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UArizona MEPN Alumnus Ties His Love of Writing to His Desire to Teach Kids About Health Literacy

June 24, 2022

Throughout his varied career, University of Arizona College of Nursing alumnus Michael Dow always knew he wanted to be a writer. He has earned advanced degrees in biology, psychology, management, health administration and most recently a Master of Science for Entry into the Profession of Nursing (MEPN) program from UArizona Nursing in 2020. After eight years in the United States Air Force, he worked as an Army Wounded Warrior Advocate helping Army veterans managing PTSD. Since earning his MEPN degree, he has worked as an inpatient psychiatric Registered Nurse (RN) at Palo Verde Behavioral Health. But throughout it all, he had the itch to tell stories for young readers tied to his passion for health literacy.

“My mom told me years ago,” Dow says, “’Michael, if you ever write a book and things take off, I’ll bet it will be a kid’s book.’ That stayed at the back of my mind.” At the tail end of his time in the MEPN program, after seeing how talented his niece was as an illustrator, all those elements fell into place. “My health administration degree taught me how poor our country’s health literacy levels are, and that adults and kids could improve on their health literacy. All these ideas just came together, and I thought, ‘What if I did a kid’s book series?’” Dow envisioned a series that would teach kids – and their parents -- about human science and the human body.


Maybe one reason kids become a future doctor or nurse is that they’re exposed to this information at a young age. I hope the series will produce a lot more nurses because we have a nursing shortage," ~ Michael Dow


Nurse Florence, Dow’s fictional nurse instructor, debuted the week he received his RN license. Titled “Nurse Florence, Help I’m Bleeding” the book informed readers about blood clotting and how to put pressure on a wound. “It’s very basic information, but that book won a Nautilus Silver Book Award,” he says. “That really encouraged me that maybe I was onto something.”

Since then, the Nurse Florence series has expanded to 24 books and won multiple additional awards for two other books, including the 2022 Independent Press Award, a Next Generation Indie Book Award, and a National Indie Excellence Award. Dow has trademarked Nurse Florence in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and trademarks are in the works for New Zealand, Ireland, and Canada. Translated versions of the series are also in the works for Spanish and French readers. Long-term, Dow sees many opportunities for growth for Nurse Florence. He envisions an animated kid’s series and possibly a live-action movie.

In the spirit of inclusivity, Dow also imagines a line of Nurse Florence dolls that represent every race and ethnicity. “A unique thing about the series is that each Nurse Florence in every single book is different,” he explains. “Already we have Nurse Florence as an African American, a Hispanic, an Asian and a Caucasian.  I can imagine little girls going to Walmart and saying, ‘Mommy, I want that Nurse Florence doll.  She’s like me, and I can be a nurse too.’ I want to help inspire kids, give them the confidence to follow their dreams.”

Inspiring future nurses is one of Dow’s major motivations. “That’s another thing that was in my mind for all these years,” he says. “Maybe one reason kids become a future doctor or nurse is that they’re exposed to this information at a young age. I hope the series will produce a lot more nurses because we have a nursing shortage.”

Early on, Dow made the decision to keep the Nurse Florence franchise in-house, where he can maintain creative and financial control of his creation. He publishes the series himself and offers illustrators royalty percentages for their contributions. Although he hopes to ultimately recruit a book publicist in the future, Dow’s strategy appears to have paid off. “We are about to partner with our first children’s hospital in Ohio,” he says. “I’m told they’re going to have Nurse Florence for checkout on their book cart. The medical librarian there plans to share the info about the series with all her associations, which could be a big next step for us.”

So far, young readers and their parents are appreciative.  “This was a great informational, easy-to-read and understand book!” a recent GoodReads review says. “My nine-year-old great niece loved it. She was fascinated with the illustrations and the manner with which Nurse Florence presented the facts about how we hear things. I highly recommended it to share or give as a gift to elementary or middle school students interested in the human body, science, biology and the amazing sense of hearing.”

Such accolades are music to Dow’s ears, letting him know he’s on the right track. He counts UArizona Nursing as a major factor in his success – not only as a nurse, but also as an author. The jacket copy on each Nurse Florence book says, “Sometimes it seems only a nurse can bring technical information down to an understanding that an ordinary person can grasp,” which turns out to be Dow’s mission statement for each book in the series. It’s an iteration of a statement he first heard from two of his MEPN instructors, Heidi Kosanke and Karin Blasko. “They would tell us in our clinicals and during class, ‘Don’t be afraid to talk to your patients to try to re-explain things, because sometimes only a nurse can bring it down to their level.’ The UArizona MEPN program has such great instructors. In the dedication page of every book, I do give a shout-out to the University of Arizona stating that I’m very grateful for the outstanding instruction that I received.”

