to interprofessional education at UVA.
Brashers created in 1990 in order to pair medical students with
veteran nurses, emergency medical technicians, and respiratory
therapists for hands-on training in basic patient care skill areas.
Another example is the Clinical Simulation Learning Center,
directed by Reba Moyer Childress (BSN ’79, MSN ’91, FNP ’92),
which provides a variety of health care simulations for medical
and nursing students and other professionals. Yet another is the
use of nurse practitioners from the Department of Obstetrics
and Gynecology and from Student Health Gynecology Services to
instruct medical students and residents in clinical settings.
Even so, the development of IPE opportunities has been “hit
or miss,” says Dorrie Fontaine, dean of the School of Nursing. They
arose because isolated faculty acted on good ideas, but “if the
faculty went away or funding stopped, the programs disappeared.”
The interest in methodically developing and integrating
IPE into the curricula and cultures of UVA’s nursing and medical
schools began last fall, with the arrival of Fontaine as the new
nursing dean and Steven DeKosky, MD, as the new dean of the
School of Medicine.
Fontaine’s career began as a trauma/critical care “teambased” nurse in Baltimore for 15 years. She went on to
teach biomedical ethics to nursing and medical students at
Fall 2009
Georgetown University, before being appointed associate dean
for academic programs in the School of Nursing at the University
of California, San Francisco. At UCSF, Fontaine played a leading
role in efforts to improve educational collaboration. All of her
career experiences combined have influenced her decision to
make IPE a strategic priority at UVA.
As Fontaine tells it, not long after moving into her new
office in the Claude Moore Nursing Education Building, she
made a deal with DeKosky. “I told him, ‘I really care about
interprofessional education,’ and I said that if he’d support me
in advancing it here at UVA, I’d support him in advancing his
strategic goals.”
DeKosky was a willing colleague. “In my career, I learned
early on how much nurses teach doctors in the ICU and CCU,”
he says. “Most of my career has involved neurodegenerative
disorders, and the care and evaluation of those patients is always
interdisciplinary. No one takes care of them alone. There’s no
question that patients and families … expect their providers to be
able to communicate with each other and know what’s going on.”
According to the deans, few other institutions are providing
IPE. Here and there, one can find programs and departments
with IPE activities, but even though those activities are
successful, “they don’t necessarily evangelize them,” DeKosky
says. “The idea that everyone can learn from one another hasn’t
generalized yet; it hasn’t sparked. One of the ways you can try to
make the receptors more open to professional collaboration and
joint learning is to train students that way.”
Jessica Monroe demonstrates nursing procedures for medical students taking part in an
interdisciplinary training session.
IPE Initiative Takes Root
The “group” that Fontaine refers to is the one she and
DeKosky formed at the beginning of 2009. It is known as the UVA
Interprofessional Education Initiative.
“It’s hard to take a perspective on whether the
Interprofessional Education Initiative is overdue at UVA or not,
when it’s so germane and important,” says Christine Peterson,
MD, assistant dean for medical education. “Its arrival required
the right people and the right opportunities and the right
technologies coalescing at the same time. … So the way I see it,
IPE at UVA is less ‘overdue’ and more ‘its time has come.’”
Peterson is one of four people tapped to serve as co-chairs
of the initiative. The other three co-chairs are Brashers; nursing
professor Suzanne Burns (BSN ’85, MSN ’88, ACNP ’96); and Terry
Saunders, assistant professor of medical education in internal
medicine. The co-chairs are joined by eight faculty, six students,
and two administrators who serve on one of the initiative’s four
work groups. Their work is supported by Madeline “Mattie”
Schmitt, a leading expert on IPE in the United States and emerita
professor of nursing at the University of Rochester, and recently,
Frank Talbott Jr. Visiting Professor of Nursing at UVA.
“Effective interprofessional education goes hand-inhand with effective interprofessional health care delivery
in an institutional culture that fosters both,” says Schmitt.
“There are important, unified efforts underway in the UVA
Health System and the medical and nursing schools to foster
a positive culture of learning about the nature of each others’
work, effective communication, cooperation, coordination, and
the collaboration across professions that have natural links to
interprofessional educational efforts.”
The UVA team has identified five core competencies—
communication, professionalism, shared problem solving,
shared decision making, and conflict resolution—that IPE must
impart to be considered successful. These competencies deliver
a clear and concise overview of the goals for IPE at UVA, and each
can be achieved using a broad range of course or experiencespecific objectives and strategies.
Nursing student Denise Landers and medical student Sean Foster team up to help a patient at
the annual Remote Access Medical Clinic.
The same absence of systemic support for IPE has been true
at UVA. “Until we started looking around, no one had any idea
we were doing IPE as well as we’re already doing it,” Fontaine
says. “That’s why we formed this group, to really talk about the
importance of it and how to make it sustainable and integrated
and something that we, at UVA, can become known for.”
www.nursing.virginia.edu
Virginia Legacy
15 •
Eventually, IPE will be embedded in the curriculum,
beginning “from year one,” Fontaine says. As envisioned, students
will engage in a variety of activities—such as interactive teaching
experiences, E-learning activities, role plays, and shared clinical
experiences. Over time, they will master various learning levels,
from Level 1 (the acquisition of knowledge about the history,
basic role, values, training, and capabilities of their own and
other professions and the ability to communicate with ease),
through Levels 2-4 (successively, the acquisition, demonstration,
and application of teamwork competencies to effective
patient-centered care in multiple care systems), to Level 5 (the
engagement in life-long learning and self evaluation of teamwork
competencies).
Student Interest
Alicia Dean (BSN ’09) and Harmony Caton, a fourthyear medical student, both served on UVA’s inaugural
Interprofessional Education Initiative. They are both deeply
committed to the project, and say fellow students are equally
interested in seeing more IPE experiences added to the curriculum.
Dean, a native of Mansfield, Mass., and the first in her family to
attend UVA, served on the “Building on What Is and New Proposals”
work group, where she described her role as one of “listening
and making suggestions,” such as “how helpful it would be for
nursing students and medical students to shadow each other.”
Caton, who hails from New England but came to UVA after
Bice Lecture
Highlights IPE
Madeline Hubbard Schmitt,
professor emeritus of the University of
Rochester School of Nursing, was this
year’s Zula Mae Baber Bice Memorial
lecturer. Schmitt is a pioneer and leader
in interprofessional education who has
been working closely with UVA
Madeline Hubbard Schmitt
leadership and faculty on the
Interprofessional Education Initiative.
“I was struck by the variety of interprofessional learning activities
for medical, nursing, and other students already under way at UVA,”
says Schmitt. “I recognized a number of these as truly innovative and
worthy of greater visibility, not only within UVA, but more broadly. It is
a pleasure to help support the interprofessional education efforts of
UVA faculty and students by connecting their efforts to national and
international initiatives that foster interprofessional learning as a core
part of the health profession’s education.”
View Schmitt’s lecture on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/
UVAMCH.
• 16
Virginia Legacy two years in Botswana as a member of the Peace Corps, serves
on the “Marketing and Institutional Culture” work group. Last
spring, she served the committee by collecting anecdotes from
students about times they learned something valuable from
someone outside their profession. One such experience, reported
by medical student Elizabeth Elliott, describes an event that
occurred during Elliott’s acting internship in the Neonatal ICU:
“One night, on call, the respiratory therapist pulled me and the
intern aside and did a whole lecture on the types of ventilators,
ventilator settings, weaning, etc. It was extraordinarily helpful.”
