Nursing Dean Pat Burns Announces She Will Step Down

During her 12-year tenure, Patricia Burns, PhD, RN, FAAN, built a thriving, nationally-prominent USF College of Nursing

Tampa, FL (Feb. 9, 2009) – After a highly successful 12-year career, Patricia Burns, PhD, RN, FAAN, has announced that she will step down as Dean of the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida. Dr. Burns is well respected in the nursing profession and the Tampa Bay community for her immeasurable contributions towards making life better through research, education and healthcare.

"I will miss the College of Nursing a great deal; however, the time has come for me to embark on a path towards a new chapter in my life," Dr. Burns said. "I will always cherish my years at the College of Nursing and I’m looking forward to continuing a relationship with the community that I have been so much a part of for the past 12 years."

In the Tampa Bay area, nursing shortages and nursing faculty shortages are greater than the national average. Under Dr. Burns' leadership, the USF College of Nursing has developed new advanced degree programs and created innovative education models to fill this need in the profession. She established the Clinical Collaborative Initiative, a partnership between local healthcare agencies in the Tampa Bay area and the USF College of Nursing. The Initiative gives students seeking bachelor’s degrees the opportunity to reside in a single agency for clinical coursework. Students are often eligible and qualified to serve as nurse technicians, and employed by the agency after the first semester.

"The USF College of Nursing has fostered innovative programming between the community and college to address the nursing shortage by expanding student numbers and needs for more educators and enhancing the research focus within hospitals," said Sandra K Janzen MS, RN, CNAA-BC, associate director of patient care services at James A Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa, Florida, "This forum is an exemplary model of community and academic collaboration that addresses current and future needs while systematically exploring innovative ideas together."

The College of Nursing has built healthcare partnerships across 10 counties in Florida and forged collaborations across the University, state, nationally and internationally. The College's exchange program with the University of Panama is now in its third year. To date, three delegations totaling nearly 45 nursing students have participated in the program, a hands-on community health learning experience.

Clinical community partnerships are imperative for preparing nurses in advanced clinical roles as much needed educators and researchers. One such partnership is the College's longstanding collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center, the only comprehensive cancer center in Florida designated by the National Cancer Institute. USF offers the only oncology nursing master’s program in the state.

The College's Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), Nurse Anesthesia, and Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) advanced graduate degree nursing programs epitomize Dr. Burns' vision of the ideal innovative education model. One of the first colleges in the country to offer the CNL and DNP programs, USF has graduated some of the first nurses in the country with these degrees. Started in Fall 2006 in response to the nationwide demand for more anesthesia providers, USF is only the third public university to offer the nurse anesthesia program out of seven accredited nursing programs in Florida. USF’s program is the first in the Tampa Bay area. In Fall 2008, 100 percent of USF’s charter class of 12 nurse anesthetists graduated with a job already lined up.

Nursing baccalaureate, master's and doctoral program students and graduates provide safe competent healthcare in hospitals across the greater Tampa Bay area, a testament to the significant community impact of the collaborations Dean Burns initiated.

To facilitate the growth of research initiatives in the College and bring together diverse faculty and student research interests, Dr. Burns created a Nursing Research Center within the College. The Center has significantly broadened the College's research portfolio, including multidisciplinary collaborations, and substantially upgraded its research infrastructure and capacity, including enhanced administrative support and expertise in data management, project management and statistical analyses.

Recently, the College of Nursing increased its research awards by 64 percent and achieved its goal of raising both public and private funding by 40 percent – resulting in the highest percentage jump for a single college in research funding at USF for FY 2007-2008. The University’s overall research funding for FY2007/2008 rose by 17 percent over the previous fiscal year.

Dr. Burns further strengthened the College’s research endeavors by establishing a Biobehavioral Laboratory. Scheduled for completion this year, the laboratory will support the Research Center and the College’s Center for Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). Occupying more than 2,000-square-foot of space, it will house state-of-the art equipment for conducting blood assays, such as inflammatory markers, stress hormones, proteomics, and RNA and DNA analyses. The facility will also include multiple patient rooms for conducting physical examinations, clinical measurements, and treatments for health care and research purposes. Enabled by the College’s productive research environment and clinical partnerships, the PNI Center pursues research, education, and the translation of knowledge into clinical practice.