Find out more about the Nurse Florence book series here.

Wildcat Nurse Spotlight: Jerrol Wallace, Third-Year PhD Candidate

June 17, 2022

Meet Jerrol Wallace, DNP. CRNA, FAANA, third-year University of Arizona College of Nursing Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD) candidate. Originally from the Queens Borough of New York City, Dr. Wallace is a proud first generation American born to Jamaican parents. A 27-year active-duty member of the United States Navy, Dr. Wallace is also the first Black program director for the military's nurse anesthesia program. His research focuses on chronic pain, specifically fibromyalgia and the role stigma plays in the patient-provider interaction.

Can you tell us a bit about your background?

Once I graduated high school, I was a full-time student and an Emergency Medical Technician to help pay for school. After two years of college and having no direction, I joined the Navy to get some structure and discipline. Twenty-nine years later, I am still active duty and will be promoted to Captain. I started out as an enlisted Sailor as an E2 and now will be an O6.


It has been a great experience and I felt I learned a lot. I was in a program previously, that I felt did not have the rigor required of a PhD program and definitely found that University of Arizona had it, which was very important to me," ~ Jerrol Wallace, DNP. CRNA, FAANA


Why did you choose to pursue a career in nursing?

When my first daughter was born, she needed surgery and a female came up to me and introduced herself as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist and took great care of my daughter. It was at that moment I told myself that I was going to become a CRNA. I went to nursing school, then became a critical care nurse, and then went to anesthesia school. I have been practicing now for over 15 years as a CRNA. I also help multiple positions at the national and state level to include the president of the Virginia association of nurse anesthetists. I recently started a new job as the director of the simulation center at Naval Medical Readiness and Training Center in Portsmouth Virginia, the Navy's largest medical center.

What drew you to apply to UArizona’s PhD program?

I searched long and hard for a program with a great reputation in online academia and was recognized within the colleges of nursing. It was important to me that there was a CRNA program there and had a robust program of study. It was also a plus that there was a DNP to PhD bridge program. What sold me was that I had a two-hour conversation with the program director that made me feel very comfortable and showed me that I would be supported.

How would you describe your experience over the course of the program?

It has been a great experience and I felt I learned a lot. I was in a program previously, that I felt did not have the rigor required of a PhD program and definitely found that University of Arizona had it, which was very important to me. I will admit that UArizona is not perfect, but it was the perfect program for me!

Has your experience as a CRNA educator and practitioner influenced your approach to your studies?

It has. As an academician I see it from both sides, meaning that when I get frustrated, I take off my student hat and see it from the perspective of the professor, which reduces some of the frustration. I do believe that transparency is essential and that professors should be ok sharing with the students, which will decrease frustration and make for a better relationship with the student-professor dyad.

What has been the most meaningful part of your studies?

I recently developed my own theory and a theoretical framework that I believe can be used in any interaction that may be affected by stigma.

What has been your greatest takeaway from the program?

My biggest takeaway was that you have to truly be committed to the process. Even if someone decides to go part-time, your body of research is a full-time entity and you have to be "all in" in order to create your body of research.

Tell us about your post-graduation plans.

The next three years I will finish up my career in the Navy and then transfer back to the University setting in the hopes of obtaining a position as a Program Director or as a Dean within a college of nursing.

Researchers to Test Technology Aimed at Improving Medication Adherence

June 13, 2022

A team of researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences and the University of Illinois will use a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effectiveness of digital technology to improve medication adherence among older adults with mild cognitive impairment. People with mild cognitive impairment who also have hypertension are at higher risk of cognitive decline. Prior research has shown that as many as 50% of people with mild cognitive impairment do not take medications as prescribed, which can negatively impact physical and cognitive health.

“We want to preserve quality of life and living well as long as possible,” said co-principal investigator Kathleen Insel, PhD, RN, interim dean and professor in the UArizona College of Nursing. “We know that uncontrolled and undertreated hypertension has a deleterious effect on people’s organs including the brain, even in the absence of stroke. If we can protect people's ability to think and remember, they have the option of staying independent.”