Both Dean and Caton believe that building bridges between
the professions must start in the classroom. “If nursing and
medical students could get to know each other on an individual
basis, it would make it easier for them to know where the other is
coming from when they interact in the hospital,” Dean says.
“Residents eventually figure out how a nurse’s day goes, but
it seems silly to wait until you’re working as a resident to learn
that,” says Caton. “It would be more valuable to learn that while
you’re still a student, before it’s your first day on the ward.”
Besides, Caton adds, “The nurses are so invested in patient
care that they are rich in pearls of wisdom if you are willing to ask
for their advice.”
Next Steps
This fall, the UVA Interprofessional Education Initiative’s
main objective is raising awareness and interest around Grounds.
Plans are under way to create marketing materials, such as
posters and buttons, that define IPE and convey why it’s so
important. The process of educating faculty at the Schools of
Nursing and Medicine about IPE will help to embed it within the
culture of the schools and foster ongoing innovation. Grants and
gifts will be sought to ensure sustainability of programs over the
long term.
At present, there is no firm timeline yet for when IPE will be
fully developed at UVA. “We came into this knowing that all the
low-hanging fruit had been picked, and the hard work would fall
to us,” Fontaine says.
But the commitment is there, as well as the determination.
“This will take time,” DeKosky admits, “but luckily, I’m not an
impatient person. I’m okay working slowly. The important thing
is that we make this sustainable so that it survives long after
Dorrie and I are gone.”
Which suits students just fine. Even though she only got
a small taste of IPE while studying at UVA, Alicia Dean sees its
long-term value. “As we move into the future,” she says, “IPE will
become more and more important to potential nursing students
evaluating where they want to go to school. They’re going to
be asking questions like ‘How are you working and interacting
with medical students and doctors?’ I think the answer to that
question could really make or break a student’s decision to apply.
The fact that UVA will be able to bring up IPE with new and
prospective students is invaluable.”
Fall 2009
New
Tools
to
Lead
By A n n a T u bb s E m e r y
Undergraduate research brings renewed
vibrancy to the School of Nursing
Nursing student Michelle Dorsey interviews patients to
gather firsthand research for her project.
A
s momentum grows to revamp, if not overhaul, the
nation’s health care system, it’s difficult to predict exactly
what challenges tomorrow’s nurses will face.
Yet one thing will remain constant. Nursing leaders will
continue to draw on research as one of their most effective and
essential tools in enacting change. As the science of nursing plays
a growing role in shaping practice, students within the School
of Nursing are becoming engaged at much earlier stages in their
education.
“Undergraduates are creative, have new ideas, and see
things from a different perspective,” says Beth Merwin, associate
dean of research and director of the School’s Rural Health Care
Research Center. “They bring energy to a project, and ask different
questions. All of these qualities are essential to research.”
Gaining Focus with Support of Faculty
Each year, a handful of nursing undergraduates pursue their
own independent research within the framework of the School’s
distinguished majors program. The questions these students ask
in their work are ambitious and diverse.
But even those who arrive on Grounds with a natural
inclination towards independent study are often unsure where to
start. Nursing faculty play a pivotal role in engaging these students.
Through their lectures and in more informal interactions, they
help students conceptualize the role of a nursing researcher.
“I knew I wanted to leave my mark on UVA,” says fourth-year
student Michelle Dorsey. “Doing my own research seemed the
clearest avenue.”
Dorsey took an obstetrics class co-taught by Mary Gibson
(BSN ’75, MSN ’86), assistant professor, that piqued her interest.
She decided to focus her distinguished majors project on the
relationship between prenatal health care and infant outcomes.
Specifically, she wanted to investigate these themes in Cabell
County, WVa.
“I was born there and still have family ties,” she says. “My
connection to the Appalachian culture led me to investigate
why the relatively high rates of prenatal care
in the area do not translate into better infant
outcomes.”
She turned to nursing faculty, including
Merwin, for help in developing and focusing
her ideas.
“Dr. Merwin provided me with the
resources necessary to make my research
happen,” she says. “She gave me articles to read,
sent me to research conferences, and directed
me to different resources around Grounds.”
Merwin also helped her prepare her
application for the prestigious, University-wide
Harrison Undergraduate Research Awards
program, designed to remove the financial
barriers that often exist for students who want
to pursue their own research over the summer.
Dorsey received a Harrison award, and
spent this past summer in West Virginia,
interviewing patients at a Cabell County
hospital. This fall, she is again working with
Merwin, Gibson, and other nursing faculty
to compile and analyze the information she
gathered. In the spring, she’ll formally present
her findings to the University community,
• 18
Virginia Legacy hopefully inspiring other nursing students to apply to the
distinguished majors program.
Her research helped Dorsey focus her plans following
graduation. “This project is a prelude to my future career,”
says Dorsey. “I want to make a difference, and with my new
understanding of the topic, I’m hopeful that I will be able to
reach rural Appalachian women and their families, a population
poorly understood by the rest of the nation.”
A Tool that Offers Insight
Undergraduate nursing students at UVA are formally
introduced to research in their third year of study. A required
course focuses on research methodologies and critical thinking
skills. Throughout the semester, students use this knowledge to
uncover the evidence behind the practices they are being taught
in their other courses and that they encounter firsthand in their
clinicals.
Sarah Farrell (BSN ’81, MSN ’83), associate dean of academic
programs, knows these skills will assist students after they
graduate as well. “The ability to critically evaluate information
creates opportunities to improve health care,” she says. “Our
students want to be agents of change in their future careers.
Understanding research and the research process gives them an
additional tool they’ll need.”
Ellen Davis (BSN ’09) agrees. During her third year, Davis
went on a mission trip to Kampala, Uganda, with a group that
works with the city’s orphans.
Fourth-year student Kate Bagley meets with Sarah Farrell to discuss plans for her research project.
Fall 2009
Ellen Davis worked with orphaned Ugandan children for her distinguished majors project.
Theresa Carroll and Emily Drake helped the School secure funding from the Jefferson Trust to
support the Nursing Undergraduate Research Initiative.
“It was a life-changing experience, and I came away full of
questions,” she says. “Because of my nursing background, many
were health related. What were the biggest threats to the health of
these kids? What areas should be the focus of teaching to improve
their overall health?”
Davis’s questions became the subject of her distinguished
majors project, and also formed the basis for a health education
program in Kampala. Over the course of her fourth year, she met
regularly with Farrell and other nursing faculty to conduct an indepth analysis of the factors affecting the health of the orphaned
children. On a subsequent trip to Uganda, she used the principles
of community-based participatory research to create medical
records for over a hundred children.
“Research afforded me a way to think through a very
complex situation and actually gain some insight,” says Davis.
“The skills and methods I used in my distinguished majors
project are applicable in any setting.”
Davis now works as a nurse on the adult cancer floor at
Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. Between shifts,
she’s planning her next trip to Uganda.
“My experiences there have completely shaped what I am
doing now, and what I will do in the future,” she says.
Theresa Carroll, assistant dean for undergraduate admissions
and student services, and Lori Cwalina, assistant vice president
for development, spearheaded a new program—the Nursing
Undergraduate Research Initiative—designed to encourage
students to begin thinking about independent investigative study
from the moment they arrive on Grounds.
