Dean's Monthly Communication: April 2008

MESSAGE FROM DEAN WOODS
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Transition meetings between Dean Designate Marla Salmon and me have provided both of us a fuller understanding of some of the issues we will need to address during the next six months. Marla and I look forward to some new beginnings and celebrating our achievements at UW SoN as we think about the future.

Next year, we will have our Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) site visit. In preparation, we will continue to look at ways to enhance the student spaces in the School of Nursing. During the past year, we have been able to upgrade our 6th-floor lab space for students, investing many of our campaign gifts in purchasing equipment for clinical simulation in teaching. We are beginning to train our faculty on its use. We have invited many of our clinical partners to work with faculty, along with a consultant who has developed simulation labs all over the U.S.  From this experience, we have learned about the kinds of situations that require critical thinking on the part of new nurses - for example, managing emerging sepsis and glycemic control. We are translating these situations into scenarios that guide the use of the simulators in students' learning. In addition, we have had the midwifery faculty pioneer a variety of births with the labor and delivery simulator.

Although student space in the school has been a concern since our last CCNE site visit, we will now have an opportunity to reallocate some of the school's space to students as a result of the provost awarding us space in the UW Tower building. In the next few weeks, we will discuss opportunities for funded projects to occupy space in the UW Tower, which includes vistas of the mountains and water from the 11th floor. Requirements for occupancy eventually will include having a funded project that has indirect costs associated with the grant in order to offset the cost of the space. I wish we could extend this opportunity to more of you as the setting is extremely attractive.

As we are able to reallocate space in our school, we will be making some early changes in the student space, hoping to have improved student and teaching settings for fall 2008.  I thank you all for your cooperation in the interim and know that these changes will be an important part of the school's welcome to incoming students.

CAMPAIGN UW: CREATING FUTURES UPDATE
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Anne and Wayne Gittinger, friends and longtime supporters of the School of Nursing, recently made a gift of $100,000 to the school. The gift will create the Center for Excellence in Nursing Education Excellence Fund in support of the school's learning lab. This gift will be used at the discretion of the associate dean of TIER.

SoN IN THE NEWS
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"Wright-Patt nursing team studies use of human patient simulator for wartime training," Feb. 21, 2008, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base news:
A feature on research being led by ELIZABETH BRIDGES, asst prof, BNHS.
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123087225

ON CAMPUS
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Join UW faculty and staff on April 23 at the third annual UW Community Celebration barbeque on Red Square, hosted by President Mark Emmert and Provost Phyllis Wise. RSVP is required by April 16:www.washington.edu/president/lcvi/events/wa-weekend
Everyone who completes the RSVP will be entered into a raffle for a chance to win prizes including iPods, tickets to Husky football and UW World Series performing arts events.

HONORS AND AWARDS
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MICHELE E. ACKER, senior lecturer, FCN, and director of the pediatric nurse practitioner program, was named the 2008 Distinguished Member of the Washington chapter of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.

FACULTY
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DONNA BERRY, the Myrene C. McAninch Term Professor in Nursing, BNHS, has been named the director of the Phyllis F. Cantor Center for Research in Nursing and Patient Care Services at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, part of the Department of Medical Oncology at Harvard Medical School. There will be a celebration in Donna's honor June 20 at the Arboretum's Graham Visitor's Center. More information about the celebration will be sent via e-mail.

DEBI THOMAS-JONES, project director for the Reconnecting Youth UW Middle School study, in collaboration with the UW Pipeline Project, has been coordinating, supervising, and instructing UW undergraduate students working as tutors in five Seattle-area middle schools. These UW-school partnerships continue to grow as our program gears up for a new cohort in fall 2008. http://www.washington.edu/uwired/pipeline/

NOEL CHRISMAN, prof., PCH, spent more than a week in Tokyo in mid-February consulting with community-based projects, including a community-based participatory research project in Niigata Prefecture. Work at St. Luke's College of Nursing in Tokyo was part of a continuing dialogue experimenting with a variety of approaches to community projects for youth and elders.

DAVID LOVELL, research assoc. prof., PCH, has been appointed to the Shannon Harps work group, commissioned by the King County prosecutor to investigate the New Year's Eve Capitol Hill murder of Shannon Harps by a severely mentally ill man who had been released from prison in 2006.

