Winter 2014
william f. connell school of nursing
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Connell School professor explores paths to peaceful slumber
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from the dean susan gennaro
Dear Friends,
dean
Living up to Boston College’s motto—
Susan Gennaro
“Ever to Excel”—makes those of us at
editor
the Connell School acutely conscious
Maureen Dezell
of the future and our charge to build a
managing editor
nursing workforce capable of meeting
Tracy Bienen
the world’s health needs. So I am delighted to share with you this issue of Voice, which highlights some of the ways in which we are building our faculty, our curriculum, our research capabilities, and the brick-and-mortar foundations of the School itself. Photograph: Gary Wayne Gilbert
voice
contents
This edition introduces five new faculty
members, each of whom brings singular strengths to our efforts to build
13
14
art director Diana Parziale
contributors Patrick L. Kennedy Zak Jason Alicia Potter Debra Bradley Ruder Corinne Steinbrenner
photographers
6 Top left: Lichuan Ye pioneers the study of sleep. Photograph: Tony Rinaldo. Top middle: Plans take shape for the Connell School of Nursing at Maloney Hall. Courtesy: MDS/Miller Dyer Spears. Top right: Assistant Professor Carina Katigbak. Photograph: Caitlin Cunningham
Caitlin Cunningham Gary Wayne Gilbert Lee Pellegrini Tony Rinaldo
Bottom: Paulina Miklosz ’12, M.S. ’13, with patient Leticia Torres at the Community Health Center of New Britain. Photograph: Caitlin Cunningham
Voice is published by the William F. Connell School of Nursing and the Boston College Office of Marketing Communications.
Winter 2014
quality at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and building a sleep education
Letters and comments are welcome:
news
features
curriculum for nursing school undergraduates as she pursues her research
csonalum@bc.edu
4 AAN inductees, Connell
6 The science of sleep
13 The future home of
on sleep apnea.
Communications Specialist William F. Connell School of Nursing Boston College 140 Commonwealth Avenue Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
future nurse leaders. It features the Hispanic Minor program, one of the building blocks we have put in place to educate linguistically and culturally competent global citizens who use their skills and knowledge to improve
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health care. It includes an article on Assistant Professor Lichuan Ye, an expert on sleep and sleep quality—both building blocks of health. A Haley Nurse Scientist and recent National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research grant recipient, Ye is leading a study on patient sleep
Our physical surroundings have been much on my mind lately as we look ahead to our summer 2015 move from Cushing Hall to Maloney Hall, the gateway between the Lower and Middle campuses. Our new location will give us close to 80 percent more space in which to build a nurturing environment where future nurse leaders can learn, live, and enjoy.
School at national conventions, faculty honors, and fellowships and grants bestowed.
Assistant Professor, Haley Nurse Scientist, and National Institute of Nursing Research grant recipient Lichuan Ye explores new ways to help patients get a good night’s sleep.
10 Hispanic Studies Yours,
Susan Gennaro Dean
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voice | winter 2014
minor translates to more equitable care Training Spanishspeaking nurses to help patients and health care providers connect.
21st-century nursing at Boston College The Connell School plans its move to newly expanded, customdesigned quarters in Maloney Hall.
14 Welcoming new faculty Five talented professionals bring decades of teaching, patient care, research, and expertise.
faculty publications
17 Easing the burden of neuropsychiatric symptoms in head and neck cancer Sampling student responses to surveys on violence Race and ethnicity matter in C-section decisions
www.bc.edu/cson
boston college william f. connell school of nursing
3
news by zak jason
Events Pinnacle Lecture Best-selling author Lee Woodruff drew a crowd of 300 to the Yawkey Center for her spring 2013 Pinnacle Lecture, “Family Journey, Recovery, and Resilience: A Caregiver’s Perspective.” Woodruff recalled the empathy of nurses and the stories they told after her husband, journalist Bob Woodruff, was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq and survived a five-week coma in 2006. “Sharing those stories was the most powerful thing,” she said. “It nourished me and gave me hope.”
Reunion
Above: Pinnacle lecturer Lee Woodruff with her daughter Cathryn ’15, Grace Kalnins ’15, and Abigail Regan ’16. Photograph: Caitlin Cunningham
At the 2013 Connell School reunion in Higgins Hall, Dean Susan Gennaro presented the fifth annual Dean Rita P. Kelleher Award for outstanding nurse leadership to Mimi Pomerleau, M.S. ’95, president of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses. After the award presentation, Pomerleau discussed maternal and newborn health practices with Boston College Magazine editor Ben Birnbaum.
Professor inspires Assistant Professor Viola Benavente lectured on preparing the next generation of diverse nurse leaders at the National Association of Hispanic Nurses in August. Two months later, she gave the keynote address at Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Hispanic Heritage Celebration. Jackie Somerville ’80, Ph.D. ’09, the hospital’s senior vice president for patient care services and chief nurse, hosted the event.
