Transforming McLeod Hall - School of Nursing - University of Virginia

Impact
Kimberly Prosser, Samantha Hudgins, and Eliza Peak interned over the summer through the Nursing Undergraduate Research
Initiative, a program designed in part by Emily Drake (top right), and funded by the Jefferson Trust.
of breastfeeding among low-income women.
The two-year project involved researchers from
UVA and Virginia Commonwealth University
in a randomized clinical trial testing a prenatal
video education tool. Hudgins worked to
enroll women in the study by identifying and
recruiting eligible patients at UVA’s OB-GYN
clinic and following up after delivery to see if
they were breastfeeding their babies. If they
weren’t, she asked questions to find out why.
“It’s great to be doing research as an
undergraduate,” says Hudgins, who has
developed a growing interest in maternal and
child health, especially in the global context.
“This is so important to the third world.”
Third-year Kimberly Prosser was
thrilled to participate in the undergraduate
research initiative, because she sees nursing
as underrepresented in research. “The public
doesn’t see that side of nursing—the scientific
knowledge,” says Prosser. “The ability to
synthesize information is an important skill
for clinicians as well as for researchers.”
Working with graduate student Jamela
Martin (BSN ’04) and associate professor
Kathryn Laughon (BSN ’98, MSN ’99), Prosser
helped conduct focus groups with battered
women. Their ultimate goal is to develop
content and language for a brochure aimed
at reducing the risk of HIV/sexually transmitted
infections and intimate partner violence in
at-risk women. Prosser is now thinking of
becoming a nurse practitioner or a sexual
assault nurse examiner.
Rising second-year student Eliza Peak
returned from a public health course in
Guatemala just in time to plunge into her
summer research with former nursing instructor
Elke Zschaebitz and associate professor Sarah
Farrell (BSN ’81, MSN ’83). The study focused
on using telehealth initiatives at the School of
Nursing to address cervical and breast cancer
issues among rural women in southwest
Virginia. In her first weeks on the project, Peak
sat in on breast consults, watched an MRI, met
with other researchers, shadowed Zschaebitz
on patient visits, and visited a high-risk breast/
ovarian cancer clinic. Peak eagerly observed
research techniques that she may use in the
future to conduct her own research.
Students clearly benefit from an early
exposure to research, and busy faculty members
juggling multiple assignments appreciate
the program as well. According to assistant
professor Cathy Campbell, a great weight
was lifted from her when student researcher
Becky Wendland helped her prepare data to
be analyzed. “What she has been able to do
in three days would have taken me weeks to
do,” says Campbell. “We are weeks ahead of
“The public doesn’t see
that side of nursing—the
scientific knowledge.
The ability to synthesize
information is an
important skill for
clinicians as well as for
researchers.”
www.nursing.virginia.edu Virginia Legacy 17 •