We want to preserve quality of life and living well as long as possible. We know that uncontrolled and undertreated hypertension has a deleterious effect on people’s organs including the brain, even in the absence of stroke. If we can protect people's ability to think and remember, they have the option of staying independent," ~ Kathleen Insel, PhD, RN, Interim Dean and professor, UArizona College of Nursing


The National Institute of Nursing Research-funded project, “Digital Technology to Support Adherence to Hypertension Medications for Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment,” is led by Dr. Insel and co-principal investigator Raksha Mudar, PhD, associate professor of speech and hearing science at the University of Illinois.

The goal is to adapt and evaluate the digital health intervention Medication Education, Decision Support, Reminding and Monitoring System (MEDSReM©). It is designed to improve hypertension medication adherence and support self-management of hypertension medication for people with mild cognitive impairment.

MEDSReM changes the medication-taking process from one that is dependent on prospective memory to one more dependent on associative processes, which are relatively well preserved in aging and may be more available for people with mild cognitive impairment.

“The foundation of MEDSReM is very different from the foundation of medication-reminder apps that are available in the marketplace,” Dr. Insel said. “This is not a simple reminding app. You've got to encode the need to take the medication, store it cognitively in memory, and importantly, remember to do it at the time it needs to be done. You also need to pay attention to taking the medication, which becomes more difficult because it becomes a habit, so the act of having taken the medication today may not be well remembered. Therefore, you need to be able to check to see if the medication was taken as intended.”

The researchers will work with Ephibian Inc., a software development company with offices in Tucson, Arizona, Phoenix and Denver, to adapt the MEDSReM app and web portal.

“Previously we tested this as a behavioral intervention, and we improved medication adherence 36% among older adults who were taking at least one daily high blood pressure medication,” Dr. Insel said. 

“An important aspect of this study is that we will adapt the app by getting input from people with mild cognitive impairment and their care partners,” said Dr. Mudar, who studies the effects of normal cognitive aging and mild cognitive impairment on functional abilities. “We want to learn how to change MEDSReM to suit the needs of people with mild cognitive impairment. We will conduct multiple rounds of usability testing to optimize the app before we examine its efficacy to support medication adherence.”

Drs. Insel and Mudar will work with an interprofessional team that includes Jeannie Lee, PharmD, BCPS, BCGP, FASHP, associate professor in the UArizona R. Ken Coit College of PharmacyMatthew Grilli, PhD, associate professor in the UArizona College of Science’s Department of Psychology, Mindy Fain, MD, co-director of the UArizona Center on Aging and professor and interim chair of the Department of Medicine in the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson, and Josephine Korchmaros, PhD, director of the Southwest Institute for Research on Women in the UArizona College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Professor Lorraine Martin Plank Receives 2022 FAANP Legacy Award from American Association of Nurse Practitioners

June 6, 2022

The Executive Committee of the Fellows of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP) recently announced that University of Arizona College of Nursing Clinical Professor Lorraine Martin Plank , PhD, FNP-BC, NP-C, GNP-BC, FAANP, FNAP, will be the recipient of the 2022 FAANP Legacy Award. Established in 2020, the FAANP Legacy Award honors a member of FAANP whose lifelong career has had a profound and enduring impact on the profession and the nurse practitioner (NP) role, articulating a dream that others share and follow. The vision, innovation, courage, persistence, and inspiration of the honoree are essential components of the legacy.

Dr. Martin Plank’s tireless efforts as a mentor for her students, and her background in practice are two of the reasons her peers nominated for the Legacy Award. Much of her unique practice career has centered on NP-managed centers in urban areas supporting disadvantaged patients. She has provided care at a North Philadelphia housing project clinic and at a Bethlehem, PA, mobile van serving the area’s Latino population.


For me, the biggest thrill is seeing my students succeeding. Some of them are speakers on national circuits and they’ve really advanced in their leadership. I’m happy that I was a little part of their learning experience," ~ Lorraine Martin Plank , PhD, FNP-BC, NP-C, GNP-BC, FAANP, FNAP


“I’m very honored,” Dr. Martin Plank says. “For me, the biggest thrill is seeing my students succeeding. Some of them are speakers on national circuits and they’ve really advanced in their leadership. I’m happy that I was a little part of their learning experience.”

