ALUMNI AFFADAVITS - School of Nursing - University of Virginia

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72334_out.qxp 1/12/06 1:27 AM Page 3 LETTER FROM THE DEAN Embracing What’s New, Embracing Change “Oh, the changes we’ve seen, Oh, the places we’ll go!” (to paraphrase Dr. Seuss.) To meet the challenge of today’s nursing shortage and tomorrow’s nursing crisis, we’re in the midst of some “changed” thinking in the way we educate nursing students. First, we’ve stretched ourselves to accommodate a larger enrollment, adding eight new faculty positions this year and embarking on a search for three more. This has been the second-largest faculty expansion in the history of the school. And now we are about to expand the school, too. With groundbreaking slated for April 2006, we are in the design phase for a second nursing education building across the street from McLeod Hall. The new building will extend our physical capacity by approximately 40 percent and will incorporate the wireless technology needed in modern educational buildings. Our plans also call for renovating and updating McLeod Hall, including converting the entire third floor of McLeod into a larger learning laboratory area and adding more stateof-the-art simulation mannequins. October marked the tenth anniversary of our labs, and we are proud to be national leaders in simulation technology curriculum development. Technology also enables us to offer more web-based courses as we expand our distance- learning graduate programs to bring a nursing career ladder to nurses in remote areas. Our students are encouraged, and in some classes, required to own personal digital assistants (PDAs), or handheld computers, as this technology moves to the bedside. PDAs and computers allow clinicians to immediately access up-to-the-minute and detailed drug information, keep track of complex medical histories and conditions, and link to web-based research papers covering patient conditions. Nurses can also more effectively and efficiently provide patients with up-to-date educational materials. Even our school website is undergoing a total overhaul to make it more user-friendly and to provide more accessible information about our educational programs, faculty, lectures and research. Addressing the nursing shortage also means grooming the next generation of nursing faculty. Increased graduate student enrollment is critical for developing future faculty, but also for providing better-educated nurses and nurse specialists at the bedside, to nurture nursing leadership, and to provide for ongoing and growing nursing research. Much of our recent enrollment growth has been in the graduate programs. True to this school’s legacy, we are in the vanguard of reshaping nursing education. This fall we enrolled our first class in the pilot Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) program. Of 107 applicants, we enrolled twenty-two students who already have at least a bachelor’s degree in another discipline. You’ll read more about the CNL program in the spring issue of this magazine. We are also exploring a Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) curriculum that will prepare students to be advanced clinicians, while the traditional PhD will continue to lead to teaching and research careers. All these changes require fresh perspective and a willingness to embrace change rather than to brace for it. I’m proud to proclaim that our faculty, staff, and students are enthusiastic and filling their sails with the winds of change. If you have thoughts or opinions to share, I hope you will do so. E-mail me at nursingalumni@virginia.edu. Jeanette Lancaster Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing and Dean
72334_out.qxp 1/19/06 3:48 PM Page 4 The Virginia Legacy is published two times a year by the University of Virginia School of Nursing and Nursing Alumni Association. Your comments, feedback, and story ideas are always welcome! Please contact the editor. Thank you for your support. University of Virginia School of Nursing Alumni and Development Office P.O. Box 800782 Charlottesville, VA 22908-0782 (434) 924-0138 (434) 982-3699 FAX E-mail: nursing-alumni@virginia.edu Editor Karen Jordan Ratzlaff Editorial Advisers Reba Moyer Childress, Shannon Marshall Ikenberry, Lisa Kelley, Emily Eiwen Drake, Melissa A. Sutherland, Dory Hulse Class Notes & News Editor Elisangela Blevins Design Richard Montoya: design Contributing Writers Cathy Eberly, Dan Heuchert, Karen Ratzlaff, Dory Hulse Photography Tom Cogill, Jackson Smith, Kathy Kayser, Andrew Shurtleff, Michael Bailey Dan Addison The Virginia Legacy is published using private funds. University of Virginia School of Nursing Established in 1901 Main Switchboard: (434) 924-2743 Admissions & Student Services Toll-free: (888) 283-8703 Visit us on the web at: http://www.nursing.virginia.edu Jeanette Lancaster, RN, PhD, FAAN Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing and Dean contents 4Worth Noting News from the School of Nursing 8 From the Boardroom News from the Nursing Alumni Association 12 Technology’s “Touch” Nursing Is Now Also a High-Tech Career Choice 15 Alumni Affadavits: How Some U.Va. Nurses Practice 18 Alumni in Action Grateful to Mentors, New Nurse Seeks to Serve Departments 20 When Katrina Blew In 22 Philanthropy 24 Events in Review 26 Class Notes and News Back Cover Calendar
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ALUMNI AFFADAVITS - School of Nursing - University of Virginia

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