The College of Nursing's collaborative structure encourages a community of scholars and clinicians interested in related topics. This benefits the college by providing a framework for research studies and partnerships. Ultimately, this strong research foundation benefits patients through evidence-based clinical care -- another way Dr. Burns' leadership has profoundly influenced healthcare in the Tampa Bay community.

Continued community support and individual contributions are vital to the future of the College of Nursing. As dean, Dr. Burns fostered a large increase in financial donations to the College; endowments have grown by more than $5 million during her 12-year tenure.

The College has received national support and accolades as well. The USF Master's Program in Nursing was recently ranked 72 by U.S News and World Report -- a large jump from 115 scored when the program was last ranked in 2003. The USF profile included in the 2009 Princeton Review "Best 368 Colleges" praises the College of Nursing. Among the candid comments of USF students surveyed for the book: "There’s a great nursing program." USF's nursing programs have steadily flourished to accommodate a growing student population. As of Fall 2008 the College of Nursing had 1,888 students enrolled across its baccalaureate, masters, doctoral and continuing education programs – up from 628 students in Fall 1999. Dr. Burns oversaw the College of Nursing facility's much needed physical expansion. Members of the College, University and community gathered to dedicate the new building in May 2005 and celebrated renovations that tripled the size of the College of Nursing facility, from 25,000 to 75,000 square feet.

In 2007, Dr. Burns launched the College on an exciting and momentous endeavor – a comprehensive five-year strategic planning process. Carefully constructed through student, faculty, staff, alumni and community involvement, the strategic plan has set the mission, vision, goals and values to help guide the College of Nursing to future success and prominence regionally, nationally and internationally.

As her lasting legacy Dean Patricia Burns leaves a successful, nationally-recognized College of Nursing built upon innovative education models, collaborative clinical partnerships, advanced practice graduate degree programs and a facilitative multi-disciplinary scientific research infrastructure.

- Story by Ashlea Hudak, College of Nursing Communications

Dr. Lengacher earns NIH grant to help breast cancer survivors cope with residual symptoms

Breast cancer survivors frequently feel pain, fatigue, sleep dysfunction, anxiety, depression and fear of recurrence after they complete their treatments.

Cecile Lengacher, RN, PhD, professor in the USF College of Nursing, has been awarded a five-year, R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute to evaluate how well a clinical stress reduction program helps these patients experience fewer of these symptoms.

The $2.56-million grant begins Feb. 1, 2009, and ends in 2013. Co-investigators are Dr. Kevin Kip, Dr. Thomas Klein, Dr. Paul Jacobsen, Dr. Versie Johnson Mallard, Dr. Michael Schell, and Dr. Ray Widen.

This study will assist breast cancer survivors who are in transition from coming off treatment to being a survivor. Called “MBSR Symptom Cluster Trial for Breast Cancer Survivors,” the project will evaluate the effectiveness of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Breast Cancer (BR) program among breast cancer survivors. The primary goals are to determine how effective the program is for improving patient symptoms and outcomes after treatment, what aspects of the program are most effective, and which types of patients respond better to the program.

The study will follow 300 women with Stages 0, I, II, and III breast cancer who have undergone lumpectomy and/or mastectomy and are within two years of completing treatment with adjuvant radiation and/or chemotherapy. The two years corresponds to the key transition period when formal medical treatment has ended, yet residual symptoms remain. Patients, recruited from Moffitt Cancer Center and USF Health, will be randomly assigned to the MBSR (BC) program or a typical care regimen that is later offered in the program. Assessments at baseline, six weeks, and 12 weeks will include measures of psychological symptoms (depression, anxiety, perceived stress), physical symptoms (pain, fatigue, sleep dysfunction), quality of life, biological stress markers (pro-inflammatory immune cytokines, cellular adhesion molecules, lymphocyte subsets), and stress-related hormones (cortisol).

The MBSR program is a clinical program that provides systematic training to promote stress reduction by self-regulating arousal to stress. The program was modified for breast cancer survivors and has shown early success in helping reduce their symptoms.

Story by Sarah Worth, USF Health Communications

Fox-13 News reports on nursing shortage from USF

Laura Moody, the anchor of Fox-13 News Good Day, Tampa Bay, broadcast two live spots from the USF College of Nursing Simulation Center Wednesday morning, Jan. 28. The live shots led into a taped feature exploring why the nursing shortage continues despite no slack in demand for nurses in today's tough economic climate. The segment included interviews with USF College of Nursing student Jamie Simpson, who will graduate in May, and CON Associate Dean Sandra Cadena. While many companies are laying off employees, the nursing profession appears recession-proof. Ninety percent of all USF nursing students have jobs lined up before they graduate, and Dr. Cadena said she doesn't expect that to change. The program was shown on the big screen in the USF College of Nursing gathering space.

