Nursing & Health Studies

UW-Green Bay graduate nursing faculty research on emotional intelligence and leadership styles in nurse managers will be presented at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Master’s Education Conference: Future Perspective  for Master’s Nursing Education held in St. Petersburg, Florida.  The interdisciplinary research team consisted of Professor Gaurav Bansal from the Cofrin School of Business; nursing professors Drs. Brenda Tyczkowski, Christine Vandenhouten, Mimi Kubsch, Janet Reilly and recent BSN student graduate, Raelynn Jakkola.  AACN is the parent institution of the Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education, the accreditation body for nursing programs. UW Green Bay will host CCNE evaluators at their re-accreditation visit next week, Monday, March 2 – 4, 2015.

Dean Dr. Sue Mattison, of the College of Professional Studies, hosted an “App Party” today to celebrate the release of a new app and e-tool called NurScope™. Two of our very own nursing professors, Dr. Susan Gallagher-Lepak and Dr. Heather Herdman, with the collaboration of NANDA International, Inc. (NANDA-I) have just released a new e-tool, NurScope™, allowing nurses, nurse educators, and nursing students to move more accurately from assessment to nursing diagnosis. Downloadable to an Android tablet or smartphone, NurScope™ covers the scope of nursing diagnoses and it’s right at your fingertips!

The NurScope™ app is described on the NANDA-I site as the key to fully grasping nursing diagnosis and accurately applying diagnoses in clinical scenarios. Their ongoing research project conducted between NANDA-I and UW-Green Bay will continue to improve the decision support information available within the tool, drawing from research on diagnoses conducted worldwide. Users can explore nursing diagnoses via three different pathways—by domain, diagnostic focus, and nursing diagnosis label. NurScope™ enables users to identify priority nursing diagnoses by following three easy steps:

• Select the e-tool appropriate diagnostic indicators, based on nursing assessment and other patient data.
• When presented with a list of potential diagnoses, review the details of each to refine, validate and prioritize the most accurate diagnosis(es).
• Document your decisions by emailing a summary of your work to your professor.

NurScope™ is a new interactive e-tool and new way of thinking about nursing diagnosis. Available now on the Apple App store and Google play!

UW-Green Bay MSN student, Jason Mattson (RN, BSN, CCRN), has been selected as the 2014 Carol & Robert Bush Excellence in Nursing Award recipient. Several of his colleagues and staff from Bellin Hospital in Green Bay, WI, along with Carol and Robert Bush, were on hand this morning to announce his award. Mattson was extremely surprised, and very thankful and humble to have received this award.

Fourteen years ago, Carol and Robert Bush approached Bellin Health with their wish to establish this award to recognize RN’s because of the outstanding care they received from Bellin. This prestigious award has been given to a well-deserving nurse every year since then. Each year, Mr. & Mrs. Bush personally review every nomination and they are impressed by the many inspiring stories and great work that accompany them.

The purpose of this award is to recognize outstanding results in the field of direct (face-to-face) patient care by an RN. It is intended to award those who provide the highest quality care. The nominee should provide exceptional performance in care given directly to a patient and may also be involved in improving a process or procedure so that other providers can improve their ability to meet patient’s needs and enhance the quality of care. Individuals eligible for this prestigious award must be:

• A Registered Nurse within Bellin Health System
• Presently employed by Bellin Health as either full-time, part-time or casual part time
• Serving in a direct (face-to-face) patient care role

Mattson completed his BSN degree at UW-Green Bay in 2006, and joined the Bellin ICU as a staff nurse in 2007. He is anticipating to graduate with his MSN in Management & Leadership in Health Systems from UW-Green Bay at the end of this summer, 2015. Mattson completed and passed the rigorous Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN) certification, and is a member of the Bellin Clinical Advancement Program (CAP).

