UW-Green Bay’s nursing facilities have been in a state of transformation since 2019 as high impact skills labs for the traditional, four-year BSN program have been created. Much of the work now is complete, including a new look for the third floor of Wood Hall on the Green Bay campus.
The Nursing Skills Center includes three classrooms transformed into lab spaces on the third floor of Wood Hall on the Green Bay campus.
The Aurora BayCare Medical Center Nursing Skills Center includes Room 317, a six-bed skills lab with low to medium fidelity patient simulators where students practice using Electronic Medical Records software and automated medication dispensing system.
Room 324 is equipped with two mock hospital rooms with two-way mirrors for faculty observation of students as they provide care for a simulated patient assignment using two medium fidelity patient simulators.
Room 328 is an eight-station health assessment lab where students learn skills for comprehensive and focused health assessment. Adjacent to the labs is the Cloud Family Digital Learning Lab, where nursing students practice for the NCLEX exam.
Creation of a Home Care Simulation Lab will be the next project. A traditional classroom will be renovated to provide an immersive learning experience that simulates a home setting, and the challenges that carpet, residential furniture and small spaces can present in care.
Susan Hopkinson started as the new Chair of the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program in June 2022 and is uniquely positioned for this role. She holds a doctorate in Nursing Science from the University of Maryland at Baltimore. She served as Chief of the Center for Nursing Science and Clinical Inquiry (at Tripler Army Medical Center Honolulu, Hawaii, and Womack Army Medical Center Fort Bragg, North Carolina) before starting at UW-Green Bay in August 2021.
Susan Hopkinson, Chair of Master of Science in Nursing
Her service in the Army spans 27 years, having retired in 2021 as a Colonel. Susan is active in research with publications on military nursing and clinical nursing care, is an associate editor for research in the journal Nursing and Health, and serves as a manuscript reviewer for several others including the American Journal of Nursing, MEDSURG Nursing, and the Journal of Clinical Nursing. She is chair-elect of the program planning committee for the Academy of Medical Surgical Nursing annual national conventions.
The offering of a graduate certificate in nursing leadership has been popular for aspiring and existing health care leaders. Students take four of the MSN courses for the certificate. Students can choose to continue after completion of the certificate for the MSN degree. Learn more about these programs at www.uwgb.edu/msn.
Susan is a native of De Pere, Wisconsin, and has lived all across the United States from Virginia to Hawaii, as well as in Germany and Korea. Outside of her career, Susan enjoys scuba diving, martial arts, and spending time with family.
UW-Green Bay’s Nursing Department is getting ready to celebrate a major milestone with the Spring 2023 graduation of its first traditional four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) prepared nurses.
As our alumni and friends, you are aware of the University’s track record for offering quality, accredited undergraduate and graduate nursing programs, starting with the BSN Completion program in 1982.
We are proud of the more than 2,600 health care workers who call themselves UW-Green Bay alumni. In May, 33 prelicensure nurses will join the ranks of graduates with our newest degree program.
To celebrate this first class of prelicensure students, we asked what inspired them to study nursing. Here’s a sample of their responses:
Jordan Barnes
Hometown: South Milwaukee
Major(s): Human Development, Nursing
Minor(s): Psychology and German
Jordan Barnes is a nursing student at UW-Green Bay and will graduate in Spring 2023.
“When I was very young, my dad was diagnosed with colon cancer that metastasized and caused him to pass away at the mere age of 48 years old. Having three children to raise as a single parent, my mom went to school for nursing to support my sisters and me. Not only did she become a nurse, but she became a hospice nurse because of the impact that my dad’s hospice nurse left on our family. I saw how much comfort my mom was able to provide for these patients and their families and wanted to be able to do the same.”
Career goals:I am passionate about babies and infants so I would be very interested in pursuing a path in either maternity or NICU, and possibly going back to school to become a nurse midwife. Birthing centers are fascinating so I think it would be awesome to work in that setting eventually.
Karen Gonzalez Alvarez
Hometown: Green Bay
Major: Nursing
Minor: Psychology
Karen Gonzalez Alvarez is a nursing student at UW-Green Bay and will graduate in Spring 2023.
“I have dreamt of being a nurse from a young age. Something that has inspired me to pursue a nursing career is that Green Bay has a fast-growing Hispanic and Latino community. As a minority student, I would like to help ease the language barriers and help minorities have the same access to health care as everyone else. I am passionate about making a positive impact in my community. I will continue serving and caring for others so that I can help them reach their health goals.”
Career goals:After graduation I hope to find the perfect place to continue growing as a nurse. While I am unsure of what unit or specialty I would like to work in, I am excited to continue caring for others. My ultimate career goal is to help others become the best version of themselves.
Napho Xiong
Hometown: Green Bay
Major: Nursing
Napho Xiong is a nursing student at UW-Green Bay and will graduate in Spring 2023.
“What inspired me to go into nursing is my personal experience with great nurses. When my mom suffered a stroke and my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the nurses who cared for my parents were absolutely amazing. They showed me how much compassion, empathy, and kindness can impact the quality of care. I hope that one day I will have the same positive impact on my patients and their families.”