Fox-13 News anchor Laura Moody checks out one of the patient simulators before her live broadcast from the USF College of Nursing's simulation center.

- Newsbrief by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications
- Photo by Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing Communications

USF's charter CRNAs land jobs before graduation

L to R: USF charter CRNA students LaSonya Malbrough, Latanya Lawrence, Anita Lee, Tae Garrison, and Georgia Vong at a clinical rotation.

At the Dec. 13 commencement ceremony, 100 percent of USF’s charter class of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, or CRNAs, graduated with a job lined up -- proof that the demand for this specialized health professional remains strong even in a slow economy. The 12 graduates, who received Master of Science degrees, are working in hospitals across the greater Tampa Bay area including Tampa General Hospital, Morton Plant Mease Hospital, University Community Hospital in Carrollwood and Lakeland Regional Medical Center.

CRNAs are anesthesia professionals who administer nearly 65 percent of the 26 million anesthetics given to patients each year, according to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. CRNAs are the sole anesthesia providers in nearly half of all hospitals and more than two-thirds of the rural hospitals in the United States.

USF’s CRNA program, the first such certified program in the Tampa Bay area, began in fall 2006 as a response to the nationwide demand for more anesthesia providers.

It was only the third public university to offer the CRNA certification out of seven accredited nursing programs in Florida.

USF’s CRNA program, directed by Sierra Gower, MS, CRNA, was designed to provide a high-quality, competitive program that combines extensive education with practical clinical experience.

"The need for CRNA's nationally and in the Tampa Bay community has never been greater and we are extremely proud that 100 percent of the charter class of nurse anesthetists secured employment upon graduation well before completing their degrees," Gower said. "These 12 very skilled people will become Certified Registered Nurses Anesthetists and provide much needed safe, competent anesthesia care."

A 1990 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services drew attention to a national shortage of nearly 5,400 nurse anesthetists. Recognizing the increasing numbers of healthcare procedures requiring anesthesia, many retiring CRNAs, and decreasing graduation rates of nurse anesthetists, the study concluded that nurse anesthesia educational programs must produce between 1,500 to 1,800 graduates annually to meet expected demands for nurse anesthetists by the year 2010. Currently, about 1,000 nurse anesthetists graduate annually.

The graduates from USF's charter CRNA class were: Joshua Beason, Thomas Benafield, Mary Bergin, Julia Cramer, Kimberly Durham, Jason Edwards, Tae Garrison, Kathleen Harley, Lisa Hollett, Dean Jani, Lasonya Malbrough, and Anita Lee-Newkirk.

- Story by Sarah Worth, USF Health Communications

---

• Recent nursing doctoral graduate Dr. Irma Ancheta published an article online with Dr. Mary Evans as co-author.
  • Ancheta, I. B., Evans, M. E., Miller, A., & Chiong, J. R. (accepted for publication). The effect of clinician's knowledge of b-type natriuretic peptide levels on quality of life and hospital length of stay in patients with heart failure. Progress in Cardiovascular Nursing.


• Dr. Mary Evans presented a symposium with colleagues and participated in the presentation of the new Institute of Medicine report at the 22nd Annual Research Conference on Systems of care for children’s mental health: Expanding the research base.
  • Evans, M. E., Boothroyd, R. A., Chen, H.J., Boustead, R., & Schrepf, S., (2009, March). Symposium on Conflict in Systems of Care. Presented at the 22nd Annual Research Conference on Systems of care for children’s mental health: Expanding the research base. Sponsored by the Research and Training Center for Children's Mental Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.
  • O'Connell, M.E., Pecora, P., Brown, C.H., Hawkins, J.D. & Evans, M.E. (2009, March). The Institute of Medicine Report on Prevention of Mental, Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Youth. Presented at the 22nd Annual Research Conference on Systems of care for children’s mental health: Expanding the research base. Sponsored by the Research and Training Center for Children’s Mental Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.