The initiative is multi-pronged, progressively exposing
students to nursing research over their four-year undergraduate
experience through team building with nursing research faculty,
and roundtable discussions of hot topic issues in nursing. At its
heart, the Nursing Undergraduate Research Initiative provides
the framework and financial support for summer research teams,
each consisting of an undergraduate nursing student, a graduate
nursing student, and a faculty advisor with expertise in the
student’s area of interest.
“It’s a win-win-win situation,” says Farrell. “Students gain
an ‘in’ to clinical settings where they might not feel totally
confident on their own, graduate students learn mentoring skills,
and faculty find the enthusiasm and creativity of the students
energizing.”
Last spring, the School of Nursing secured funding from
the Jefferson Trust for the program’s first year. Managed by the
UVA Alumni Association, the Jefferson Trust provides funding
to new programs and initiatives that support the University’s
mission. In recent years, the University as a whole has renewed
its commitment to fostering undergraduate research.
Drake knows that research can sometimes be a hard sell for
students early in their academic career. Yet, she’s confident that
earlier exposure to research will change any misperceptions.
“It’s not exciting for undergraduates until they see it
firsthand, or better yet, participate themselves. Then, they
become passionate,” Drake says. “We knew we just needed to
find a way to light that fire, and the Nursing Undergraduate
Research Initiative gives us the tools to do just that.”
A New Initiative
The nursing undergraduate curriculum is rigorous, and
many students have difficulty finding time to incorporate
research. Yet, Dorsey and Davis would agree, the experience of
working closely with faculty in an area of shared interest adds a
deeper, richer dimension to the undergraduate experience.
Emily Drake (BSN ’85, MSN ’93), director of the School’s
baccalaureate program, wanted to find a way to extend this
same experience to more students. Together, Drake, Farrell,
www.nursing.virginia.edu
Virginia Legacy
19 •
Discovering new knowledge to inform and change nursing practice and education
is a long-held University of Virginia tradition. In this section, we explore specific
research initiatives under way by UVA nursing faculty. Nursing research begins
with real health care questions aimed at improving care for patients.
Impact
Nursing Research Effecting
Changes in Prevention, Practice,
and Policy
Prevention
Smoking is a known contributor to life-threatening conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and
respiratory diseases like asthma and emphysema. It’s imperative to discourage young people,
especially those with compromised health, from using tobacco. Researchers start with the question:
“How do kids decide about tobacco use?”
To Smoke or Not to Smoke
T
Pamela Kulbok researches new ways
to prevent teens from smoking.
Mary O’Laughlen, Patricia Hollen, and Martha Hellems are
studying an intervention aimed at teens with asthma.
• 20
Virginia Legacy he Virginia Tobacco Settlement
Foundation ( VTSF), a division of the
Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, has
awarded grants totaling $1.2 million dollars
to two UVA School of Nursing research teams
exploring interventions to prevent teen
smoking.
The first study is led by assistant professor
Mary O’Laughlen (PhD ’06) and Patricia Hollen
(BSN ’67, PNP ’71), the Malvina Yuille Boyd
Professor of Nursing. Their work
examines a tool designed to
educate adolescents with asthma
on the risks of substance abuse
and influence their decision
making. National surveys have
reported that substance use
behaviors, including tobacco
use, are higher in asthmatic
adolescents than the general
population.
The interdisciplinary team’s
research will be conducted with
240 teens with persistent asthma
at three clinical sites led by
three co-investigators: Martha
Hellems, MD, at UVA Medical
Center; Anne-Marie Irani, MD, at Virginia
Commonwealth University; and Albert Britto,
MD, at Inova Pediatric Center. The primary
interventionist at each site will be a nurse
practitioner.
The second study looks at tobacco use
in rural areas. Not surprisingly, young people
living in rural tobacco-growing areas have the
highest rates of cigarette and smokeless tobacco
use in the United States. But not all teens in
these areas use tobacco. What makes some
decide against it? Associate professor Pamela
Kulbok and her co-principal investigator Peggy
Meszaros at Virginia Tech are looking for
answers with Partnering with Rural Youth and
Parents to Design and Test a Tobacco, Alcohol
and Drug Use Prevention Program Model.
Co-investigators include Nisha Botchwey in
UVA’s School of Architecture; Ivora Hinton,
coordinator of data analyses and interpretation
in the School of Nursing; and Donna Bond at
Carilion Clinic. The community participatory
research team also includes youth, parents,
and trusted community leaders.
The work will build on Kulbok and
her colleagues’ previous studies with 16and 17-year-old non-smokers, including
boys in rural tobacco-growing areas, to
determine what factors influenced them to
not smoke. Equipped with cameras, these
boys photographed influences important
to them as they considered their smoking
decisions.
Fall 2009
Impact
PRACTICE
What does it take to change practice to be more effective? Sometimes it’s as simple as seeing
things through patients’ eyes, brainstorming with colleagues, or using a low-tech, inexpensive
new piece of equipment.
variety. According to a literature review, red
light does not affect circadian rhythms or the
production of melatonin.
Thompson-Heisterman’s poster describing
the study won first place at the 11th Annual
International Society of Psychiatric Mental
Health Nurses conference.
“This has been the little poster with legs,”
says Thompson-Heisterman, noting that other
psychiatric nurses have been interested and
team member Goodman was invited to present
the study’s results to the Professional Nursing
Staff Organization at UVA. Now plans are under
way to implement use of the red-filtered
flashlights across the UVA Medical Center.
Research mentor groups, such as the
one pioneering this study, are clinician teams
recruited by nursing professor Suzanne Burns
(BSN ’85, MSN ’88, ACNP ’96) with the goal of
developing evidence-based research programs
at the UVA Medical Center.
Taking Care of Diabetes
Anita Thompson-Heisterman led a study designed to reduce sleep disturbances in hospitalized psychiatric patients.
A Better Night’s Sleep
T
he idea for a study to benefit psychiatric
patients came out of a nursing research
mentor group discussion. Assistant professor
Anita Thompson-Heisterman was sharing
with her colleagues some of the challenges
experienced with patients in the psychiatric
unit of the UVA Medical Center who must be
checked every 15 minutes throughout the night.
For psychiatric patients, sleep disturbance is
a common complaint, and the safety checks
seemed to be contributing to the problem. One
of the group members, a critical care nurse,
observed that the nurses’ flashlights could be a
sleep disrupter. A surgical nurse recalled using
red-filtered flashlights when in the military,
and a research study was born.
A multidisciplinary psychiatric services
nursing research team—including ThompsonHeisterman, Sheila Aldoost, Ana Askew, Carol
Burrage, and Kim Goodman—investigated the
use of red-filtered flashlights during night safety
checks. In this crossover study, one psychiatric
unit served as the experimental group and a
second as a control group. The next month
www.nursing.virginia.edu
the roles were reversed. The study found that
mental health patients report getting more
sleep when nurses use red-filtered flashlights on
their rounds instead of the usual incandescent
A
frican Americans suffer from
type 2 diabetes at twice the rate of others
in the U.S. (13 percent versus 7 percent). That
rate may be underestimated because many
cases go undiagnosed. About a third of those
diagnosed also suffer from complications such
as hypertension, arthritis, and depression. In
Ishan Williams and Sharon Utz (seated, left and right) are testing a diabetes intervention program with colleagues (left to right)
Kathryn Reid, Guofen Yan, Eugene Barrett, Simona Parvalescu-Codrea, Ivora Hinton, and Randy Jones.
