UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

School of Nursing

DNP Poster Presentations

Nurse graduation doctoral nurse graduate dreamstime_m_12780750.jpgTwo candidates for the DNP degree offered in the graduate nursing program will soon be presenting posters on campus, according to the School of Nursing:

Jennifer Stevens, a 2014 doctor of nursing practice/family nurse practitioner candidate, has been working over the past year to complete her Practice Improve­ment Project (PIP), a scholarly project designed to improve practice or patient outcomes. She will be presenting her PIP poster, titled “Medication Reconciliation in Rural Native American Primary Care Clinic,” on Tuesday, October 22, from 3 to 3:30 p.m., in Buckley Center room 309. All interested parties are invited to attend; RSVPs are not necessary.

Noelle McLaughlin, a 2014 doctor of nursing practice/family nurse practitioner candidate, has been working over the past year to complete her Practice Improve­ment Project (PIP), a scholarly project designed to improve practice or patient outcomes. She will be presenting her PIP poster, titled “Individualized Weight Manage­ment Plans in Rural Oregon Clinic,” on Wednesday, October 23, from 10 to 10:30 a.m., in Franz Hall room 033. All interested parties are invited to attend her presentation; RSVPs are not necessary.

For more information contact nursing at 7211.

DNP Candidate Presentation

1nursing150Jason Kephart, a 2014 doctor of nursing practice—family nurse practitioner candidate, has been working over the past year to complete his practice improvement project (PIP), a scholarly project designed to improve practice or patient outcomes. Kephart will be presenting his PIP poster on Monday, September 9 9 to 9:30 a.m., in Buckley Center room 310. The title of his presentation is “Secondary data analysis of nurse practitioner workforce characteristics: Implications for the future of primary care in Oregon.” All interested parties are invited to attend his presentation; RSVPs are not necessary. For more information contact Stacey Boatright, nursing, at 7211 or boatrigh@up.edu.

From Our Past

ChadwickPatricia Lillian Chadwick, professor of nursing at the University of Portland for nearly forty years, dean of the University’s School of Nursing from 1974 to 1996, dean of the Graduate School from 2001 until 2006, and a tireless and much-respected colleague to many on The Bluff, passed away at her Portland home on Thursday, July 27, 2006. She had been battling cancer for a number of years.

Pat joined the University in 1968 as an assistant professor. In 1974 she was named dean of the School of Nursing, a job she held for a record 23 years. In 1996 she was promoted to a position created for her, a sort of administrative ombudsman, responsible for all sorts of academic, faculty, and campus programs, from creating an Early Alert student assistance program to the development of advisory councils that greatly strengthened the University’s board of regents.

For all her administrative accomplishments, Chadwick’s legacy on The Bluff and in Oregon is perhaps most felt by the many men and women she taught and mentored as a professor; she was also an adjunct at Oregon State University, helped create Turk House in Baltimore (for treatment of alcoholism), and delivered uncountable lectures, talks, speeches, and seminars all over North America. Among her many honors were awards from the Oregon Nurses Association (for leadership) and from the University of Portland (for creative service).

Pat will long be remembered at the University for her meticulous attention to detail, her endless patience in training and teaching new students and new administrators, her calm and consistent professionalism in dealing with problems big and small, her astounding accessibility far beyond the confines of the work week, her courteous candor, her unflagging dignity and consideration, and her unwavering commitment to the mission of the University. The way in which Pat Chadwick taught about attentiveness and grace in every aspect of her life and career is part of our story on The Bluff forever. Shortly before her death, Pat was honored with the establishment of the annual Pat Chadwick Award in the School of Nursing; gifts in celebration of her life may be made to the University in any capacity.

For more information on University history see the University Almanac at www.up.edu/almanac.

$960,000 RISE Nursing Grant

nursing sealThe School of Nursing has been awarded $960,000 by the Helene Fuld Health Trust to establish scholarships for bachelor of science in nursing (B.S.N.) students who have a prior bachelor’s degree in another field. The University of Portland is one of six schools nationwide to receive funding for second degree baccalaureate students in nursing from The Helene Fuld Health Trust Scholarship Fund. The grant will be paid in three installments over a four-year period, with half of the funds for annual scholarships, the first to be awarded fall 2013. The other half will create an endowment, with the first scholarships awarded in the 2016-17 academic year.