• Dr. Brandy Lehman and nursing doctoral student, Ellen Marcolongo have had their abstract entitled, "Sleep, Depression, Stress and Immunity in Dementia Caregivers: A Seven Day Study," accepted for a poster presentation at the SLEEP 2009 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC, on June 6-11, 2009, in Seattle, Washington.


• Friday, March 13th we hosted Dr. David O. Williams’ presentation of "Research Issues in Conducting Cardiovascular Disease Randomized Clinical Trials and Observational Studies" as part of the College of Nursing Distinguished Lecture Series.
  Nursing Distinguished Lecture archived presentations are available for viewing on the College’s website under the "Research and Centers" tab at http://health.usf.edu/nocms/nursing/ResearchCenters/distinguishedLec.html. Dr. William’s presentation will be available online in approximately one week.


• The American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life overnight event begins April 3rd at 5PM at the USF Soccer Stadium. To show your support and for more information visit the USF College of Nursing Relay for Life team page. The College of Nursing’s Relay for Life team has already achieved 35% of its fundraising goal.


• USF (Tampa Campus) Commencement activities at the Sundome involving the College of Nursing are scheduled for:
  • Saturday, May 2nd, 1:30 p.m. ceremony:
    Undergraduates from the Colleges of the Arts, Behavioral and Community Sciences, Education, Engineering, Medicine, Nursing, and Undergraduate Studies.
  • Saturday, May 2nd, 6 p.m. ceremony: Graduate students from all colleges (Masters, Master of Fine Arts, Education Specialist and Doctoral).
  More information about the USF Commencement activities can be found online at www.usf.edu/commencement. Information regarding the College of Nursing’s end of semester activities will be announced soon.


• Important Reminders:
  • Registration opens for Summer/Fall 2009 on Monday, March 23rd.
  • Summer and Fall Registration occurs simultaneously.
  • Last Day to Drop and receive "W" for Spring 2009 is March 21st (previously printed as March 14th).


• Dr. Brandy L. Lehman and doctoral student, Ellen Marcolongo will be giving a poster presentation entitled, "Sleep, Depression, Stress and Immunity in Dementia Caregivers: A Seven Day Study", at the SLEEP 2009 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC, on Tuesday, June 9, 2009, in Seattle, Washington.


• Dr. Kevin Kip is a co-author on 5 peer-reviewed publications (listed below) since Fall of 2008, with several other papers currently in press:
  • Mulukutla SR, Vlachos HA, Marroquin OC, Selzer F, Holper EM, Abbott JD, Laskey WK, Williams DO, Smith C, Anderson WD, Lee JS, Srinivas V, Kelsey SF, and Kip KE. Impact of drug-eluting stents among insulin-treated diabetic patients A report from the NHLBI Dynamic Registry. JACC Cardiovascular Interventions 2008; 1:139-147.
  • Frangiskakis MJ, Hravnak M, Crago EA, Tanabe M, Kip KE, Gorcsan J 3rd, Horowitz MB, Kassam AB, London B. Ventricular Arrhythmia Risk After Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. Neurocritical Care. 2009 Jan 28. [Epub ahead of print]
  • Regueiro M, Schraut W, Baidoo L, Kip KE, Sepulveda AR, Pesci M, Harrison J, Plevy SE. Infliximab prevents Crohn's disease recurrence after ileal resection. Gastroenterology. 2009 Feb;136(2):441-50.
  • Shaw LJ, Merz CN, Bittner V, Kip K, Johnson BD, Reis SE, Kelsey SF, Olson M, Mankad S, Sharaf BL, Rogers WJ, Pohost GM, Sopko G, Pepine CJ; WISE Investigators. Importance of socioeconomic status as a predictor of cardiovascular outcome and costs of care in women with suspected myocardial ischemia. Results from the National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute-sponsored Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE). Journal of Womens Health (Larchmt). 2008 Sep;17(7):1081-92.
  • Kelley-Hedgepeth A, Peter I, Kip K, Montefusco M, Kogan S, Cox D, Ordovas J, Levy D, Reis S, Mendelsohn M, Housman D, Huggins G. The protective effect of KCNMB1 E65K against hypertension is restricted to blood pressure treatment with beta-blockade. Journal of Human Hypertension 2008 Jul;22(7):512-5.


• This past Wednesday we hosted Nursing Distinguished Lecturer Dr. Marita G. Titler’s presentation, “At the Crossroads: Scientific Discovery and Knowledge Application.” Marita G. Titler PhD, RN, FAAN was recently appointed Professor and Associate Dean for Practice and Clinical Scholarship Development, and the Rhetaugh Dumas Endowed Chair at the University of Michigan School of Nursing.