As a teenager, Dr. Martin Plank initially considered pursuing a career as a history or English teacher, but when she was hospitalized for an acute event, her eyes were opened to the healing power of nursing. “I was just so impressed by the way that nurses cared for patients that I reconsidered,” she says. “I signed up to be a candy striper at the local hospital, and that’s how I got started.”

Dr. Martin Plank’s journey as an educator began early in her career. When she started the baccalaureate program at Villanova University, the only women on the male-dominated campus were nurses. Since there was no loan forgiveness program for nursing students, Dr. Martin Plank’s accountant father encouraged her to combine her interests in nursing and teaching to become eligible for student loans available to future educators. “My father said to me, ‘You like teaching; you love to practice; why don’t you combine practicing and teaching and then you’ll get the loan forgiveness?’ That’s how I got started in education.”

Dr. Martin Plank’s teaching has focused on advanced practice clinical courses, health policy, population health, OSCE and simulation, gerontological health and prescribing. Her scholarly contributions to her field have included books, journal publications, and dozens of presentations. She has a particular passion for her role as a mentor to up-and-coming NPs. “New Nurse Practitioners need a lot of support in the role,” she explains. “There are a lot of challenges in practice. The corporatization of medicine is very challenging, and the question is do we want to fit into that role model, or do we want to break out into more patient-centered holistic models? My goal is to get more people to do that.”

Dr. Martin Plank’s zeal for advocacy and health policy is a natural extension of that desire. In her home state of Pennsylvania, she has worked tirelessly to improve the working lives of NPs. She regularly writes advocacy letters, meets with legislators -- many of whom know her on a first name basis -- and attends annual lobby days at the state legislature to advance the cause of granting NPs full practice authority. Furthering her role as mentor, she often brings students and new NPs with her to model the kind of activism that is essential for political and social change.

As for the future, Dr. Martin Plank is in no mood to slow down. She sees each day as a blessing and is inspired by her ability to support her colleagues at UArizona Nursing by highlighting all the important ways they are influencing their students and their practice. “One of the biggest cornerstones of nursing is practice and advanced practice,” she says. “I work with so many wonderful people at the University and here in Pennsylvania, where I’ve been blessed with this recognition. I want to see that they also receive the recognition that they deserve for the remarkable work they are doing.”

Aging in Place with Older Americans Month

June 2, 2022

It is fitting that May, with its Spring rebirth in Nature, is also Older Americans Month. As the numbers of the “baby boomer” generation multiply each year, the visibility of older adults increases, and with it their desire to “age in place” or choose the setting in which they live out their senior years. Advances in technology, including SMART devices, artificial intelligence (AI), and the creation of communities dedicated to “over age 55 years” or continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) are helping to make aging in place a reality for many older adults. Medicaid, which provides health services for many low-income older adults, also supports some of the new technology and has programs to keep older adults in their homes, when this is safe, reducing health disparities and the need to uproot older adults and their families.

Recent literature has found that the built environment is an important consideration before the social environment (Choi, 2022). Housing, outdoor spaces, transportation and high-quality healthcare have been reported as significant factors for the older adult aging in place. Social support in an age friendly community is a pillar to aging well in place. The author Brené Brown speaks about the importance of human connection and how this strengthens communities. Older adults with meaningful connections can improve their quality of life.


Some novel ideas for aging in place include senior co-housing where a group of like-minded seniors who want to live in a private home but desire the benefit of community living, come together to purchase, or rent a home with private living spaces but other shared responsibilities for home upkeep; some of these are also intergenerational."


Some novel ideas for aging in place include senior co-housing where a group of like-minded seniors who want to live in a private home but desire the benefit of community living, come together to purchase, or rent a home with private living spaces but other shared responsibilities for home upkeep; some of these are also intergenerational. Home-sharing occurs when an older adult homeowner rents out a living space to another senior or a younger person for reduced rent in exchange for duties such as shopping, cooking, or even caregiving. Recent advances in healthcare also favor frail older adults aging in place through House Calls programs which deliver ongoing primary health care at home for those with difficulty getting to a primary care office.  The Hospital at Home program triages older adults in the emergency department for eligibility for episodic, intense medical care in the home setting; if eligible, the patient is sent home and a team of acute care professionals are dispatched to provide care at home.  When the acute issue is resolved, the patient is discharged from the program back to the care of the primary care provider. Other programs that support aging in place for frail older adults include palliative care and hospice at home.