Virginia Legacy
21 •
impact
addition, rural African Americans may also face
long distances to travel for health care, limited
financial resources, and the stigma sometimes
associated with the disease.
Taking Care of Sugar: African Americans
Deal with Diabetes is a pilot study funded
through the School of Nursing’s Rural Health
Care Research Center. Associate professor
Sharon Utz and colleagues are testing a
diabetes intervention culturally tailored to
African Americans living in rural Virginia. The
intervention uses story sharing as a learning
method along with hands-on activities
(including label reading, carbohydrate
counting, meal planning, cooking, and
walking exercises) and problem-solving
exercises (ways to acquire less expensive or
free medications and supplies, qualifying for
financial assistance, etc.).
In addition to Utz, the research team
includes co-investigators assistant professor
Randy Jones (BSN ’00, MSN ’02, PhD ’05) and
Kathryn Reid (BSN ’84, FNP ’96), along with
research assistant professor Ishan Williams
and Ivora Hinton, coordinator of data analyses
and interpretation.
Content for the interventions are based
on seven areas of self-management identified
by the American Association of Diabetes
Educators: healthy eating, being active,
monitoring blood glucose, taking medication,
problem solving, reducing risks, and healthy
coping. The learning occurs within a supportive
group atmosphere. Most of the eight, two-hour
sessions begin with sharing stories related to
diabetes and overcoming chronic illness led
by an African-American woman using local
references. Educational materials are tailored
to the audience, with educators responding to
the group’s priorities.
After positive results with a small test
group of 21 participants, the team has received
additional funding to conduct a larger, more
complex study. For this phase, they have added
an advanced practice nurse project director
and a community health worker to serve as
liaison between health professionals and the
African-American community.
• 22
Virginia Legacy POLICY
How can we assure excellent health care for people living in rural areas—especially when
every minute counts?
Improving Stroke Care and
Rural Health Systems
T
he Commonwealth of Virginia has one
of the nation’s highest rates of stroke
incidence and death. In 2004, stroke was
the state’s third leading cause of death,
representing seven percent of total deaths in
Virginia and almost eight percent above the
national stroke mortality rate of 50 per 100,000
people. Despite these statistics, stroke care in
Virginia has been highly fragmented, especially
in rural and underserved communities. Nearly
a quarter of Virginia residents are more than an
hour’s drive from a primary stroke center, and
only 14 of the state’s 247 full-time-equivalent
board-certified neurologists practice in rural
areas.
Using federal funding, the Virginia
Telehealth Network (VTN) has formed the
Virginia Acute Stroke Telehealth Network
(VAST) to address the problem in collaboration
with the American Heart Association and the
American Stroke Association. VAST is developing
a systematic structure to provide more timely
care for rural stroke patients. The program has
three key areas of focus: educational outreach,
pilot projects, and social marketing to educate
the public about symptoms and the value of
immediate intervention.
Assistant professor Marianne Baernholdt
serves in the educational outreach group
Marianne Baernholdt is working to educate rural health providers on resources for stroke care.
Fall 2009
Impact
targeting providers and educating them on
the resources available to them, including
telehealth consults with specialists in major
acute care hospitals. For Baernholdt, this work
is a natural extension of her primary research
interests: quality of care in small rural hospitals,
work environments and the organization of
care, and evidence-based practice. She is the
primary investigator on an NIH-funded study
to examine how the nurse work environment
and other factors affect the quality of care in
small rural hospitals in Virginia and North
Carolina. She also leads a study focused on
quality of care in critical access hospitals.
“VAST is targeting an area where quality
of care needs real improvement, including the
regular use of evidence-based guidelines for
stroke care,” says Baernholdt. “While everybody
now knows how important time is in getting
the right treatment to patients suffering from a
heart attack, few people, including providers,
realize that time is of the essence for stroke
patients, too. Research has found that strokes
cause brain damage in as little as three minutes.
The goal of VAST is to increase both awareness
and resources to providers, so that even rural
patients who are typically far from a stroke
center will get timely care.”
A current pilot program in Virginia’s
Bath Community Hospital links a robot
at the patient’s bedside to a neurologist at
UVA (through the telehealth network in
the School of Medicine), Augusta Medical
Center, or Rockingham Memorial Hospital.
The neurologist can see the patient and
interact with patients, their families, and local
providers.
In December 2008, VTN held a day long
interactive summit with professionals in
advocacy, community outreach, policy and
administration, education, direct care services,
public health, and technology. Strategies for
Using Technology to Improve Statewide Stroke
Systems of Care is assessing Virginia’s current
resources, looking at systems in use throughout
the country (including successful telestroke
models), and discussing the accompanying
infrastructure, business, legal, regulatory, and
legislative issues. Last January at a Capitol Hill
presentation, the VTN and VAST programs were
offered as examples of how Virginia is helping
to drive the national health IT strategy.
www.nursing.virginia.edu
Beth Merwin (left) and interns (l to r) Jack Thorman, Simona Parvulescu-Codrea, Meghan Sheeley, Premkumar Periyasamy,
and Brian Andrew.
Stimulus Funds Aid School Priorities
T
he School of Nursing has received federal stimulus funding to support five
undergraduate and/or clinical nurse leader (CNL) summer interns in the Rural Health
Care Research Center in 2009, and eight positions in 2010.
“This funding will play an essential role in expanding our research and outreach efforts,
while creating wonderful opportunities for our students,” says Beth Merwin, the Madge Jones
Professor of Nursing and associate dean for research. “We were grateful for the opportunity
to apply for this funding and pleased that our programs were singled out among so many
applicants. Exposing students early in their careers to rural research may influence their
future career choices and contributions.”
In addition to providing support for the research studies, faculty members will offer
weekly seminars for the interns. One intern, Premkumar Periyasamy, a second-year chemistry
major who minors in global public health, is developing special maps of the United States.
The maps highlight rural areas that are related to a research study led by Merwin. Another
intern, Brian Andrew, holds a degree in human biology and is completing prerequisite courses
for medical school. His work with Pam Kulbok on a study to prevent teen smoking aligns
with his health care career objectives. Tasmin Fanning recently graduated from Virginia
Tech and started a graduate program this fall. She is working with Mary O’Laughlen and
Audrey Snyder.
Two of the summer student research interns are linked to UVA’s CNL program. Meghan
Sheely recently completed the program and is working with Marianne Baernholdt to support
multiple studies, including one on rural hospital quality of care. Simona Parvulescu-Codrea
is a current CNL student and is working with researchers on two studies. She is supporting
Sharon Utz and Ishan Williams in their work to develop a culturally sensitive diabetes
intervention for rural African Americans and also collaborates with Ishan Williams and
Karen Rose on a dementia study.
Overall, the School submitted nine funding applications totaling almost $13 million
through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act federal stimulus package. The requests
fell into categories ranging from health and science research to administration to space and
equipment. Information on the additional requests should come later this fall.
Virginia Legacy
23 •
Philanthropy
Garland and Jean Hagen are creating scholarships for nursing and engineering students.
A Legacy of Scholarships—for ‘Hoos AND Hokies
F
Is a Charitable Bequest
Right for You?