• As part of the USF Florida Nursing Student Association’s efforts promoting nursing professionalism, Last Thursday the group hosted a Career Day where our nursing students were able to interact with representatives and recruiters from over a dozen agencies from across the State.


• The University of South Florida College of Nursing was featured on WVEA Univision Thursday, February 12th during the 6pm and 11pm news. Links to view the footage online will be made available soon.


• This Friday is Research Day at USF Health. Student and faculty research posters will be displayed all around the USF Health Rotunda area including inside our Nursing building. Everyone is encouraged to walk the halls and ask presenters about their work as well as attend the oral presentations and lectures.


• Nursing Distinguished Lecturer, Marita Titler, PhD, RN, FAAN will present, "At the Crossroads: Scientific Discovery and Knowledge Application" on Wednesday February 11, 2009 from 12PM-1PM at the USF College of Nursing, Room MDN 2002.
  
  Dr. Marita G. Titler, PhD, RN, FAAN, serves as Senior Assistant Director at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC), Director of Research, Quality, and Outcomes Management in the Department of Nursing Services and Patient Care at UIHC and a Clinical Professor at the University of Iowa College of Nursing. Her current program of research focuses on translation science, interventions to improve outcomes of adults with chronic illnesses, and dissemination of evidence based practice guidelines for the elderly. She is currently a member of the, Institute of Medicine Forum on the Science of Health Care Quality Improvement and Implementation, the AHRQ HCTDS study section and the Appalachian Regional Health care Board of Trustees. Dr. Titler is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and has published and spoken nationally and internationally on evidence-based practice, outcomes management, and translation science.


• Congratulations to Dr. Denise Maguire. She is now certified as a Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL).


• Brandy L. Lehman, RN, PhD was recently notified that "A Seven Day Study: Understanding Sleep, Depression, Stress and Immunity in Dementia Caregivers" has been accepted as a poster presentation at the Society of Behavioral Medicine's 30th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions, which will be held April 22 - 25, 2009, at the Palais des congres de Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.


• "Wake up to a career in PACU nursing" by Marcia Weiser, RN, BA, BSN, CLNC was published in Nursing 2009: Career Directives.


• Roberta Capewell, MSN, RC, CRNP received over $14,000 for implementation of her dissertation research in Safe Patient Handling by Nurses Aides in the Home Care Setting entitled, "Evaluation of Equipment to Prevent Back Injuries in Health Care Workers in the Home Health Care Setting". Research is scheduled to start Spring 2009 in Pinellas County at Bayshore Health & Homemaker Services.


• Mary E. Evans has been notified that her submission Conflict and Its Management in Systems of Care has been accepted for a 60 minute symposium at the 22nd Annual Research Conference, A System of Care for Children's Mental Health Expanding the Research Base. Dr. Huey-Jen Chen, a graduate of our PhD program and Dr. Roger Boothroyd, a courtesy faculty member at the College will be presenting with Dr. Evans.


• Current students as well as graduates of the Clinical Nurse Leader program had poster or podium sessions accepted to be presented this weekend at the Clinical Nurse Leader Summit, CNLs Leading Microsystems Improvement: The Link to Quality and Safety in New Orleans, Louisiana. Congratulations Theresa Castillo, Lynn Drummond-Smith, Lorraine Kaack, Deborah Pilcher, and Laurel Scaff.


• Please join the USF Florida Nursing Student Association in celebrating Career Day on February 12, 2009 between 10:00am and 3:00pm in the USF Health rotunda. Career Day allows students to meet and converse with actual nurse recruiters from all around Florida to learn about opportunities available after graduation. There will be free snacks available throughout the day and a chance to win raffle prizes, including books, gift cards and more. Plan to attend this exciting and important event and remember to bring your resume.


• Congratulations Deb Gottel, Patti Kepple, Darlene Conde-Nadeau and Cathy Piscani for an excellent psych frontloading last week.


• Dr. Susan McMillan agreed to serve as a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Palliative Medicine


• Dr. Brandy Lehman's abstract entitled, "Understanding Sleep, Depression, Stress and Immunity in Dementia Caregivers", was accepted by SNRS as a poster presentation for inclusion in the 23rd annual Southern Nursing Research Society (SNRS) conference held at the Hyatt Regency in Baltimore, Maryland February 11-14, 2009.


