Message from the Dean
Welcome to the first year of the second decade of the 22nd century as we usher in the New Year, 2010. The Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences made great strides and accomplishments during the last decade. You will read about many of our accomplishments of the past year in this edition of our eNews. As we look towards the future, health professional workforce shortages is a major theme we will continue to address. Even though shortages have abated somewhat in the face of the economic recession, futurists predict the shortages will continue after the economy recovers. In order to keep pace with the future needs, health professions programs need to continue to educate and graduate more than the current numbers. In some disciplines, particularly nursing, the workforce needs double the number of current graduates by 2015.
News -
TCU to collaborate with international research organization to help improve health care
TCU’s Center for Evidence-Based Practice and Research (CEBPR) has been accepted as a collaboration center with the Joanna Briggs Institute, an international non-profit research organization for health care professionals. TCU is only the fourth university in the U.S. to be accepted as a collaboration center. “The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), with more than 54 centers servicing more than 90 countries, bridges the gap between academia and practice,” said Dr. Susan Mace Weeks, associate dean of Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences and director of the Center for Evidence-Based Practice & Research. “As a JBI collaborating center, the CEBPR will promote the mission of the JBI, which is a global leader in evidence-based health care.” (more)
More news -
Parents start memorial scholarship in honor of nursing student
Nursing major Amanda Bebout's parents hope that a newly established scholarship in her memory will help others fulfill their daughter's dreams, the student's mother said.
Sharon Bebout said her family was told by the university that the scholarship would be endowed if it reaches $50,000. (more)
New TCU nursing program: teaching nurses how to be change agents
This past January 20 students began studying under the new Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program with a major in Nurse Anesthesia, a joint program between the School of Nurse Anesthesia and the DNP program. Headed by Dr. Kay Sanders, the Director of the TCU School of Nurse Anesthesia, students enrolled in the new program are taking part in a three-year intensive degree plan. The nurse anesthesia program is currently split into two sections; one for students who are working towards their master’s degrees in nurse anesthesia (58 students) and another for students with no prior post-graduate coursework (20 students) working towards the DNP. However by 2015 the School of Nurse Anesthesia is planning on only taking doctoral-level students.
TCU’s student chapter of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association nationally recognized
The TCU chapter of The National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA) was recognized with 2009 Chapter of the Year Honors this fall. The association’s executive board presented the TCU chapter with their award at the 2009 NSSLHA Luncheon and Awards Ceremony on Nov. 20 in New Orleans. Dr. Lynn Flahive, former advisor for the TCU chapter, said, “It was great to have the National recognition given to the TCU chapter of NSSLHA. The president of NSSLHA as well as the other national officers were there so it was good publicity for TCU.” (more)
TCU's nursing program is training a new brand of health care professional
Lori Muhr, a registered nurse at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth, is part of TCU’s new Clinical Nurse Leader Master’s Degree Program. Lori Muhr sees it all too often: Patients diagnosed with chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure end up back in the emergency room a few weeks after leaving the hospital.
“They may go to a primary physician and a specialist and have a dozen prescriptions, but no one is really coordinating their care and following up on what they need,” says Muhr, a registered nurse at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth. (more)
Read more about the program from a Dallas Business Journal article.
Events
TCU's Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences hosts lecture on the future of nursing and healthcare
TCU's Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences hosts a lecture on "The Future of Nursing and Healthcare" with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Dr. Susan Hassmiller from 5 – 6 p.m., Thursday, Mar. 4 in the Dee J. Kelly Alumni & Visitors Center on the TCU campus. Registration begins at 4:30 p.m. One nursing contact hour will be available for nursing professionals. RSVPs are required. (more)
Accolades
A 60-year passion for purple
A purple TCU flag is proudly displayed outside the home of Willadean Ball. A TCU graduate and former nursing professor, Ball has been involved with TCU for 60 years. “I have watched and supported the changes that have taken place,” Ball said. Willadean Ball’s passion for nursing began in high school, after hearing TCU representatives speak to her class. Ball said it was her goal to attend TCU early on. (more)
Be the change: a profile on social work student Nikita Purdy
It’s easy to be passionate about helping people when you see children in run-down schools or less than fortunate homes, but it takes a person with a huge heart and a unique drive to do all the behind-the-scenes work to actually improves others’ lives. Through her preparation in TCU classes, leadership in the social work professional organization on campus and her incredible internships with two attorney generals, Nikita Purdy now has the knowledge and experience, in addition to her compassionate heart, to launch her toward her dream job as a senator. (more)
Research
Professor completes research on benefits of resistance training
A study completed by a professor in kinesiology department at TCU showed resistance training possibly provided more benefits than aerobics or mild exercise, especially in the elderly and obese. Melody Phillips, who began a study on the connection between exercise, immunology and metabolic disease in 2006, worked with women between the ages of 60 and 70 who were classified as obese. "Resistance training provides many benefits - especially to the elderly - that aerobics doesn't, so it's an important part of an exercise program," Phillips said. "It shouldn't be left out if it can be incorporated." (more)
Former nursing student helps conduct research project on Hispanic organ donation
In May, former nursing student Jennifer Zemplinski compiled a literature review about the study she helped conduct concerning the Hispanic community and the subject of organ donation, specifically, the lack of organ donation within the community. Associate professor and Harris College Doctor of Nursing Practice Program director Dr. Kathy Baker compiled the study, "Hispanic Perspectives Regarding Organ Donation," to understand the Hispanic community's feelings and knowledge of organ donation in order to ultimately increase Hispanic American donor rates. (more)
Community
Lending an ear
Trent works on building his vocabulary at the TCU Listening and Spoken Language Summer Institute. A red-handled screwdriver, a silver-topped hammer and a push-button flashlight were laid out enticingly on the table in front of 5-year-old Trent. The stranger had pulled the toy tools out a mysterious box behind the table, along with a small fireman figurine and a girl dressed in overalls. What else was in there? The hammer. Trent wanted it. He reached. But a hand firmly guided him back in his seat. (more)
DNP student's vaccination class project gets put to use in East Texas
Entire school districts closed down, hand sanitizer sold by the gallon, disinfecting wipes filling shopping carts by the dozen, drugstore shelves were empty where Lysol used to sit in compact rows — these were all common scenes when the H1N1 influenza virus hit North Texas earlier this year. One TCU Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences student had an influential hand in stymieing this disaster by creating a plan to thwart the disease for her community. Dr. Jennifer Jones began her capstone project in TCU’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program with research and literature studies without realizing how her project would help form a vaccination plan for with the aggressive H1N1 virus. Her project began when she saw a need for an evidence-based influenza vaccination specifically tailored for industrial and business entities in Longview, Texas. (more)
