Newsletter - Bartlett Regional Hospital

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Nurses: Educated Locally For many, a mid-life career choice Leslie Vianne, a mother of four adult children, was in her early 40s when she decided to become a nurse. Lincoln Farabee, a glass artist and part-time Certified Nursing Assistant, entered the University of Alaska’s nursing program about the time he turned 30. Deanna Browne went back to school soon after her third child turned two; and Sally Whiting’s daughter was in kindergarten when she enrolled. A semester before graduating, Whiting gave birth to her second daughter. Vianne, Farabee, Browne, and Whiting all graduated from a two-year distance learning Associate Degree Nursing Program hosted by the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau. In May 2003, Vianne was among the last graduates of the UAS-based Weber State program. Soon after, the University of Alaska Anchorage extended its distance learning program for nursing to the UAS campus. In the eight years since Vianne graduated and completed a preceptorship at Bartlett Regional Hospital, she has advanced through several levels of nursing (Clinical Nurse I, II, and III), most recently earning a medical/surgical certification through the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses. “Normally, I would have had to go outside to take the test, but Bartlett rallied and got enough nurses that we were able to study and take the test here in Juneau. The hospital has been extremely generous in its support,” says Vianne, now a CN III. “Nursing turned out to be a great career choice for me, with lots of educational opportunities,” Vianne says. Vianne has helped out in other sections of the hospital, such as obstetrics and the Critical Care Unit, but she is assigned to the medical-surgical (“med‐surg”) floor. “Medical-surgical nursing can be extremely demanding,” she says. But she enjoys a good challenge. “We’ll have as many as 20 patients on the floor, with each of us handling the admission, discharge, or care of four to seven patients a day. This involves a lot of critical decision making as well as teaching patients such things as wound care and medication management.” Deanna Browne began working as a technician at Juneau’s Reifenstein Dialysis Center while participating in the UAA/UAS distance learning program. “During our clinical rotations, while still in school, I rotated through the dialysis center. I liked it. I approached the manager and was hired as a technician,” Browne recalls. After she passed her nursing exam in 2008, Browne continued working at the dialysis center, but as a fully accredited nurse. In early 2010, when the center’s manager transferred to another clinic, she was appointed interim manager, a position she served in until October Deanne Browne, a 2007 graduate of the UAA/UAS distance learning Applied Science Nursing Degree. 2011, when she returned to the nursing duties she favors. “As a manager, I did not get the hands-on experience I prefer,” says Browne. One of the advantages of being a nurse at Bartlett Regional Hospital, Lincoln Farabee says, is that the work schedules allow for ample time to pursue other interests such as working part time as a hospice nurse. Most nurses at Bartlett work three 12-hour days and are off duty four days a week. Farabee, also an active glass artist, is hard-pressed to contribute as much time as he would like with Juneau Hospice, an experience he describes as highly rewarding. “When I work at the hospital, I’m in charge of my environment. With Hospice, I go to another Sally Whiting, born and raised in Juneau, now lives in Anchorage with her daughters Cecilia (6) and Alanna (12), pictured here with the family cat, Piper (see eyes), and Cordelia the dog. Sally got her two-year nursing degree in Juneau, and now has a BS in Nursing that she earned in another distance learning program. HouseCalls — 6
earning a Bachelor of Science Nursing degree through another distance learning program. “Nursing is flexible and exciting—there are so many avenues you can go down. If you like to do multiple things, don’t want to be tied down to one type of job, it’s a great, very dynamic job,” she says, while admitting that there can be a down side to 12‐hour shifts three days a week. “Long hours, lots of stress; it can be exhausting.” Whiting recently received the “Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurses,” an award given by a national program started by the parents of a son who died of an autoimmune disease to honor his nurses (DAISY: diseases attacking the immune system). Patients have to make the recommendation for a nurse to be considered for the award. It is a distinction that Whiting says she is “super proud to have won.” Lincoln Farabee, a 2007 graduate of the distance learning program hosted at UAS, is a Bartlett RN who moonlights with Hospice and Home Care of Juneau. person’s house and work by their rules. It is a very humbling feeling.” Now four years into his nursing job at Bartlett, Farabee says he looks forward to going in to work. “After several days off, I find it exciting to be back at the hospital. You don’t know what you’ll run into.” He enjoys rotating through Med- Surg, the Critical Care Unit, and the Emergency Department, but working in the Mental Health Unit is a particular favorite. “The experience can be similar to hospice—you are dealing with people’s emotions, as well as being concerned with their medical and physical conditions. It is a good challenge.” While earning her Applied Science Degree in Nursing, Sally Whiting worked as a Certified Nurses Assistant in Bartlett’s Mental Health Unit. Soon after graduating from the UAA distance learning program, Whiting, born and raised in Juneau, moved to Anchorage with her two daughters. She is now a nurse at Providence Alaska Medical Center, where she works the surgical end of the med‐surg floor. Whiting continued her education after moving from Juneau, receiving a medsurg certification and, more recently, The Applied Science Nursing Degree A demanding and increasingly selective program According to Kathleen Stephenson, Associate Professor of the UAA distance learning nursing program, Ketchikan and Kodiak hosted the first remote applied science nursing degree program sites in 1999. “Including Anchorage, we now have 13 sites,” she says. “We are in a majority of the communities with hospitals in Alaska .” When Stephenson first began teaching distance education classes, there was no video conferencing. “We had some computer applications and teleconferencing, but video came later.” Teaching from a distance presents challenges not faced by live classroom instructors. “It is different,” says Stephenson. “With a classroom, you can watch reactions. My experience with distance learning is you have to work very hard to engage with students.” The University of Alaska Anchorage offers advanced nursing programs such as Bachelor of Science and Masters degrees, but unlike these programs, which require the student to live in Anchorage, the distance learning degree has the advantage of allowing people to live, raise their families, and often work in their home communities while earning the degree, a requirement for a candidate to sit for the board certification to become a Registered Nurse. Without the two-year distance learning program, Deanna Browne does not believe she could have become a nurse while raising three young children. Even then, it was a balancing act. “I did the mom duty, but it was pretty difficult to get all the study in,” she recalls. “You have to be on your game.” Justine Muench, RN, MN, is now the Juneau-based UAA Assistant Professor of Nursing for the Associate Degree program, which was formerly run by Chris Urata, RN. Urata now heads the Health Sciences Department for the University of Alaska Southeast. “The Applied Science degree provides a solid foundation in nursing and allows nurses to work in a variety of situations in hospitals and in outpatient settings,” says Muench, who advises graduates from the two-year program to continue their nursing education, if possible. “Among other opportunities, with a BSN or Masters degree, you can advance to a teaching career or nurse practitioner work.” “In some ways, it is more efficient to get a BSN,” says Prof. Stephenson, “but it doesn’t work for those students who can’t move to Anchorage for three or four years. A lot of our distance learning students tend to be older, have growing families, and want a program that allows them to start out sooner.” The current UAS Juneau cohort will graduate in December 2011, while the succeeding cohort of eight students—selected from 19 applicants—will begin studies in January 2012. 7 — Fall 2011
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Page 19 and 20: Profile: Dr. Saltzman, from page 10

Newsletter - Bartlett Regional Hospital

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