Bequests are essential to the future of the
UVA School of Nursing. They are also:
Tax Wise—a bequest to the School of
Nursing is not subject to estate tax
Flexible—funds may be directed to any
School of Nursing program you choose
Comfortable—bequests allow you to
retain your assets throughout your lifetime
Revocable—you may make changes
throughout your lifetime
To learn more, please contact Mary Beth
Knight, director of major gifts, at
[email protected].
• 24
Virginia Legacy or Garland and Jean Hagen (BSN
’66), it’s always hard to pick a favorite
between UVA and Virginia Tech. So, when
it came to making a legacy gift of student
scholarships, they did the only thing that felt
right—they gave to both institutions.
UVA and Virginia Tech ties run deep for
the Hagens. Jean Hagen graduated from the
UVA School of Nursing, while Garland took his
degree in engineering from Virginia Tech. The
Hagens have two sons—one attended Virginia
Tech; the other went to UVA.
“I received scholarship support when I
was a student at Virginia Tech,” says Garland.
“And I decided that I wanted to repay the favor
by supporting student scholarships.”
“And then I said, if we’re doing it for Tech,
we’re also doing it for UVA,” adds Jean.
Generations of future nurses and engineers
will reap the benefits of the Hagens’ generosity
and friendly rivalry. Through a generous bequest
in their estates, the Hagens will create endowed
scholarships in the UVA School of Nursing and
the School of Engineering at Virginia Tech.
“Scholarships made a big difference to
me,” says Garland. “They helped me get my
foot in the door for my eventual career. I have
a strong belief that colleges should be there to
support the students, not just sports programs
and research.”
“And I’m happy that we can help more
students receive a strong nursing education,”
adds Jean. “It’s especially important with the
growing nursing shortage.”
Bequests—An Easy Way to Give
To make their scholarship commitment,
the Hagens used an increasingly popular
option—a bequest intention in their will.
Bequests and other deferred gifts, such as
trusts or annuities, allow donors to make
commitments now to be funded later.
“We can’t forecast the future, but we knew
we wanted to make a substantial gift,” says
Jean. “A bequest allows you to provide a more
generous gift than you might otherwise be able
to make. With the current economy, this could
be a good method for lots of people.”
The most important thing, the Hagens
agree, is helping the students of the future.
“When you have had a good life and have
been reasonably successful, it is a good feeling
to be able to give back for others,” says Jean.
Scholarships Open Doors
Scholarships, such as those that the
Hagens are supporting, encourage students to
pursue nursing degrees and let them graduate
without overwhelming debt. This allows them
the freedom to choose careers in high-need
areas such as public health and direct patient
care. This will be increasingly important in
the years ahead, as the nation faces a growing
nursing shortage, reaching a 20 percent deficit
in registered nurses by 2020.
Fall 2009
also in Richmond. Needless to say, Brenda and
Steve get back to Virginia often.
Class Notes
and News
1950s
’59 DIPLO Helen Pickford Daley of Rehoboth
Beach, DE, volunteers for hospice and at an
adult daycare facility. Helen has 4 children
and 12 grandchildren. Two of her children
are UVA alumni, one from the Darden
School and one from the School of Nursing
(Karen Daley Gallivan, BSN ’87, of Santa
Barbara, CA). Her husband, Robert E. Daley,
passed away in 2003.
1960s
’68 BSN Nancy M. Watson
of Rochester, NY, received
the 2008 Geriatric Nursing
Faculty Champion for Excellence in Gerontological
Nursing Education Award
from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the John A.
Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric
Nursing. Nancy is the founding director of the
Elaine C. Hubbard Center for Nursing Research
on Aging at the University of Rochester School
of Nursing.
’69 BSN Joan N. MacKechnie is a weekend
staff nurse at Baptist Memorial Hospital in
Memphis, where she resides.
1970s
’72 BSN Brenda Coleman Isaac of Charleston,
WV, is completing her 25th year as a school nurse
in Kanawha County Schools. For 15 years she has
served as lead school nurse, supervising 35 other
school nurses. She is married to Steve Isaac and
has two grown sons, one in Charleston and one
in Richmond, and an adorable granddaughter,
www.nursing.virginia.edu
’74 BSN Sylvia Totten Carlson of Valencia, CA,
is a school nurse for the Los Angeles Unified
School District. She is a member of Sigma Theta
Tau and an American Heart Association CPR
instructor. Sylvia is a three-time breast cancer
survivor and recently participated in a 3-day,
60-mile walk for the Susan G. Komen Breast
Cancer Foundation.
’74 BSN, ’08 MSN Cheryl McPherson Rodgers
was awarded the ECPI® College of Technology
Teacher of the Year for 2008 at the Medical
Careers Institute, Richmond West Campus.
Cheryl is also a faculty advisor for the National
Technical Honor Society of the Medical Careers
Institute. She resides in Richmond, VA.
’75 BSN Candace Beaman Moore is currently
posted to the US Embassy in London, where
she is the deputy medical unit director.
’77 BSN Marye Dorsey Kellermann of
Towson, MD, presented at the 10th Quadrennial
Congress of the World Federation of Neuroscience Nurses on teaching neurology using
right-brain techniques. Marye also presented
at the national symposium for the American
Academy of Nurse Practitioners. For the past
16 years, Marye has provided international
continuing education and exam preparation
to nurses, nurse practitioners, faculty, and students in her Necessary Workshops. (See 2000s
for news about Marye’s daughter Stacye.)
1980s
’82 BSN Barbara Anne Rose of La Mesa, CA,
this year received her PhD in nursing from the
Hahn School of Nursing and Health Sciences
at the University of San Diego. She received
her MSN in trauma/critical care from the University of Maryland. Barbara is a founding
member of the Consortium for Nursing Excellence, San Diego, and is a faculty member of
the Evidence-Based Practice Consortium. She
works as a clinical nurse specialist for critical
care at the Veterans Administration San Diego
Healthcare System.
’85 MSN Vickie Hopkins Southall was formally recognized by a unanimous resolution
of the Louisa County (Va.) Board of Supervisors
for her service as a member of the county’s
Family Assessment and Planning Team (FAPT).
Vickie was honored for her 15 years of service,
her compassion and sincere concern for the
feelings and well-being of the children and
families served, and her sense of community
collaboration, professionalism, and dedication
to the goals of the FAPT and the betterment of
the community.
’86 MSN Nancy Fitzpatrick Altice of Blue
Ridge, VA, received a DNP degree in May
2009 from the Frances Payne Bolton School
of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University,
Cleveland, OH.
’87 BSN Martha Carlstead graduated in
December 2008 from Northeastern University
in Boston with a master of science degree. She
passed the national certifying board exam and
is now a certified registered nurseanesthetist at
Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle.
’89 BSN Dawn M. Jones is
a senior associate in the
Tort and Environmental
Practice Group at King &
Spalding, LLP, in Atlanta,
where she uses her decade
of critical care nursing
experience in her practice defending
manufacturers of pharmaceutical products
and consumer goods in product liability
lawsuits. Dawn received her MSN from
Georgetown University and her JD from
Georgia State University. She has been
recognized as one of Georgia’s “Rising Stars”
in the legal profession by Atlanta Magazine.
1990s
’90 BSN Christine Marie Prince joined the
nursing faculty at Brown Mackie College,
Indianapolis, in January.
