Nursing & Health Studies

Did you miss the March 1 deadline for MSN applications? Don’t worry, we are still accepting applications for this fall semester and admitting on a space available basis! The deadline for Fall 2015 semester admissions is July 1. Take a look at our checklist on how to apply.

The MSN-LINC in Leadership and Management in Health Systems is intended for RNs holding a bachelor’s degree in nursing. This master’s degree provides advanced coursework in leadership and management to improve care at multiple levels across the continuum of healthcare settings. With completion of the MSN and sufficient work experience, graduates can take the American Credentialing Center certification exam, Nurse Executive Advanced. See a full overview of the MSN-LINC program.

Congratulations to several of our students for being initiated into UW-Green Bay national honor societies this past week.

The UW-Green Bay chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi national honor society held its first spring initiation ceremony, celebrating staff and students who excel in their field. HIMT student, Kerryann Fraser, along with nursing students Lori Schaden, Christin Strong and Stacy Peterson were initiated this year.

Established in 1897, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest, largest and most selective all-discipline honor society. Students with excellent academic records are eligible to be nominated to the Green Bay Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi. The honor society recognizes and encourages superior scholarship in all academic disciplines. It has very high academic standards, electing from the upper 5% of students who have reached the final period of their junior year, the upper 10% of senior students and outstanding graduate students, alumni and faculty.

In addition, the Kappa Pi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing induction was held April 12th. The following students were part of the 2015 induction class: Renee Antonio, Theresa Ashey, Emily Beard, Deo Bolando, Tamia Chapple, Joan Coleman, Amel Elshaier, Holly Hajny, Jennifer Johnson, Tamara Marshall, Dawn Shaffer, Christin Strong, Lisa Szepanski, Ashley Tremel, and Angela Vieau.

Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing is committed to fostering excellence, scholarship, and leadership in nursing to improve health care worldwide. With 406 chapters worldwide and 120,000 active members, it is the second largest nursing organization in the world. Kappa Pi Chapter at-Large is our local chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International and is co-sponsored by the UW-Green Bay Professional Nursing Program and Bellin College. The Honor Society was first established at UW-Green Bay in 1985 and was chartered Kappa Pi Chapter in 1988. In 1996, Kappa Pi Chapter was expanded to Kappa Pi Chapter at-Large. As an at-large chapter, members are drawn from both UW-Green Bay and from Bellin College of Nursing. Members are also drawn from nurse leaders in the community.

Membership into the Honor Society is by invitation to baccalaureate and graduate nursing students who demonstrate excellence in scholarship, and the community nurse leaders who exhibit exceptional achievements in nursing. UW-Green Bay nursing students who are enrolled in the Synthesis for Nursing Practice (their last nursing class), have at least a 3.0 GPA, rank in the upper 35% of their class, and meet expectations of academic integrity are sent an invitation to join the organization.

Congratulations, again, to all of our nursing and HIMT students!

Call for nominations for the Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award deadline has been extended to May 1! If you missed the April 3 deadline, you can still submit your nomination!

The award is given annually to a UW-Green Bay nursing graduate (BSN or MSN).  Criteria upon which nominees are evaluated include:

• Service or leadership enhancing the profession of nursing and/or community and/or distinguished scholarly achievement (e.g., presentations, articles, etc.)
• Achievements demonstrating a high level of professionalism and modelling values of the nursing profession (e.g. caring, altruism, social justice)

Letters of nomination (including self-nomination) should not exceed one page and be submitted in digital format to nursing@uwgb.edu by April 3, 2015. Nominations are reviewed by a selection committee. The award recipient will be notified by May 15, 2015. The following nominee information must be included:

1. First and Last Name
2. Last Name at Graduation
3. Year of Graduation
4. Current email address
5. Mailing Address (Street, City , State, Zip)
6. Phone
7. Current Employer and Position Title

Also include the name and email address of the person submitting the nomination.

Alumni Award recipients will receive official recognition on the UW-Green Bay nursing website and in the Alumni Newsletter, an award certificate and engraved pen.

For more information, please contact Mr. Jan Malchow, Manager of Student Outreach at 920-465-2722 or malchowj@uwgb.edu.

Assistant Professor and Academic Director of the Health Information Management Technology (HIMT) program for the UWGB site, Brenda Tyczkowski, was selected to participate in the “ASG Best In Show.”

According to their website, Actions, Solutions, Growth: University Partners (ASG) is a partnership of continuing and professional education leaders at large nonprofit and for-profit universities in North America. Formed in 2005, its mission is to collaborate on a variety of initiatives, including the development of joint educational programs that are innovative and of the highest quality.

The “Best In Show” project is a collaboration of three institutional partners: University of Wisconsin-Extension, Division of Continuing Education, Outreach & E-Learning; University of California, Irvine, Distance Learning Center; and University of Washington, Professional & Continuing Education. These three organizations are part of a larger group of institutions (ASG) that work together on a wide range of online learning initiatives. Representatives from the three universities met to develop a platform for faculty to share their online teaching experiences with other faculty. The result is a website that showcases how experienced online faculty design, develop, and teach online courses.

Listen and learn about Tyczkowski’s online teaching experiences on her page of “Best In Show!”

This past Wednesday, eight of our nursing students from the NUR447 Leadership and Management course, along with Professor Tyczkowski, visited Preble High School in Green Bay, WI, to meet with students in the Phuture Phoenix FLITE program. One of the responsibilities of a nurse leader is to serve as an advocate for the profession, among the public. The opportunity to interact with the students from Preble High provided a great opportunity to put this into action.

FLITE (which stands for Future Leaders Inspired Through Empowerment) is an after school group at Preble High School targeted at college awareness and increasing students’ high school graduation and going off to higher education. Students from the FLITE program on Wednesday night, were engaged and curious about what the college experience is like. They had questions about what it is like to be a nurse, how to choose a career, study tips, etc.

UWGB students shared why they became nurses, the various paths taken to become a nurse and what area of nursing they work in. The discussion really flowed back and forth, with lots of laughter, great questions and a sense of excitement about both nursing and college life. The hour was up in no time!

The following students from NUR447 Leadership and Management were the participating nursing students: Jessica Barszcz, Nicole Paschke, Melissa Buckmaster, Lacey Busse, Amanda Hoffman, Jessica Ronk, Curt Rowen and Ruth Scheck.

The UW-Green Bay Professional Program in Nursing is issuing a Call for Nominations for the 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award.  The award is given annually to a UW-Green Bay nursing graduate (BSN or MSN).  Criteria upon which nominees are evaluated include:

• Service or leadership enhancing the profession of nursing and/or community and/or distinguished scholarly achievement (e.g., presentations, articles, etc.)
• Achievements demonstrating a high level of professionalism and modelling values of the nursing profession (e.g. caring, altruism, social justice)

Letters of nomination (including self-nomination) should not exceed one page and be submitted in digital format to nursing@uwgb.edu by April 3, 2015.  Nominations are reviewed by a selection committee.  The award recipient will be notified by May 15, 2015. The following nominee information must be included: First and Last Name; Last Name at Graduation; Year of Graduation; Current email address; Mailing Address (Street, City , State, Zip); Phone; Current Employer and Position Title. Also include the name and email address of the person submitting the nomination.

Alumni Award recipients will receive official recognition on the UW-Green Bay nursing website and in the Alumni Newsletter, an award certificate and engraved pen.

For more information, please contact Mr. Jan Malchow, Manager of Student Outreach at 920-465-2722 or malchowj@uwgb.edu .

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.