According to his ICU leader, Mattson has received commendations and letters of thanks from patients who were grateful and noted how he would “go above and beyond” in providing care. He willingly shares his patient care knowledge, skills, and expertise with other nurses by teaching hemodynamic classes to his colleagues in the ICU and 12 lead electrocardiogram classes to nurses throughout the Bellin Health system. Aware of the need to promote excellence in bedside care to nurses at all levels of practice, he presents twice a year to novice Bellin nurses enrolled in the Wisconsin Nurse Residency Program about the critical assessment and skills needed for early recognition and treatment of sepsis in hospitalized patients.

Each year, the winner receives a Lladro sculpture of a nurse, a $5,000 cash award, and a memento of the award presentation. He will be formally recognized at the annual Bellin Health VIP event on April 9th at the Lambeau Field Atrium. Congratulations, Jason, on your very much deserved award.

Wisconsin AHEC is pleased to announce their Summer 2015 opportunities for health professions students at any Wisconsin college or university.

Community Health Internship Program (CHIP)
An 8-week internship ($2,400 stipend) to work full time in a local health department or community agency. 70+ sites are offered June 8 – July 31. Each intern is hosted by an experienced professional, and participates in additional curriculum and enrichment activities coordinated by AHEC. A wide range of focus areas are available among the internships, offering opportunities for any academic major, all with the common theme of community health. Applications due Monday, February 16, 2015.  CHIP application

Wisconsin Express
A week-long cultural immersion at a regional community site. Eleven sites are offered May 17 – 22, 2015, and one site is offered over Spring Break (March 29 – April 3, 2015). Small interprofessional groups of college students learn about and discuss the healthcare resources and challenges of the local population. Program fee is $200 for the week (includes 5 nights lodging, meals, curriculum, materials, and special activities). Applications are due Monday, January 5, 2015 for Spring Break and Friday, February 13, 2015 for the summer program. Wisconsin Express application

Tune in Friday (Jan. 30) to Fox 11’s Good Day Wisconsin, where Assistant Prof. Heather Herdman, Nursing, will be featured in live segments at 6:15, 7:45 and 8:45 a.m. Herdman will be interviewed on herbs, essential oils and foods to keep one healthy during the winter (evidence-based, of course!). She hopes the segments will generate interest in a course she is teaching on these topics for the nonprofit Bridge-Between Retreat Center in Denmark. That course, titled “Staying Healthy This Winter: Incorporating Aromatherapy and Herbs,” runs from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7 — more information is available at The Bridge-Between Retreat Center website. Herdman is a Bridge-Between board member.

Profa. Dra. Maria Márcia Bachion, a full professor at the Federal University of Goiás (Brazil), and a post-doctoral student from the Federal University of São Paulo (Brazil) is visiting the nursing program and working on research with Dr. Heather Herdman. Dr. Bachion comes from one of the federal nursing programs in Brazil with 250 undergraduate and 100 graduate (MSN and PhD) nursing students. She also is from a city of 1.2 million people and a tropical climate now of 28-30 degrees Celsius (82-86F)! Our record breaking cold is a new experience for her – one she has celebrated with an obligatory introduction to making “snow angels”!

Dr. Bachion is interested in establishing collaborations with nursing faculty and working on her research on clinical reasoning and nursing diagnosis in diverse areas, such as wound care, postpartum women, elderly patients and care of families. Dr. Bachion met with Professor Tom Nesslein (Urban and Regional Planning) on Jan. 9 and discussed cost effectiveness research principles. She accompanied Dr. Herdman to Bellin College on January 14 to discuss pedagogical techniques for teaching clinical reasoning and nursing diagnosis with faculty. Dr. Janet Reilly will travel with Dr. Bachion on January 15 to Froedtert Hospital to spend time with nursing experts in wound care. Dr. Bachion will be completing work with Dr. Herdman on several articles for publication from her postdoctoral research while she is here.