’91 BSN Helen Marie French of Waynesboro,
VA, was honored by the Beta Kappa Chapter
of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor
Society of Nursing as the 2009 recipient of
the Distinguished Nurse Award. Helen is the
founder and director of the MERCI program,
which has provided supplies to people around
the world and in the local community.
Virginia Legacy
25 •
Class notes
Alumni in Action
Turning Tragedy to
Advocacy
The middle child in a Northern Virginia
’02 BSN Mychael Dennis Mendoza of
Arlington, VA, received a master’s degree from
Georgetown University in December 2008
with a specialization in nurse anesthesia. He
is employed by Fair Oaks Anesthesia Associates
and works as a certified registered nurse
anesthetist at Inova Alexandria Hospital.
family of Lebanese descent, Randa Samaha
(BSN ’09) describes her family as having a
“strong base and feeling that we can do
anything with the support of each other.”
Randa Samaha (BSN ’09)
That can-do attitude served her well in the
’03 BSN Stephanie Baker Lane and her
husband, Charles Joseph Lane, of Dickinson,
TX, welcomed their first child, Matthew Aidan,
on September 26, 2008.
wake of a horrible tragedy, when her younger
sister, Reema, was killed in the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. Rather than succumb to
tragedy, Samaha turned her experience into something positive.
Upon returning to Charlottesville after her sister’s funeral, Samaha was bolstered by the
outpouring of love and support of her UVA family at the School of Nursing. Later, with a small
group of friends, she created “Students for Gun-Free Schools,” an effort to raise awareness of
gun laws and to promote colleges and universities as safe sanctuaries for learning.
This fall, Samaha began a job at the pediatric intensive care unit at Duke Children’s
Hospital and Health Center in Durham, N.C. Her own resiliency assists her in this role, as she
works with infants and families in difficult situations.
“I like the idea of working with the whole family,” Samaha said. “It is so important to see
the positive side of nursing and to help patients go forward.”
’94 BSN Virginia “Jinny” MacLeod Buchanan
lives in Greensboro, NC, where she works
relief in the OR and recently completed the
requirements to become an RN first assistant,
which includes being a CNOR. Jinny and her
husband are grooming their fourth-grader son,
Campbell, as a future Wahoo. The family loves
returning to Charlottesville whenever they can
to visit family and to see the UVA Grounds.
2000s
’00 BSN Katie Berschback Cooper of
Franklin, TN, and husband Carlos Cooper
welcomed their second child, Beckett Andrew,
on April 30, 2009. Beckett joins big sister Juliet
Elizabeth, born September 11, 2007. Katie is
a nurse anesthetist at the Williamson Medical
Center in Nashville.
’03 BSN Caroline Jeanette
Smith is a student of veterinary medicine at the
University of Tennessee,
planning to graduate in
2010. In her role as community service chair for
the College of Veterinary
Medicine’s governing body, she supports a
program called “Josh and Friends.” Through
the program, the veterinary school gives special stuffed animals (“Josh”) and books to
children with life-threatening illnesses in the
East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.
’04 BSN Mary Weinstein Dunn of Durham,
NC, married Stephen Dunn in June 2007. Mary
received her MSN in adult oncology in August
2009 from Duke University.
’04 BSN Jennifer Leigh Folks of Dumfries,
VA, graduated from Virginia Commonwealth
University in May 2009, with an MSN from the
Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner program.
A team of UVA nursing alumni
was involved in the new 4th edition
of Health Assessment & Physical
Examination, published by Delmar
Cengage Learning. The primary author
and editor is Mary Ellen Zator Estes
(BSN ’81, MSN ’83, FNP ’00). Other
UVA School of Nursing graduates
who were contributors include Jane
Twenty-two students finished the Clinical Nurse Leaders
program in August. CNL students come to UVA with
undergraduate or graduate degrees in other fields and
pursue a rigorous master’s program to become registered
nurses and leaders trained to provide direct patient care.
• 26
Virginia Legacy ’02 MSN Rosalind Delisser recently relocated
with her family to Baumholder, Germany,
where she will be providing psychiatric services
to active-duty military coming from Iraq and
Afghanistan, and their families.
Echols (BSN ’60, PNP ’75), Tammy
Cauthorne-Burnette (BSN ’83), Patti
Connor Ballard (MSN ’83, PhD ’00),
and Beverly Rose Bayer (BSN ’81).
Fall 2009
class notes
’04 BSN Tami Levin Morgan of Reston, VA, will
graduate from George Mason University in the
spring of 2010 with an MSN from the Family
Nurse Practitioner program.
’06 BSN Erin Allebaugh Muller married Darrell
B. Muller on September 13, 2008. Erin is a labor
and delivery nurse for the UVA Health System
and lives in Charlottesville.
’08 BSN Mika Richardson Chorey married Hunter
Chorey on September 20, 2008. The couple lives
and works in Charlottesville, where Mika is a
nurse at the University of Virginia Hospital, and
Hunter is an intellectual property consultant.
’08 BSN Stacye Kellermann is an operating
room nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital in
Baltimore.
IN MEMORIAM
’38 DIPLO Mary Gilliam Smith, of Silver
Spring, MD, died on April 19, 2009.
’53 DIPLO Ann Bowling Ashley of Bluefield,
WV, died on August 04, 2009.
’40 DIPLO Catharine Dater VanBlarcom
Callaway of Hillsborough, NC, died on
February 23, 2009.
’55 DIPLO Mary Roberts Davenport of
White Stone, VA, died on June 5, 2009.
’ 4 3 D I P L O Ma r t h a O. D o n e r o f
Charlottesville, VA, died on June 4, 2008.
’44 DIPLO Mary Katherine Pappandreou
Davis of Birmingham, AL, died on
September 14, 2009.
’44 DIPLO Marion Cowherd Janney of
Luray, VA, died on August 8, 2009.
’45 BSNED Peggy Bishop Turner of
Charlottesville, VA, died on June 9, 2009.
’47 DIPLO Ruth Bardin of Jones, OK, died
on June 13, 2008.
’50 DIPLO Elizabeth Jayne Christie
McClintock of Richlands, VA, died on May
30, 2009.
’51 DIPLO Paula E. Cash of Charlottesville,
VA, died on April 21, 2009.
Raeanne Tatem and Danielle Petrosky,
who have agreed to serve as class
advocates for the Class of 2009. Class
’58 DIPLO Ruth Fariss of Hartford, WI, died
on August 10, 2008.
’60 BSN Anne Landon Brosio of Los
Angeles, CA, died on February 16, 2009.
’66 BSN Elizabeth M. Yates of Annandale,
VA, died on January 30, 2009.
’71 BSN Elizabeth Kellogg Beninati of
Downers Grove, IL, died on April 3, 2009.
’72 BSN Melinda L. Nimmer of Norfolk,
VA, died on June 6, 2008.
’48 DIPLO Christine Hoover Cates of
Fairfax, VA, died on September 22, 2009.
Congratulations to new BSN graduates
’56 DIPLO Nancy Jo Jander of Gig Harbor,
WA, died on June 3, 2008.
’73 BSN, ’87 MSN Betty Speas Milligan of
Roanoke, VA, died on March 14, 2009.
’78 DIPLO Nancy A. Gordon of Annapolis,
MD, died on September 20, 2009.