• Fred Slone and Marisa Belote have been informed that Medical Education Technologies, Inc. (METI), the manufacturer of STAN, the high-fidelity human patient simulator we use in the Virtual Simulation Learning Center, has accepted their workshop, "THE POWER OF SIMULATION IN TEACHING RESPONSE TO A CODE" to be included in Human Patient Simulation Network 09 National Conference held in Tampa at the Marriott Waterside Hotel March 17 -19, 2009.


• Our first Distinguished Lecturer of 2009, Dr. Barbara Riegel, will be visiting the College on Friday, January 16th and was nominated by Dr. Cheryl Zambroski. Dr. Barbara Riegel is a Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, founding Editor and current Co-Editor of the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing (JCN). She is an established nurse scientist with a primary interest in heart failure self-care. Dr. Riegel is currently funded by National Institutes of Health to test the influence of daytime sleepiness on heart failure self-care.
  
  Dr. Riegel will be presenting, "The Evolution of a Theory of Heart Failure Self-Care" at 11:30 AM in MDN 2002 on January 16, 2009.
  
  The USF College of Nursing Distinguished Lecture Series schedule and archives are available online at:
  Distinguished Lecture Series Archives
  Distinguished Lecture Series Schedule


• The USF Health Cultural Fiesta will be held on Sunday, January 11, 2009 from 3:00 - 6:00 PM in the USF Health Auditorium and Courtyard. Since it’s beginning in 2005, Cultural Fiesta has been embraced as a tradition of USF Health. An annual event, which has grown to over 600 attendees, participants and their families, Cultural Fiesta unites our diverse group of students, faculty and staff in a flavorful atmosphere of fun, excitement and talent. The event typically starts with an exhibit of delicious traditional recipes prepared by wonderful chefs like you such as American, Asian, Caribbean, German, Hispanic and so much more! The atmosphere is heightened with sounds and movement of edutainment as people mingle with each other, sample tasty cuisines and learn about each other's cultural traits. The evening culminates with an outstanding talent extravaganza as performing students, faculty and staff come to life on stage with a burst of artistic expressions from different ethnic groups for all to enjoy. We hope that you too will share and enjoy the experience with both friends and family Visit http://health.usf.edu/nocms/medicine/osde/culturalfiesta.html for more information. Thank you for perpetuating the success of Cultural Fiesta! We look forward to sharing the Cultural Fiesta 2009 experience with you and your family!


• Dr Sandra Cadena passed the certification examination and is now a Certified Nurse Educator - Congratulations!


• Marcia Lynn Weiser, RN, CLNC published, Antipsychotics: Restraints for the Elderly?" in the December 2008 American Journal of Nursing.


• Jackie Munro’s abstract, "Nurse Manager (NM) Emotional Intelligence (EI) as a Predicator to Registered Nurse (RN) Job Satisfaction and Practice Environment Satisfaction (PES) and the Relationship to Nurse-Sensitive Indicators and Nursing and Hospital Outcomes" was accepted for a poster presentation at the 2009 Florida Magnet Nursing Research conference.


• Nursing PhD student, Rachel Myers received notification that she achieved renewal of her Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) status from the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators. Myers has been a CDE for 15 years.


• Dr Cecile Lengacher and collaborating authors received notification that their R-21 article, "Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for Survivors of Breast Cancer" was accepted for publication in Psycho-Oncology.
  • Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for Survivors of Breast Cancer
    • Cecile A. Lengacher, RN, PHD; Versie Johnson-Mallard, ARNP, PhD; Janice Post-White, RN, PhD; Manolete S Moscoso, PhD, PA; Paul B Jacobsen, PhD; Thomas W Klein, PhD; Raymond H Widen, PhD; Shirley G Fitzgerald, PhD; Melissa M Shelton, RN, MS; Michelle Barta, MPH; Matthew Goodman, MD; Charles E Cox, MD; and Kevin E Kip, PhD


• Sharon Tollin’s abstract, "Intimacy: A Concept Analysis and Research Synthesis" was accepted as a poster presentation at the APOS 6th Annual Conference, 5 – 8 February 2009 in Westin Charlotte, Charlotte, NC.