As we honor Older Americans this month and our steps into Spring, perhaps this is a good time for reflection. Think about what matters to you if you seek to age in place. Visualize what this looks like to you. Listen to the birds, chirp, the flowers bloom, the sun shining in, a good morning, a shared meal, or good night said. Let your aging wish come true.

Submitted by Dr. Debbie Williams and Dr. Lori Martin-Plank, Wildcat Interdisciplinary Geroscience Group (WIGG)

Resources:

Choi. (2022). Understanding Aging in Place: Home and Community Features, Perceived Age-Friendliness of Community, and Intention Toward Aging in Place. The Gerontologist, 62(1), 46–55. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnab070

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/Strong-relationships-strong-health

https://brenebrown.com/book/atlas-of-the-heart/

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/health/senior-living-options.html#senior-cohousing-communities

http://www.hospitalathome.org/

https://acl.gov/oam/2022/older-americans-month-2022

UArizona College of Nursing Celebrates Spring 2022 Convocation

May 25, 2022

The University of Arizona College of Nursing honored its spring 2022 graduating class at Centennial Hall on May 12. A total of 143 Wildcat nurses celebrated the successful conclusion to their programs in front of family, friends and faculty. 

College of Nursing Dean Ki Moore, PhD, RN, FAAN, congratulated the graduates telling them, “You have crossed the finish line! You have overcome the challenges of COVID-19 which brought a myriad of unprecedented challenges. Challenges open the door for new opportunities. You created compassion out of chaos and made our college, our profession and the entire community better.”

The event honored 53 Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduates, 54 Bachelor of Science in Nursing integrative health emphasis graduates, 14 Master of Science in Nursing graduates, 19 Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) graduates, two Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD) graduates, and one PhD/DNP dual-degree graduate.

Click here to view the inspiring ceremony in its entirety. 

UArizona Nursing SensorLab Seed Grant Funds Research into Artificial Intelligence Student Assessments

May 16, 2022

In January 2022, Janine Hinton, PhD, MN, RN, CHSE, University of Arizona College of Nursing Director, Steele Innovative Learning Center, received a SensorLab Seed Grant to conduct an exploratory study of the capabilities of sensor technology. The technology will be deployed as a virtual reality patient assessment training ground for nursing students.

“Essentially, we want the prototype we’re building to be able to immerse students in a realistic environment where they can practice solving problems and the environment can also assess and provide feedback,” Dr. Hinton says. “We’re hoping that in some ways the system will be more objective, and that it will provide an efficient and eventually cost-effective way for students to learn in a formative assessment type approach and for summative assessment.”


Essentially, we want the prototype we’re building to be able to immerse students in a realistic environment where they can practice solving problems and the environment can also assess and provide feedback," ~ Janine Hinton, PhD, MN, RN, CHSE


“They’re making great progress with creating this system,” Dr. Hinton says. “When this all gets woven together, we’ll have the foundation to be able to continue building on that work and also going after larger funding opportunities.”

The ISE prototype will ultimately be able to immerse students in a realistic environment where they can practice solving problems and receive assessments and feedback about their performance. “We don’t have a mind-reading system, so this is the closest we can get,” Dr. Hinton says, noting that many years of research lie ahead for the program.

After the initial building blocks have been laid, student responses will be compared to the results of experts solving particular problems using the Artificial Intelligence (AI) resources. “AI resources learn how they do it and then you can take someone who is a novice or an advanced beginner and have them try to solve the same problem,” Dr. Hinton says. “The AI agent should be able to find the difference and also provide some hints and clues to help the performance of the novice.”

In the end, Dr. Hinton aims to integrate the program into everyday student training, which will also be a boon to the faculty who typically take part in the student assessments. “We’re hoping that in some ways the system will be more objective, and that it will provide an efficient and eventually cost-effective way for students to learn in a formative assessment type approach and for summative assessment,” Dr. Hinton says. Currently, assessing nurse performance during a training can take up to 10 experts who review the recorded simulation test and render a fair judgement of the student’s performance. It’s an expensive approach that requires extensive training and stamina. “AI doesn’t get tired, it just needs electricity,” Dr. Hinton says. “If it’s set up well, then we can utilize the expertise of those faculty members for training and addressing things that the AI and the virtual coach can’t.”