’98 BSN, ’07 MSN Karen Simpson
Peacher of Unionville, VA, died on
March 19, 2009.
’51 DIPLO Jo Sykes Runnion of Newport,
TN, died on February 26, 2009.
advocates help members of their class stay
connected with each other and with the
School of Nursing throughout the years,
with special emphasis on reunion years.
Both women are living in Raleigh, NC,
Nurse Practitioners Win
Awards
and working at Duke University Hospital—
Raeanne on the Pediatrics Progressive Care
Unit and Danielle on the Adult Medical-
UVA School of Nursing alumni distinguished
themselves at the 25th annual conference of the
Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners. Mary
Hope Gibson (BSN ’74) of Radford, VA, received
the 2009 Educational Award, while Susan Waldrop
Donckers (BSN ’67, FNP ’93) of Blacksburg, VA,
was presented with the Distinguished Nurse
Practitioner Award for 2009.
Surgical Unit. You can reach Raeanne
at [email protected], or Danielle at
[email protected].
To the Class of 2009: Keep in touch with
your class advocates and with the Alumni
office at [email protected] or stay
connected by becoming a fan of the UVA
School of Nursing Alumni Facebook page.
www.nursing.virginia.edu
Virginia Legacy
27 •
With gratitude, we thank you for Giving by
the Numbers
T
he generosity of our donors keeps the UVA School of Nursing strong and makes a
difference in the lives of our students, faculty, and alumni every day. Your gifts help to ensure
a future of better health care for all of us. What follows is a brief snapshot of the donors who are
helping to shape the future of nursing. Every gift—no matter the size—is truly important. Your
contributions are vital for the success of the School. Thank you!
1,496
137
individuals made donations to the School of Nursing in the last fiscal year.
individuals or couples contributed $1,000 or more to the Nursing Annual Fund
or another expendable purpose to become Dean’s Circle members. Current students
and undergraduate alumni from the past ten years can join the Dean’s Circle with a
contribution of $250 or more.
The BSN Class of 1959 had the highest participation rate of giving overall,
participating during their 50th Reunion year.
with
55%
School of Nursing donors included
68
45
122
current and former UVA faculty and staff current students.
and
79
parents of current and former nursing students gave this past year.
corporations, foundations, and other organizations made gifts in the past fiscal year.
100
“I choose to support the School of
Nursing because I am proud of our
Nearly
nursing alumni and friends have designated a bequest or
planned gift to provide future support for the School of Nursing.
As such, they become members of the University’s Cornerstone Society.
students, and I want them to have every
opportunity to excel while here at UVA.
I believe that my contributions to the
Nursing Annual Fund and the Center for
Nursing Historical Inquiry assist with
providing students with the “extras” that
make their UVA experiences exceptional.
On a personal note, I choose to give to
the School because I know that, as a
lifelong citizen of the Commonwealth of
Virginia, a UVA nurse has or will touch
my life and the lives of my family … and
I want them to be as well-prepared as
possible!”
—Karen Rose (PhD ’06), assistant
professor, UVA School of Nursing
• 28
Virginia Legacy “Dr. Brashers certainly earned my respect and
inspired me as a student and that was my
motivation to make a gift to the annual fund in
her honor for National Nurses Week. I came to UVA
with plans of obtaining my MSN with a focus on
becoming a family nurse practitioner. Soon after I
arrived, Dr. Brashers inspired me with a lecture in
her pathophysiology class to examine a career in
academia. Dr. Brashers is not only a good teacher
for her knowledge of clinical application, but more
for the inspiration she has given me to pursue all
opportunities within nursing.”
—Brenda Sawyer-Pardis (MSN ’09)
Fall 2009
making gifts that make a difference.
To make a tax-deductible gift to the
School of Nursing, you can
Giving Matters
I
n the next decade, the nation will face a growing shortage of nurses. This, paired with
the increasingly complex health care environment, creates an urgency to prepare the next
generation of nurses and nursing leaders. Private philanthropy helps the School address this
need and fulfill all of its missions. Here are some examples of how giving this year has supported
the UVA School of Nursing.
n
elped to fund the new Claude Moore Nursing Education Building, a facility designed for
H
collaboration in an environment of well-being.
n
rovided more than $71,000 in scholarship and fellowship support to UVA nursing students
P
to cover academic costs and allow students to continue their studies.
n
upplied funding for the Office of Admissions and Student Services for traveling and recruiting
S
top-notch students interested in pursuing their degrees at UVA.
n
upplemented funding for the Nurse Faculty Loan Program, which assists nurses who are
S
completing graduate studies to become nursing faculty. Upon completing their degrees,
recipients serve as full-time nursing faculty members for four years and receive 85 percent
loan forgiveness.
n
rovided more than $21,000 in direct support to faculty for professional development and
P
travel, research awards, and seed funding for innovative teaching projects.
n
eturn the envelope provided with
R
this issue of Virginia Legacy.
n
ontact: Alumni & Development
C
Office, P.O. Box 800826,
Charlottesville, VA 22908-0826,
(434) 924-0138,
[email protected]
n
ive immediately and securely online:
G
www.campaign.virginia.edu/support
uvaschoolofnursing
Your gifts matter! To see a complete list of our Honor Roll of donors for 2008–09, please visit
www.nursing.virginia.edu/HonorRoll. In an effort to become more environmentally responsible and
cost efficient, the School of Nursing will publish this year’s full list only online. However, if you do
not have web access, please contact the Alumni & Development Office at (434) 924-0138 to receive
a printed copy.
“Every day as an ICU nurse at Massachusetts
“Jennifer Kremer was a staff member at
General Hospital, I am grateful for the
the time of her death. She was so giving
faculty, clinical instructors, and staff at the
to our students that it is only fitting she
UVA School of Nursing who prepared me to
be remembered by the Jennifer Kremer
do my job well. Because of their hard work
Emergency Fund, which assists our
and dedication to my nursing education, I
students in times of crisis. Jennifer
am prepared to give my patients the best care
possible. Giving back to the School of Nursing
has been a small way for me to say ‘thank
you!’ for an excellent education and careful
preparation for my career as a nurse.”
touched my life, so I give to the fund as a
way for me to do something in memory
of her that can touch a student’s life.”
—Becky Bowers, audiovisual
technician/facilities coordinator,
—Becca Green (BSN ’08)
www.nursing.virginia.edu
UVA School of Nursing
Virginia Legacy
29 •
Annual Report 2008–09
School of Nursing Annual Report
Fiscal Year 2008–09
These charts and graphs provide a snapshot of donors and dollars for fiscal year 2008–09 (the fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30). If you
have questions about any of the information included in this report, please contact the School of Nursing Alumni & Development Office at
(434) 924-0138 or e-mail [email protected]. Thank you for your support!
