Nursing & Health Studies

Nursing faculty members Susan Gallagher-Lepak and Janet Reilly, in collaboration with Dr. Cheryl M. Killion from Case Western Reserve University, published an article titled, Are Virtual Classrooms Colorblind? The article explains that E-learning provides education opportunities for all students and is increasingly more visible in nursing education. Issues on availability to students, usage, and quality of E-learning are also argued. Examination of these issues, along with reflection on the extent to which culture has been integrated into online learning, are discussed. The article also explains the format and design of E-learning that have historically been most successful.

Are Virtual Classrooms Colorblind? is available now in the March 15, 2015 issue of online Journal of Professional Nursing. It is scheduled for publication in the July-August 2015 issue of the Journal of Professional Nursing (hard copy journal).

The 2015 PHN Conference will include a Student Poster Reception on Tuesday, August 4 from 5:00 – 6:00pm at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Convention Center in Stevens Point, WI.

The Poster Reception allows us to showcase a more diverse range of projects, featuring the many public health nursing student programs and projects from around Wisconsin. It’s also a great opportunity for one-on-one conversations between the conference participants and poster presenters. Students can take advantage of this opportunity to speak to fellow students and future colleagues about their work.

Please share this invitation with students you know or submit your poster abstract for consideration today!

The Professional Programs in Nursing completed an accreditation site visit from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) this week as a step in the process of reaffirmation of accreditation for the BSN program and initial accreditation for the MSN program. Four site visitors were on campus this week (March 2 – 4) reviewing documents and meeting with nursing students, faculty, community members, and various departments around campus.  At yesterday’s site visit exit summary meeting, the lead site visitor (Dr. Gloria Greene) described to a crowd in the Union Alumni A their positive findings. Their site visit report will be forwarded to CCNE for review and the determination of approval of accreditation is anticipated by October.

Four of our very own nursing faculty and BSN alumnus were recently published in the Nursing Administration Quarterly publication. Nursing faculty, Drs. Tyczkowski, Vandenhouten, Reilly, and Kubsch along with Dr. Bansal from the College of Business and BSN alumnus Raelynn Jakkola conducted research on Emotional intelligence (EI) and nursing leadership styles among nurse managers.

Their research found that less than 12.5% of nurses aspire to leadership roles, noting lack of support and stress as major factors in their decision not to pursue this area of practice. Psychological resiliency, described as the ability to properly adapt to stress and adversity, is key to successful nurse managers. Emotional intelligence (EI) is a related concept to resiliency and is another noteworthy predictor of leadership and management success.

Their study was undertaken to determine the level of and relationship between EI and leadership style of nurse managers employed in Wisconsin and Illinois facilities. A descriptive, exploratory study design was utilized, with a convenience sample of nurse managers working in 6 large Midwestern health systems. Nurse managers were invited to participate in the study by their employer, completing the online consent form and the demographic, Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) Form 5X and the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-I 2.0) surveys. Statistically significant positive relationships were noted between EI and transformational leadership and the outcomes of leadership (extra effort, effectiveness, and satisfaction). No statistically significant relationships were noted between EI and transactional or laissez-faire leadership styles.

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.