Dr. Hinton hopes the Intelligence Simulation Environment prototype will go on to have an even greater impact of patient care than helping train students hone their problem-solving skills. “We have lots of problems in health care,” she points out. “It’s complex, it’s so challenging, and what we know about it changes.  We have so many mistakes and we’re expecting people to just be amazing and brilliant out of the gates long term and just be able to solve these problems.”

Currently, medical errors are the third leading cause of death in healthcare settings. With enough time and effort, the ISE may be able to put a dent in that troubling statistic. “If it works really well and there’s a way to transfer it to actual practice then maybe the nurses and healthcare providers of the future will be wearing little headsets or eyeglasses and they’ll take their little AI buddy with them,” Dr. Hinton says.

The Intelligent Simulation Project was made possible in part through funding from CUES, the Center for University Education Scholarship at the University of Arizona. Any views, findings, or recommendations hereby expressed are those of the author(s) only.

UArizona Nursing BSN Student’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Research Wins Best Poster at Honors Pinnacle Event

May 11, 2022

First-generation college student Alexandria Scheid – who graduates with honors at May Convocation -- grew up in Sonoita, a rural town known for its ranching and retirement communities. In high school, she dreamed of attending college, but initially she was unsure of what to study. That all changed when she did her senior exit project, which required her to shadow different careers to sharpen her post-high school goals.

“I was exposed to a wide range of different career paths,” Scheid says, noting that she was curious about environmental science. But when she shadowed a nurse who was also a nurse administrator at a Veterans Administration hospital, Scheid found her true calling. “I loved how everyone there knew her and relied on her, not only within her unit but also with her patients,” she says. “She had established great therapeutic relationships with her patients. I thought ‘This is the job for me.’ That’s why I applied to the University of Arizona College of Nursing Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program straight out of high school.”


The main goal of my thesis was to create the EDI Nursing Advisory Committee which was aimed at improving the overall academic experiences and successes of our underrepresented students," ~ Alexandria Scheid, UArizona Nursing BSN Honors Student


Scheid’s status as a rural first-generation college student earned her an Arizona Nursing Inclusive Excellence (ANIE) Scholarship, which provides eligible students with individualized mentoring, professional skills development, and preparation for RN to APRN certification and job placement. “The individuals who are curating the ANIE scholarships are the best,” Scheid says. “You feel so supported and you know they want to give you every opportunity possible.”

Alexandria Scheid (R) with her mentor, Dr. Timian Godfrey

Tell us more about your mentorship experience in the BSN program?

I really felt supported by Dr. Timian Godfrey. She teaches in the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program but also helps lead the ANIE and the Indians in Nursing Career Advancement & Transition Scholars (INCATS) programs. Since I met her the summer before I started the BSN program, I contacted her for advice about my thesis. I knew I wanted to make positive change with health disparities within underrepresented groups. Dr. Godfrey told me about the College’s Equity Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) task force, which is specifically aimed at improving the overall college climate surrounding equity diversity and Inclusion for our students, staff, and faculty. She brought me into the EDI task force, which is what I based my thesis on. Her mentorship helped me make so any different contacts and guided me in how to create different professional documents. She helped me apply to attend the Western Institute of Nursing (WIN) conference and helped me create the poster that I ended up presenting. She really knows the power of investing in your mentees.

 

Can you tell us a bit more about your thesis?

My thesis is titled ‘Amplifying the Voices of Underrepresented Students in Nursing Education.’ It was actually a service-learning project, which is a project where a student works with a community agency to tackle whatever specific issue that they outline. They create goals and analyze the work that we do. This specific project was working with the EDI Task force to determine what underrepresented students need overall to be able to improve the college climate. We conducted four different town hall listening sessions, and analyzed the findings from the cross-sectional culture and climate survey that all Nursing students completed in 2020.

What was the primary goal of your thesis?

The main goal of my thesis was to create the EDI Nursing Advisory Committee which was aimed at improving the overall academic experiences and successes of our underrepresented students. What’s unique is that it’s for all the programs because I feel like all the programs in the College of Nursing are pretty siloed. BSN students really do not meet DNP students and they don’t meet PhD students and they don’t meet MEPN students, so this was an area where all these students could come voluntarily and work on different projects. For example, right now our project is creating diverse nurse leader boards that will be displayed in foyer of the College. Students also had a hand in creating our different College value statements, like the inclusive excellence statement, the inclusive pronouns statement, the practice of indigenous land acknowledgement. I know this will help the students after me and help all of us right now to cultivate leadership experiences, and overall help create more success for underrepresented students.