UVA School of Nursing
Revenues
2008–09
UVA School of Nursing
Expenditures
2008–09
Total = $12,646,425
Total = $12,632,651
Instruction (46%)
State Support (49%)
Scholarships & Fellowships (14%)
Sponsored Programs (19%)
Institutional Support (5%)
Endowments & Gifts (22%)
Student Services (4%)
Other (4%)
Academic Support (15%)
Medical Center (6%)
Public Service (2%)
Research (14%)
Market Value of School of Nursing Endowments
2008–09 Class Participation in the Annual Fund
$45M
$38,891,199
$40M
$39,983,649
Highest in each decade:
$35M
$30,252,295
$30M
$30,219,281
1930s
1938 at 12.50%
1940s
1944 at 31.24%
1950s
1959 at 48.24%
1960s
1960 at 32.73%
1970s
1970 at 19.44%
1980s
1989 at 22.03%
1990s
1993 at 10.31%
2000s
2008 at 14.02%
Highest Participation Overall:
BSN Class of 1959 (54.72%)—
an excellent showing as
they celebrated their 50-year
Class Reunion.
$26,394,388
$25M
$20M
$15M
Congratulations to the students
in the BSN Class of 2009 for
achieving a record 61.50%
participation rate in their class
$10M
$5M
0
FY ’05
FY ’06
FY ’07
FY ’08
giving campaign. Best of luck
to these new nurses as they
explore their opportunities in
Charlottesville and beyond.
FY ’09
FISCAL YEAR END (JUNE 30)
Endowments created through the generosity of donors provide permanent sources
of revenue for the School to draw on in perpetuity. These funds, often restricted
in purpose by the donors, are invested by the University. The income earned each
year is used to address many of the School’s most important priorities, including
financial assistance for students, research, professional development for faculty,
honoraria for guest lecturers, and many other programmatic needs.
• 30
Virginia Legacy NOTE: This report captures the income and expenditures for the Rector & Visitors gift and
endowment accounts. It does not include income and expenditures from accounts held at
independent entities (the UVA Fund at the Alumni Association or the UVA Health System
Foundation), nor does it include pledges or expenditures associated with the McLeod Hall
renovation (capital expenditures).
Fall 2009
Annual Report 2008–09
Annual Fund Income Past 5 Years
$390,763
$400,000
1,951
2,000
$379,444
1,827
$352,549
$350,000
$300,000
Number of Annual Fund Donors Past 5 Years
1,800
1,600
$307,403
$303,529
1,686
1,448
1,496
FY ’08
FY ’09
1,400
$250,000
1,200
$200,000
1,000
800
$150,000
600
$100,000
400
$50,000
0
200
FY ’05
FY ’06
FY ’07
FY ’08
0
FY ’09
FY ’05
FY ’06
FY ’07
Annual Fund
innovative teaching ideas, faculty professional development, funding for student
Each year, gifts from alumni, parents, faculty, and friends made to the Nursing
and alumni, outreach and so much more. Thanks to the generosity of nearly
Annual Fund provide the School with an invaluable source of unrestricted income.
1,500 donors, we exceeded a revised Nursing Annual Fund goal of $300,000 and
This allows the School flexibility to respond to the emerging needs of students,
showed an increase in the total number of donors supporting the School. (Goal
faculty, and academic programs through scholarships, fellowships, support for
revised in January 2009.)
School of Nursing Funding Sources Three-Year Comparison
This comparison data from the past three years shows clearly the impact of declining state support on the
School’s operations and highlights the value of philanthropic giving.
FY ’07
FY ’08
FY ’09
100%
PERCENT OF TOTAL REVENUES
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
0%
20%
10%
0%
STATE SUPPORT
SPONSORED PROGRAMS
ENDOWMENTS & GIFTS
MEDICAL CENTER
OTHER
FUNDING SOURCES
www.nursing.virginia.edu
Virginia Legacy
31 •
Class notes
School Celebrates New Nursing Graduates
L
ast May, the School of Nursing granted 117 new bachelor’s degrees,
84 master’s degrees, and 12 doctorates. At the annual Hooding and
Pinning ceremonies, the following members of the Class of 2009 received
special honors for their achievements:
Nursing Student Contributing the Most to the School of Nursing
Lauren Starkey
Nursing Students Contributing the Most to UVA
Raeanne Tatem
Kathryn Shannon
Edgar F. Shannon Scholar Award
Alicia Dean
Anne Pollok Hemmings Clinical Excellence Award
Serena Knick
Distinguished Majors Awards
Diana Trausch
Jessica DiZio
Erica Randolph
Rhonda Barton-Joe earned her BSN at UVA, following in her sister’s footsteps.
Mother and daughter Mary Beth White-Comstock (right) and Haley Russell walked the Lawn together last spring as
BSN graduates.
In addition, the following graduate students
received special awards:
Graduate Teaching Assistant Award
Emma McKim Mitchell (MSN ’08)
Barbara Brodie Scholars Doctoral Award
Barbara Maling (MSN ’93)
Barbara Brodie Scholars Nurse Practitioner
Award
Megan Ott (BSN ’06)
Dean Fontaine congratulates James Sykes, an RN to BSN
graduate.
• 32
Virginia Legacy Fall 2009
Virginia Moments
Rose Pinneo, RN, and Lawrence Meltzer, MD, of Presbyterian Hospital
in Philadelphia, circa 1963.
Photo courtesy of the Pinneo Collection, Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry, University of Virginia.
When the first Coronary Care Units
were established in the 1960s, physicians and
nurses learned to interpret electrocardiograms
together. Organized clinical conferences
supplemented physician-nurse training. There,
medical students, house staff, and nurses learned
EKG interpretation, cardiac defibrillation, and
cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In doing so, they
learned to trust each other and their unique roles
in caring for cardiac patients. Source: Keeling, A.
(2004) Blurring the boundaries between medicine
and nursing: Coronary care nursing, circa the
1960s. Nursing History Review, 12, 139–164.
www.nursing.virginia.edu
Virginia Legacy
33 •
Nonprofit Organization
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit No. 164
Charlottesville, Virginia
Claude Moore Nursing Education Building
P.O. Box 800826
Charlottesville, VA 22908-0826
Change service requested
Calendar
of Events
NOVEMBER
APRIL
7
TBD
Admissions Open House &
Information Session
17
Nursing History Forum: Disaster in the
Catherine Strader McGehee Memorial
Lecture
13–18 ‘Hoos Coming to Dinner events week
Mines. John C. Kirchgessner, PhD, RN,
PNP, CNHI Assistant Director, Assistant
Professor of Nursing, UVA School of
MAY
Nursing
17–19 Thomas Jefferson Society Reunions:
Classes of 1960 and earlier
DECEMBER
1
T.J. Society School of Nursing Luncheon
22
Pinning & Hooding Ceremonies,
School of Nursing
Admissions Doctoral Programs (PhD,
DNP) Information Session
8
Lighting of the Lawn
18
End of Examinations, Fall Semester
JANUARY 2010
20
19
Spring 2010 Semester Begins
23
Final Exercises
JUNE
4–6
Reunions Weekend: Celebrations for the
Class of 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985,
1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005.
Save the Date!
FEBRUARY
6
Alumni Council Winter Meeting
MARCH
6–14
Spring Break
16
The Agnes Dillon Randolph International
Nursing History Conference. Keynote
Speaker Patricia O’Brien D’Antonio,
PhD, FAAN, RN, Associate Professor of
Nursing and Associate Director of the
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of
the History of Nursing, University of
Pennsylvania
For details on Center for Nursing Historical
Inquiry events, call (434) 924-0083.
For details on Admissions Information Sessions,
call (888) 283-8703.
For all other events, please contact the School
of Nursing Alumni & Development Office at
(434) 924-0138.
Please check the School of Nursing website for
more details as they become available:
www.nursing.virginia.edu