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Christine Vandenhouten, associate professor of Nursing, co-authored an article in the September/October 2015 issue of the journal Public Health Nursing about the results of a national study exploring motivators and barriers for obtaining the public health nursing certification.  The article, “Credentialing Public Health Nurses: Current Issues and Next Steps Forward,” found that while nursing certification is viewed by many as a means to document specialty knowledge and expertise, few public health nurses hold this credential. The authors found that, among nurses that do, they do it out of a desire to validate professional knowledge and competence with a relative few citing financial incentives as a motivating factor. (Less than 25 percent received any form of compensation for the distinction). The main barriers to certification were being unaware of the eligibility requirements, cost, and the sense that it was not valued/rewarded by their employer.  Vandenhouten and her co-authors (colleagues from nursing schools at the University of Maryland and Florida State University) provide recommendations for public health stakeholders including professional organizations, schools of nursing, and policy makers for promoting this important external validation of expertise.

Brenda Tyczkowski, Assistant Professor in the Professional Program in Nursing and Academic Director for the Health Information Management Technology (HIMT) program at UW-Green Bay has been busy this fall. She recently completed a rigorous 14-week accelerated Health Information Management workshop through Alabama State. She then passed the national certification exam for the Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA®). RHIA’s are experts in managing the privacy and security of patient health information, administering computer information systems and managing data analysis to improve the quality and safety of patient care. The knowledge gained through the certification process will enhance the curriculum in the HIMT program.

In addition to that, Tyczkowski recently presented “Ageism in Healthcare” to a group of about 90 older adults who are members of an interdenominational faith group, SPIRET. The group had a lively discussion about their experiences with the changing realities of healthcare. They learned how they can be proactive in participating in their care.  The group was excited to hear about the availability of patient portals, where they can access their medical record on line, message their care provider and learn about test results. Many attendees planned to access their records and be active participants in their healthcare.

Wisconsin AHEC (Area Health Education Center) is delighted to announce an opportunity for health profession students: our 3rd annual Interprofessional Healthcare Case Competition!

This competition is designed for health profession students from any degree or discipline, at any Wisconsin university or technical college. Participation is open to all undergraduate and graduate students, to advance the goal that all students will gain first-hand experience and skills in Interprofessional education, collaboration and practice, by working with students from many other degree programs and health profession fields.

The application is open NOW; deadline is Sunday, October 4: Apply Online

How it works: students create a team of 4 to 5 students, with at least three different degrees/professions represented.  Every team that applies will participate during the fall semester, with selected teams advancing to the final competition event in January. All student teams receive a copy of the case (every team receives the same case) and each team will conduct an analysis of interprofessional efforts during the care of a patient/client. All teams will submit a 3-page executive summary, one page budget and a PowerPoint presentation by December 9.  During the week of December 14, at least one team from each WI AHEC region (a total of 9 teams across the state) will be invited to advance in the competition and present their case analysis to a panel of judges on the competition event date.

This year’s competition event is on January 7 & 8, 2016, at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. Wisconsin AHEC provides on-site lodging and meals for the 9 teams invited to present their case to the judges on Friday, January 8. Please forward promotional flyer on to anyone you think might be interested in the competition to help get the word out about this wonderful learning experience!

UW-Green Bay Nursing Lecturer, Becky Hovarter, presented her original case study: Using a Standardized Terminology for PHN Assessment, Intervention, and Evaluation:  Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis to the Informatics Collaboration for Improving Nursing Education, based in Minnesota last Friday. The collaborative, community health educators from the United States and Turkey, is developing a library of evidence based case studies demonstrating standardized terminology through the use of the Omaha System for use in BSN education. Becky’s case study will be piloted in a course taught in Minnesota during the spring semester in at least one community health nursing course.

Do you live in the Green Bay area? Then don’t miss this After Thoughts on complementary medicine and alternative healing with UW-Green Bay Nursing’s own Prof. T. Heather Herdman. Delve into the history of holism — as a philosophy and a way of being. Contrast holism with our current conventional system of health care and learn how it all ties into the renewed interest among individuals to take accountability for their own health care decisions, integrating care from a variety of traditions into their everyday lives.