• Semester 1 Student Council's Canned Food Drive donated a total of 338 cans of food to a shelter for homeless pregnant women, teens, single mothers, and their children. The women at the shelter were truly grateful for the donations and they send their warmest thanks to the College of Nursing.


• In total, the College of Nursing faculty, staff, and students donated 57 gifts for the elementary and middle school children who attend the Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA) education program.
  
  We also collected over 525 food items including canned fruits and vegetables, soup, rice, beans, pasta, and much more.
  
  The collected items will be provided at a holiday party for 84 children at four of the RCMA centers on Friday, December 19th, organized by The Junior League of Tampa.


• The University of South Florida raised a total amount of $36,759.65 and had 584 walkers registered for the Heart Walk. The College of Nursing raised $2250 and had 23 walkers registered for the event. We had the highest reported total of all of the USF Health teams and the third highest among all teams at USF. More information will be coming about the event in the Spring to recognize the top teams.


• Thank you to all of the students who represented the USF College of Nursing at the FNSA conference in Daytona this past semester.


• The class of Fall 2008 at Semester V Information Day. Congratulations on your recent graduation!


• In the fall of 2006, in response to a nationwide shortage of anesthesia providers, USF admitted its charter class of nurse anesthesia students. This 72 credit hour program, culminating in a Master of Science degree, is intentionally designed to lay the foundation for doctoral education while simultaneously preparing the student to provide much needed safe, competent anesthesia care. This past Saturday we graduated the charter class of this program, twelve very skilled intelligent people who will become Certified Registered Nurses Anesthetists, or CRNA’s. These anesthesia professionals will safely administer anesthesia to approximately 30 million patients each year in the United States. The need for CRNA's in the Tampa Bay community has never been greater. We are extremely proud that 100% of the charter class secured employment upon graduation well before completing their degrees. On behalf of USF, the College of Nursing and our community I want to congratulate the charter nurse anesthesia class of 2008!


• Rachel Myers, Nursing PhD student received a $1,000 scholarship from the Tampa Bay Organization of Nurses Executive (TBONE) at the annual TBONE seminar on December 4, 2008.


• Recent DNP graduates, Deborah Monika Greer, DNP, ARNP and Dawn Craig Hill, DNP, ARNP presented their poster, "A 10-Week Pilot Program On The Implementation Of Evidence Based Metabolic Syndrome Prevention And Treatment Program In Two Ethnically Diverse, Medically Underserved Patient Populations Through A Multi-disciplinary, Support Group Methodology Utilizing The L.E.A.R.N. Based Program" on November 6, 2008 at the Research One Week "Global Challenges for the 21st Century" Poster Symposium.


• Brandy Lehman, RN, PhD presented the poster, "Sleep, Depression, Stress, and Immunity in Dementia Caregivers: A Seven Day Study" at the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) conference in November.


• Theresa M. Beckie, PhD, FAHA presented, "Quality of life in women with heart disease: Construct Validity and Measurement" at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in New Orleans on November 10, 2008.


• Dr. Theresa Beckie's article, "Examining the Challenges of Recruiting Women into a Cardiac Rehabilitation Clinical Trial" will appear in The Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention in January 2009. In addition, Dr. Theresa Beckie was also asked to join the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention.


• Mary E. Evans, PhD, RN, FAAN, Judith A. Jetson, MA and Wendy Hathaway, MA have been notified their manuscript, "Evaluating the Impact of Seed Money Grants in Stimulating Growth of Community-Based Research and Service-Learning at a Major Public Research University" has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education.


• Ancheta, I.B., Evans, M.E., Miller, A., & Chiong, J.R. have been notified their manuscript, "The Effect of Clinician's Knowledge of B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Levels on Quality of Life and Hospital Length of Stay in Patients with Heart Failure" has been accepted for publication in the Progress in Cardiovascular Nursing.


• Don Kurtyka, PhD, ARNP, Director of HIV Services at Tampa General, Clinical Assistant Professor at the USF College of Medicine, and graduate of the College of Nursing PhD program, delivered an oral presentation of his dissertation research entitled, "The Effects of a Structured Adherence Intervention to HAART on Adherence and Treatment Response Outcomes" at the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) National Conference in Tucson, AZ.


• USF College of Nursing Clinical Collaborative Advisory Board Member, Debora Martoccio, RN, BS, MBA, was named CEO of University Community Health's Long Term Acute Care Hospital in Connerton (Land O' Lakes) on December 1, 2008.