Career goals:My plan after graduation is to work in my hometown as a NICU and/or Pediatric nurse. I am still unsure about what my ultimate career goal is because nursing provides an abundance of different opportunities once becoming a registered nurse.
Brooklyn Simonar is a nursing student at UW-Green Bay and will graduate in Spring 2023.
“Since I was young, I’ve always had a passion and found my purpose in helping other people. When I started college, I was a psychology major and thought I wanted to be a social worker or a child psychologist. I ruled out nursing as a career for me because I felt I didn’t have the mental strength or the stomach for nursing. But my heart was being pulled in the direction of nursing. I had the opportunity to job shadow my aunt, who is a nurse at Bellin, in January of 2020. I only had to stay for six hours, but I stayed for 10 hours because of how intrigued I was! After that job shadow, I knew nursing was my calling. I got my first CNA job at Aurora in October of 2020 and applied for the nursing program at UW-Green Bay.”
Career goals: I work at Aurora as a Nurse Extern in the Women’s Health Float Pool, where we float to the Labor and Delivery unit, the Neonatal Intensive Care (NICU) Unit, and the Gynecology/ Pediatric unit. My supervisor has worked with me so I can transition into a nurse position in the Women’s Health Float Pool after graduation/ After getting about a year or two of experience, I want to be a travel nurse with these specialties and help people all over the United States and possibly even travel to different countries. My ultimate goal after traveling is to come back to Wisconsin, settle down, and find a job back in Women’s Health and Pediatrics.
Bay College, located in Escanaba in the beautiful Upper Peninsula of Michigan, has an opening for the Dean of Allied Health. The position primarily oversees the Nursing and EMT/Paramedic Programs. Following is the link to the position posting: baycollege.simplehire.com/applicants/Central?quickFind=51244
For more information, contact Beth Berube, Director of Human Resources at beth.berube@baycollege.edu or call 906-217-4036.
Kayla Plucinski has been named UW-Green Bay Student of the Week. Kayla is a student in our NURSE 1-2-1 collaborative program with NWTC. She has taken on a student leadership role in our Counseling and Health Center and as a Resident Assistant (RA) in Residence Life. Kayla is truly making a difference for her fellow students!
Kayla, thanks for all you do for UW-Green Bay! Congratulations on being recognized as the Student of the Week!
Health Professionals Week is November 5-9th this year. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing will be hosting FREE online events everyday that week. These events will include a webinar with 2 keynote speakers, Twitter conversations about Healthcare and Politics, live chat rooms for students, teachers & advisors to discuss career opportunities and experiences with healthcare professionals and more! If you are interested in pursuing an education and career as a healthcare professional, this is a great opportunity!
Purpose: Public Health Nurses assigned to the Maternal and Child Health Division and Disease Control and Environmental Health Division in the City of Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) engage in a variety of population-based and individual nursing activities in homes, schools, clinics and community settings designed to assure that health care is accessible and available to residents. While the majority of the positions are dedicated to maternal and child health care outcomes, additional employment opportunities in more specialized nursing assignments may also be available. These include Empowering Families of Milwaukee, Nurse Family Partnership, Communicable and Infectious Disease, Home Environmental Health, Immunization, and Women’s HIV Program.
Salary: $53,044 annually for City of Milwaukee residents.
Mark Hunter is this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. Mark is a 2016 graduate of the national BSN-LINC online RN to BSN Program. Mark’s story is motivational.
Four years ago, Mark’s son fell and fractured his arm. Treatment included intravenous sedation and manipulation to align the bones. His son already had limited access options due to the fractured arm and an inexperienced nurse attempted to place his peripheral intravenous catheter (PIV). On the first try, she obtained a blood return and struggled to advance the cannula off the needle. Mark’s son screamed in pain. The needle found the vein, but the cannula did not. On the second attempt, she advanced the catheter too far, infiltrating the vein. On her third attempt, an experienced nurse came in and placed the PIV on the first try. Today, Mark’s son is not afraid of a potential break of one of his bones, but the placement of a PIV.
This experience motivated Mark to conduct research. He found upon admission to a hospital, 90% of patients receive intravenous therapy with 98% of the therapy delivered via PIVs. Unfortunately, initial placement of PIVs is only 57% successful with an average of two attempts required. Research demonstrates that initial placement success climbs to 95% among vascular access nurses with specific training related to assessment, placement, maintenance and removal. Further, it is well known that PIV placement is one of the top three skills graduate nurses are uncomfortable performing (Wenger, 2015). Another study by Clay and colleagues (2017) demonstrated that less than 10% of medical and nursing students could identify a PIV needing replacement.
Mark approached the Association for Vascular Access (AVA) and was given the opportunity to lead a task force to determine how nursing schools and health care institutions educate nursing students and practicing nurses about PIV concepts and skills. He reached out to Dr. Chris Vandenhouten for guidance and assistance. They completed a study with responses from over 700 nursing schools and healthcare institutions throughout Canada and the United States. The research resulted in the development of a comprehensive, evidenced based PIV curriculum and toolkit that AVA will offer. The article detailing the research has just been published in the September 2018 edition of The Journal of the Association for Vascular Access.
Congratulations to Mark and his commitment to the profession of nursing.