NEW GRANT AWARDS
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DIANE MAGYARY, prof., PCH
Title: CHRMC/ Odessa Brown Children's Clinic: Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds 0-5 Clinical Research/ Quality Enhancement Program
Funder: Aven Foundation ($50,000)/ Foster Foundation Grant Award ($25,000)

JOSEPHINE ENSIGN, assoc. prof., PCH
Title: MedRest: Medical Respite Care for Homeless Youth
Funder: The Group Health Foundation Children and Teens ($74,487)

STAFF
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Reminder: Deadline for nominations for the Sandy Eyers Award is April 24. For more information and criteria: http://www.son.washington.edu/internal/Sac/recognition/eyres.asp

STUDENTS
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Congratulations to JEANNE LOWE, named a Magnuson Scholar for 2008-09.  Jeanne was selected on the basis of academic performance and potential contributions to research in the health sciences.  She will receive $30,000 annually in support of her education.

ACADEMIC SERVICES
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Recruiting Events

April 8-9, 8-4: CNE Forensic Nursing Conference, Shoreline

April 12, 11-2: Making Connections- UW Women's Center workshop, UW

April 15, 8-4: CNE Disaster Preparedness, Shoreline

April 17, 10:30-1:30: UW Bothell Career Day, UW Bothell

April 17-19: Western Institutes of Nursing annual meeting, Orange County, CA

April 23-24, 8-4: CNE Ambulatory Care, Shoreline

April 23: National Student Nurses Association, Grapevine, TX

April 25, 9-5 and April 16, 10-4: Health Sciences Open House, Health Sciences Building

MARK YOUR CALENDARS
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A memorial event in honor of Marie Cowan will be held April 29 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., hosted by Dean Nancy Fugate Woods at the UW Club. Cowan was a former SoN professor and dean of nursing research before she assumed the deanship at UCLA. Her husband, Joe, and her daughter, Kathy, who is also an alum, will attend the memorial. RSVP directly to Dean Woods by April 15.

The school's annual Nurses Recognition Banquet will be held Thursday, May 8, at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel. Reception with no-host bar begins at 6 p.m..; dinner and program at 7 p.m. Suzanne Gordon, award-winning journalist, author and nurse advocate, is the featured speaker. The evening also includes a special tribute to Dean Nancy Woods. Individual seats are $95. To register online for individual seats: https://go.washington.edu/uwaa/events/2008son_banquet/details.tcl or call 206-543-0540.
To sponsor a group table, contact Autumn Parramore at nsevents@u.washington..edu or 206-616-9219.

A poster display and reception honoring the 2008 Undergraduate Honors students will be held June 3 from 12:30 to1:30 p.m. Additional information will be e-mailed closer to the date.

A reception in honor of outgoing Dean Nancy Woods will be held Tuesday, June 10, at the Henry Art Gallery. A symposium honoring Nancy's contributions to the school will be held from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Henry auditorium, followed by a reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The event is open to all SoN faculty, staff and students, but capacity is limited. To RSVP, contact: nsevents@u.washington.edu

SoN Convocation
School of Nursing Convocation: Friday, June 13.
University of Washington Commencement Ceremony (in Husky Stadium): Saturday, June 14.
A Convocation reminder linked to online instructions and details will be sent in mid-April.

CONTINUING NURSING EDUCATION

UPCOMING APRIL-MAY 2008 CONFERENCES
APRIL

April 8-9: Forensic Nursing Update 2008: Cases, Clues and Controversies in Forensic Health care
http://www.son.washington.edu/cne/brochures/Fall07/forensic/08115-C.pdf

April 15: Responding Effectively to Disasters & Environmental Health Events
http://www.son.washington.edu/cne/brochures/Fall07/Disaster/08114-C.pdf

April 23-24: 19th Annual Pacific Northwest Ambulatory Care Nursing Conference
http://www.son.washington.edu/cne/secure/display3.asp?SKU=08117-A-C

MAY

May 7: Women's Health Drug Therapy
http://www.son.washington.edu/cne/secure/display3.asp?SKU=08118-C

May 12: Immediate Response: Essential Skills for Urgent Clinical Situations http://www.son.washington.edu/cne/secure/display3.asp?SKU=08110-C

May 13: Finding Common Ground: Communicating Effectively with Diverse Patients and Coworkers
http://www.son.washington.edu/cne/secure/display3.asp?SKU=08110-C

May 21: Adult and Geriatric Drug Therapy
http://www.son.washington.edu/cne/brochures/Fall07/clinpharm/08101-C.pdf

May 22: Practical Approaches to Treating Rheumatic Disease
http://www.son.washington.edu/cne/conf/PDFs/08116-C.pdf

For more information, go to uwcne.org or call 206-543-1047.

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