What does the future hold for you?

I’m currently interviewing for different opportunities, but I will be staying in Tucson because I love this community and I love the opportunity to serve within this community. My plan is to work at Banner and begin seeking opportunities in women’s and children’s care. As far as my future goals in life, I want to continue working as a nurse researcher so I’m hoping to apply for the Evidence Research Fellowship at Banner. Also, since I love working with students, I would love to someday be a clinical educator, possibly at the hospital and maybe even at the College of Nursing.

 

Eight UArizona College of Nursing Faculty Honored as 2022 Tucson Fab 50 Nurses

May 6, 2022

As part of National Nurses Week (May 6-12), held in honor of the largest health-care workforce in the United States, eight nurse leaders from the University of Arizona College of Nursing will be honored by their peers during the annual 2022 Tucson Fabulous 50 Nurses gala held by the Tucson Nurses’ Week Foundation on Saturday, May 7.

The 21st annual event is the city's capstone celebration to National Nursing Week and is sponsored by the Tucson Nurses Week Foundation. The Fabulous 50 nurses were chosen from throughout the Tucson area by their peers for their role modeling and mentoring of others, concern for humanity and their contributions to the Tucson community and the profession of nursing.


“As part of National Nurses Week, held in honor of the largest health-care workforce in the United States, eight nurse leaders from the University of Arizona College of Nursing will be honored by their peers during the annual 2022 Tucson Fabulous 50 Nurses gala held by the Tucson Nurses’ Week Foundation,"


Lauren Acosta, Assistant Clinical Professor

I feel humbled to have been nominated and selected to share this honor with some truly remarkable Tucson nurses. The last several years have challenged our profession in unforeseen ways, but as nurses we have risen to the occasion and continued to provide care, teach, and innovate. I have never been prouder to be a nurse. I am so grateful for this special recognition and feel incredibly privileged to be of service to my community, my students, and my patients.

Terry Bailey, Assistant Coordinator, Steele Innovative Learning Center

In my 45-year nursing career, I have been blessed with wonderful coworkers in both my bedside nursing role at Tucson Medical Center and in the Simulation Lab at the UA College of Nursing. The people I work with have made it possible to get through the challenges and hard times and celebrate the successes and rewards of our profession. In my clinical role, I have worked on the Women’s Care Unit caring for women in stages of life from childbearing to end of life. I have been inspired by their wisdom and strength and privileged to have the opportunity to make a difference during some of the most joyous and difficult times in their lives.

Moving away from the bedside and embracing education in nursing has been a natural transition. The pathway I took from LPN to ADN to BSN energized my love of learning and reinforced the reality that a good nurse needs to be a lifelong learner. Helping prepare nursing students at JTED, Pima Community College, Pima Medical Institute and now the UA College of Nursing is an honor and investment in our future.

Heather Carlisle, Associate Clinical Professor

I am delighted to be recognized with this group of 49 other fabulous nurses in 2022, as we come out the other side of the pandemic. My special nursing interests are older adults, end-of-life care, and existential distress -- all areas that have had special significance recently. It has always been a privilege to serve as a nurse, but even more so during these difficult times. I am so appreciative of this honor. Congratulations to all the other awardees!

Sara Dowdle-Simmons, Senior Lecturer

Receiving this award is boost to my soul. My favorite part of receiving this award is standing with my fellow nurses. You are my favorite people, and I am deeply honored and blessed to be recognized with you. This is a difficult time in the history of nursing, yet it has great potential for positive change.  I want to recognize the 1 million plus nurses who marched in Washington DC today and I pray they were able to articulate their passion in a way that will be respected and heard. Thankfulness and gratitude resonate in my soul because the dedication, your presence here represents to our profession, to our communities, to our patients and their families and in that there is great hope!

I believe the best nurses I know and one of the reasons I have stayed so long in the profession is having the “heart” for nursing, in addition to knowledge and skills. Patients, families and students can recognize if there is true caring and love that form the basis of all you do.

I always knew I wanted to be a nurse. I am grateful to my family, friends and coworkers for the love and support that have helped me grow and become the nurse I am today. Nursing is not merely a job, it is who you choose to be.