Representing UW-Green Bay at the 2015 Interprofessional Healthcare Case Competition held at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells on January 7-8, were Anita Frankhauser (dietetics graduate December 2014 and team captain), Alysia Wiley and Amanda Hoffman (RN to BSN students), and Stephanie Hessler (Health Information Management and Technology student). (Pictured left to right)

The team researched, wrote and submitted an executive summary with interdisciplinary solutions to a case study involving COPD patients, which was rated highly and enabled them to compete in the final round of competition against 10 teams from private and public universities across the state in the annual event sponsored by the Area Health Education Center (AHEC). Using interdisciplinary health care perspectives and experiences, population-focused care in a health system, root cause analysis and cost/benefit analysis, the team collaborated for 3 months to create their presentation, which they titled; Breathless No More: 360 degrees of COPD care.

Sara Schmitz (Director of Didactic Program in Nutrition and Dietetics) provided faculty guidance to the team. The team from UW-Madison earned 1st place and the $3000 award.

The UW-Green Bay Professional Programs in Nursing are undergoing accreditation review by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).  (BSN program is seeking reaffirmation of accreditation and MSN program is a new applicant for accreditation.)  In preparation for the March 1-4, 2015 accreditation site visit, we are requesting “Third-party” comment letters to be sent to CCNE.  For more information, read more here: CCNE_community of interest

Congratulations to our Fall 2014 graduates. We wish you the best of luck in your careers! For those unable to attend the graduation ceremony, we have assembled a “Virtual Graduation” on our You Tube channel. The video uses actual video from the December 13 ceremony and recognizes all of our Fall 2014 graduates. Click the following link to experience the sights and sounds of commencement on the UW-Green Bay campus. 2014 Fall Nursing Video

The following is a list of the graduates sorted according to Wisconsin county of residence followed by those from other states. The students receiving bachelor’s degrees with academic honors are indicated by * cum laude, **magna cum laude, *** summa cum laude.

Brown — Alyssa Adams, Anjali Bircher, De Pere; Heather Boucher, Tricia Drake, Holly Hajny, Tamara Marshall, Alicia Radliff, and Candace Zilisch, Green Bay; Carrie Lemke, Greenleaf; Jessica Bostwick* and Jenna Katers, Suamico.
Dane — Angela Vieau, Columbus; Cheryl Bauer and Lyndsay Brecka*, De Forest; Erin Thomas, Madison.
Door — Nancy Herrick and Kimberly Kasten, Sturgeon Bay.
Iowa — Dawn Herrmann, Barneveld.
Marathon — Jolene Finger, Wausau.
Marinette — Kristin Abbs, Nicole Drees, and Amel Elshaier, Marinette; Tammy Lobner and Heidi Olson, Niagara.
Oneida — Emily Beard, Rhinelander.
Outagamie – R. Artez and Kurt Thomas, Appleton; Samantha Everard, Seymour.
Pierce — Staci Maves, Elmwood.
Vernon — Candice Herman, Coon Valley.
Winnebago — Jessica Bickler and Christopher Taber, Neenah.
Other states — Jennifer Changamveetil, Half Moon Bay, California; Jennifer Danforth, Denver, Colorado; Theresa Ashey***, Hudson, Florida; Sarah Moore, Atlanta, Georgia; Connie Belcher, Meridian, Idaho; Barbara Oliff, Arlington Heights, Illinois; Cornelia Pintescu, Lindenhurst, Illinois; Teresa Choi-Kim, Vernon Hills, Illinois; Megan Temple, Baltimore, Maryland; Holly Seaver, Marstons Mills, Massachusetts; Michael Wales, Iron Mountain, Michigan; Sara Johnson, Vulcan, Michigan; Sara Tharaldson, Crystal, Minnesota; Donna Majewski, Lino Lakes, Minnesota; Susan Lawrence, Lees Summit, Missouri; Barbara Clendinning, Bethel, North Carolina; Malinda Wohlrabe, High Point, North Carolina; Allison Bauer, Hanahan, South Carolina.

Congratulations goes out to the following Nursing students have been appointed to the College of Professional Studies Dean’s Student Advisory board for the 2014-2015 Academic Year:

Kathy Beaulieu-Sanders (MSN)

Sue Cavallin (HIMT)

Megan Rhode (BSN-LINC)

We are proud to have our students represent Nursing on this important advisory board!