The award and the partnership with the Helene Fuld Health Trust encourages students with a prior degree, and often more life experience than the traditional student out of high school, to enter nursing. Financial issues are often the biggest barrier for students transferring to the University of Portland to complete an additional bachelor’s degree, according to UP nursing dean Joanne Warner. “This partnership supports the School of Nursing’s priority on increasing the diversity of the nursing work force, including gender, ethnicity and non-traditional students” says Warner.

The Helene Fuld Health Trust’s mission is to support and promote the health, welfare, and education of student nurses and is the nation’s largest private funder devoted exclusively to nursing students and nursing education. The School of Nursing received a previous grant from the Helene Fuld Health Trust in 2006, a $550,000 grant to establish scholarships for undergraduate nursing students.

The $960,000 grant is part of the University’s RISE Campaign, which was announced in December 2010 and seeks to raise $175 million by 2014. The RISE Campaign, which has raised more than $161 million to date, is one of the largest development campaigns ever for a Pacific Northwest private college or university. For more information contact the School of Nursing at 7211 or development at 7395.

New AACN Post For Pate

pate150sizeMary Frances Pate, nursing, has been elected to a one-year term as chair of the American Associa­tion of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Certification Corporation national board. Pate was named when the AACN announced its new board of directors for fiscal year 2014. Her term became effective on July 1, 2013.

AACN Certification Corporation, the credentialing arm of the AACN, promotes and enhances consumer health and safety through certification and certification renewal. It has certified more than 72,000 nurses and provides comprehensive credentialing for establishing and maintaining standards of excellence in acute and critical care nursing.

Founded in 1969 and based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., the AACN is the largest specialty nursing organization in the world. AACN joins together the interests of more than 500,000 acute and critical care nurses and claims more than 235 chapters worldwide. For more information contact the School of Nursing at 7211 or nursing@up.edu, or see http://www.aacn.org.

From Our Past

Vernia Jane Huffman, who served as dean of the School of Nursing from 1961 until 1973, died on May 14, 2008, at the age of 92. She was first appointed acting dean, but was confirmed to a full appointment in 1962. All previous deans had been Sisters of Providence. She had served as a nurse in the U.S. Navy during World War II and for part of the Korean war. She had come to the University in 1960 to begin a course in public health nursing. During her tenure as dean, the School of Nursing first received national accreditation. She saw the nursing program through its often tumultuous transfer from St. Vincent’s Hospital to The Bluff, and strove tirelessly to transform the program from one that produced “technical” nurses to one that produced professional nurses, setting into motion the school’s emphasis on a wholistic, integrated curriculum that emphasizes compassionate, knowledge-based professional nursing. After her retirement, Huffman regularly attended University nurses’ pinning ceremonies at graduation, until failing health prevented her from doing so after 2005. An award is given annually in her name for outstanding service by a graduating senior in the area of community health nursing.

For more University history from this week see the University Almanac at www.up.edu/almanac.

Nursing Doctorate Presentations

The 2013 doctor of nursing practice/family nurse practitioner graduates have been working diligently over the past year to complete their practice improvement projects (PIPs), which are designed to improve practice or patient outcomes. The students will be presenting their PIP posters beginning at 4 p.m. on Monday, April 29, in Buckley Center room 310. All interested parties in the academic community are invited to attend some or all of the presentations. For more information contact Stacey Boatright, nursing, at 7211 or boatrigh@up.edu.

Moceri New Associate Dean

Joane MoceriThe University of Portland School of Nursing is pleased to announce the appointment of Joane Moceri as associate dean for the undergraduate program effective May 1, 2013. Moceri has served as an associate professor with the School of Nursing since August 2012, teaching in both undergraduate and graduate programs. She came to UP from the University of Washington Tacoma, and also served as founding director of the Pierce College Nursing Program. Her scholarly interests include increasing under-represented minorities in nursing and the nursing workplace environment. She speaks broadly on diversity issues in nursing, serves on the editorial review board for the Journal of Cultural Diversity, and is an active member of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. For more information contact the School of Nursing at 7211 or nursing@up.edu.

Writing For Education Workshop

Students and faculty from all disciplines are welcome to attend a writing workshop with Lois Marshall titled “Writing for Publication: Breaking the Ice,” on Saturday, April 20 from 1 to 4 p.m., in Shiley Hall room 319. Her workshop is sponsored by the nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau International. Marshall has been a nursing professional for over 30 years, and held a variety of faculty and administration positions at the University of Miami School of Nursing before pursuing a career in nursing education consultation. For more information contact Lindsay Chelton, nursing, at 8141 or chelton@up.edu.