Ambur Lindstrom-Mette, Associate Clinical Professor

Being nominated as a Fab 50 Nurse is a humbling experience.  Being recognized for the hard work and dedication that goes into educating nurses, supports my dedication to the profession. I strive for excellence in teaching and practice and this award is truly an honor.  I am proud to be a nurse, and to become one of the Fab 50 nurses.

Helena Morrison, Associate Professor

The Fab 50 award is a wonderful Tucson tradition that helps to recognize our nurses from the “bench” to bedside, bringing our nursing community together. Our entire Tucson nursing community is fabulous, and I’m honored to be a part of and recognized by this fabulous group.

Christy Pacheco, Assistant Clinical Professor

Joining the community of Fab 50 nurses is an honor and privilege. I enjoy working with students and community members to promote quality and access to care to improve health status and health outcomes. Mentoring students from underserved backgrounds is particularly rewarding. Being honored as a Fab 50 nurse highlights and recognizes the critical work we do as nurses, from caring for patients, to teaching the next generation of health professionals, and collaborating with communities. This recognition demonstrates the value and role we have as clinical leaders, both from the within the nursing community and for our stakeholders.

Jessica Rainbow, Assistant Professor

It is truly an honor to be recognized by the Tucson Nurses Foundation as a Fab 50 Nurse. I am passionate about improving the health and safety of nurses around the world and here in Tucson through my research. This recognition gives me fuel to keep going. Thank you!

Tucson Nurses Week Foundation Honors Dr. Pamela Reed with ‘Most Inspirational Mentor’ Award

April 27, 2022

Next week, the Tucson Nurses Week Foundation will recognize University of Arizona Nursing professor Pamela Reed, PhD, RN, FAAN, with the organization’s Most Inspirational Mentor Award for her efforts serving as a role model, advocate and motivator in support of new nurses.

“It’s an award that I will especially cherish,” says Dr. Reed, “but it’s not about me as much as it is a reflection of the superb students who have come to the College of Nursing and the faculty and staff who have supported me in my teaching,”


I approach this responsibility with a sense of respect and awe and appreciation of students, with a commitment to my own continued learning about what I teach students, and with an openness to questioning the status quo," ~ Pamela Reed, PhD, RN, FAAN


Author and co-author of more than 100 publications, Dr. Reed has a wealth of experience with which to guide her mentees. Her research has focused on well-being and mental health across the lifespan, spirituality at end-of-life, and moral distress and ethical concerns of frontline caregivers and terminally ill individuals. Her current scholarship focuses on nursing theory, philosophy, and scientific knowledge development, and work on intermodernism as a philosophy of nursing science.  A Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, she has also been a Visiting Scholar at several institutions, including New York University and Duke University. 

Earlier in life, she thought she wanted to become a band conductor, but the sexism inherent in the concert world led her shift her focus to nursing. “It was a choice in higher education that was very available to women, when other choices were less so, and I was also very interested in learning about human health and well-being and the sciences behind this,” Dr. Reed says. “Later I discovered something called nursing science that motivated me further to pursue a career in nursing.”

Desiring a work environment where new knowledge is being developed and taught – and fueled by the enjoyment of helping others understand the rationale behind nursing practice – she saw academic nursing as an opportunity to go beyond the daily practices of nursing to explore questions and new ways of thinking about nursing and healthcare.   

Dr. Reed’s philosophy of teaching is eminently suited to providing pivotal guidance to students seeking successful role models. She explains, “I have a lifespan developmental perspective of the learning process, where teaching is a process of educing, or bringing out ideas and abilities inherent in the student, along with providing resources, guidance, and encouragement for students to learn certain content – yes, but mostly to acquire tools for thinking, for inquiry, and for seeing the world in new ways.”

Of paramount importance to her is her ability to help students clarify and develop their particular area of inquiry that contributes knowledge for practice. Her goal is “to do all this in a way that stimulates their curiosity and brings joy if not excitement to their learning process.”  

At the end of the day, it’s a mission that brings Dr. Reed joy as well as meaning. “I approach this responsibility with a sense of respect and awe and appreciation of students,” she says, “with a commitment to my own continued learning about what I teach students, and with an openness to questioning the status quo.”

The 2022 Nurses Week Gala will be held on Saturday, May 7, at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort.  Click here for details and registration.