This is the first lecture as part of the sixth annual UW-Green Bay After Thoughts series. After Thoughts is a lecture and networking series at UW-Green Bay designed with four goals in mind:

• connect the community with UW-Green Bay
• showcase talented women of UW-Green Bay’s faculty, staff and alumni
• convene women — and the men who support them — for learning, enrichment and fun
• provide After Thoughts for attendees to take with them

The 2015-16 series will kickoff on Tuesday, October 6 beginning at 5 p.m. in the Weidner Center Grand Foyer with an hors d’oeuvres reception followed by the program at 5:45 p.m. The first speaker of the year as mentioned will be T. Heather Herdman, UW-Green Bay Associate Professor of Nursing. Heather’s presentation, titled Integrative Healthcare: What’s the Whole Holistic Thing, Anyway?, will demystify holistic and alternative medicine and help us to understand its importance as therapy and treatment options.

If you have not already registered for the upcoming After Thoughts programs, we invite you to do so. A printable registration form is available, or you can register online. We hope to see you for another enjoyable and enriching evening at UW-Green Bay!

The University of Wisconsin Online Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management and Technology program recently announced it had a 99.7% enrollment growth for 2014–2015. The program enrollment nearly doubled due to a forward-thinking curriculum and the recent CAHIIM Accreditation. An article highlighting the programs early success was recently published on Business Wire. You can learn more about the HIMT program’s success, innovation and value through the Business Wire article on the program.

Wisconsin Area Health Education Center system (AHEC) is pleased to announce a new Winter 2016 Wisconsin Express session focused on women’s health for health professions students at any Wisconsin college or university.

The application deadline is October 12—you can apply online. The selection process is competitive and they look forward to receiving a strong group of applications.

For more information on Wisconsin AHEC and the Wisconsin Express, check out their website: Wisconsin AHEC.

Dr. Brenda Tyczkowski, Professional Program in Nursing, was part of a task force assembled by the Wisconsin Organization of Nurse Executives (W-ONE), to publish a toolkit on evidence-based nurse staffing.  The first piece of the toolkit is a presentation for use in hospitals, to engage stakeholders, such as health care board members, hospital administrators and medical staff leaders, in evaluating organizational practices and transitioning from opinion to evidence in nurse staffing decisions.  Additional task force members included Joan Beglinger (chair),  Tonja Brooks, Peggy Ose, Haley Kovac, and Ruth Kirby.  The tool is available at http://w-one.org/toolkits.

The WONE 2015 Scholarship Program is now open for applications!  WONE is offering 4 – $1,000 BSN and 1 – $1,000 scholarships for MSN/DNP/PhD degrees.  All information and documents are available on the WONE website at:
http://w-one.org/professional-development.

The application deadline is September 29th with priority given to WONE members. If you have any questions please email Kathryn Olson, Chair Professional Development at Kathryn.olson@ministryhealth.org.

Amy Wergin R.N., a 1985 BSN graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UW-Green Bay), recently received the UW-Green Bay Distinguished Nursing Alumni Award.  The award recognizes excellence, service, scholarly achievement, professionalism and leadership in the profession of nursing.  Wergin currently serves as Health Officer with Manitowoc County Health Department and is Chair of the Wisconsin Public Health Association – Public Health Nursing Section.

Wergin has served as a Public Health Nursing Manager for 28 years in Manitowoc County.  She has been instrumental in establishing a community clinic and dental clinic for low income and uninsured clients; a program to decrease binge drinking among youth; tobacco control efforts; and programs to decrease obesity through nutrition education and community fitness activities.  Wergin also has been active with initiatives for environmental health and for women, infants and children.

On the statewide level with the Wisconsin Public Health Association, she has lead teams developing health data collection and reporting systems including those for maternal-child health and for disease surveillance widely used by health care providers.  Wergin is well known for her skills in data management and use of technology.  She also has served as a past officer in the Wisconsin Nurses Association at the district level and the Wisconsin Conference of Local Public Health Officials.

Surrounded by colleagues and family, Wergin was presented with the Distinguished Nursing Alumni Award at a recognition gathering at the Manitowoc Health Department on July 7 by UW-Green Bay Nursing representatives Lecturer Rebecca Hovarter, Associate Professor Dr. Christine Vandenhouten and Manager of Student Outreach and Alumni Relations, Jan Malchow.