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voice | winter 2014
Students at national conference Keys to Inclusive Leadership in Nursing program members Yesenia Japa ’14, Andrea Lopez ’14, and Alexandra Paz ’15 presented a poster on “Preparing the Next Generation of Diverse Nurse Leaders” at the August 2013 National Association of Hispanic Nurses Conference in New Orleans.
Honors AAN accolades In October, the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) named Margaret Shandor Miles ’62 a “Living Legend,” and welcomed five Connell School alumni and one doctoral candidate to its ranks. They are: • Patricia Branowicki, CSON doctoral candidate, associate chief nurse for Medicine Patient Services, Boston Children’s Hospital, and senior director, Nursing/Patient Care Services, DanaFarber Cancer Institute • Pamela Burke ’70, Ph.D. ’90, codirector, Nurse Training, Leadership Education in Adolescent Health Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, and adjunct associate professor of nursing, Northeastern University Bouvé College of Health Sciences • Mary Cadogan ’72, lead faculty member, Adult/Gerontological Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program and faculty member, Center for the Advancement of Gerontological Nursing Science, UCLA School of Nursing • Anne Harvey Gross, M.S. ’90, vice president, Nursing and Clinical Services, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
• Suzanne Mulvey Boyle ’70, vice president, Patient Care Services, New York Presbyterian Hospital • Lynne Nemeth, M.S. ’81, associate professor, College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina
Best book Fostering Nurse-Led Care: Professional Practice for the Bedside Leader, coedited by Professor Dorothy Jones, earned the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau, International 2013 Best Book award. In addition to Jones, Jeffrey Adams, Ph.D. ’09; Elizabeth Brown ’85; Professor Emerita Mary Duffy; Dean Susan Gennaro; Associate Professor Pam Grace; Susan Lee, Ph.D. ’05; Ellen Robinson, M.S. ’83, Ph.D. ’97; and Deborah Washington, M.S. ’93, Ph.D. ’12, wrote or cowrote chapters in the book.
Hall of Honor In October, CSON Assistant Professor Holly Fontenot was recognized for excellence in nursing education and inducted into the Hall of Honor at Mercer University (where she earned her bachelor’s degree in 1997).
APA scholar Michelle Jacobs, M.S. ’14, was one of 10 graduate nursing students named to the American Psychiatric Nurses Association inaugural class of student scholars. Recipients are awarded a oneyear membership in the association and mentorship opportunities.
MGH fellowships Massachusetts General Hospital awarded Hausman Fellowships to Denice Calub ’14, Cindy Cao ’14, Yesenia Japa ’14, Andrea Lopez ’14, and 11 other minority nursing students from across the country. Recipients are paired with nurse mentors for six weeks in the fellowship program.
Nursing research award Karen Meneses, M.S. ’80, Ph.D. ’92, received the Ada Sue Hinshaw Award from the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research. She is associate dean for research and professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Nursing.
March of Dimes The Massachusetts Chapter of the March of Dimes named Assistant Professor Allyssa Harris a 2013 Nurse of the Year in the category of Nurse Researcher. A Boston College faculty member since 2007, Harris’s research interests are in adolescent sexual decision-making and risk behaviors, and health care disparities.
2013 Dean Rita P. Kelleher Award recipient Mimi Pomerleau. Photograph: Caitlin Cunningham
Philanthropic gifts The Connell School received more than $1.8 million in external funding to enhance its work in global education, reducing health care disparities, and educating nurse leaders. The Helene Fuld Health Trust awarded the school $960,000 to fund financial aid for students in its Accelerated Master’s Entry into Nursing (MSE) program. The Price Family Foundation pledged $540,000 to help expand and enhance the Keys to Inclusive Leadership in Nursing program.
Funding Be well The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health awarded an $8,000 grant to Associate Professor Jane Flanagan and a team of Massachusetts General Hospital staff nurses and clinical nurse specialists to implement their proposal to encourage physical fitness among MGH health care workers by giving them pedometers.
A $250,000 gift from Boston College parents Elizabeth and Kevin Weiss establishes the Elizabeth and Kevin Weiss Fund for Global Service, which will support the cost of international service and learning experiences for nursing students. And the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the country’s largest philanthropy dedicated to public health, awarded CSON an $80,000 grant to fund eight New Careers in Nursing fellowships for nurses in the MSE program who are from backgrounds that are underrepresented in professional nursing.
boston college william f. connell school of nursing
5
THE
SCIENCE OF SLEEP
by patrick kennedy ’99 Photographs by Tony Rinaldo
The clinical world is waking up to the importance of a good night’s sleep. That is due in no small part to Lichuan Ye, assistant professor at the Connell School of Nursing and author of the chapter on sleep apnea in the Oxford Handbook of Sleep and Sleep Disorders. As a Boston College Haley Nurse Scientist, Ye is leading a study on patient sleep quality at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and pioneering a curriculum in sleep education for nursing school undergraduates. In addition, last spring she received a grant from the prestigious National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research (NIH/NINR) to study the role of spouses in the treatment of sleep apnea. “Sleep impacts everyone, and it’s been recently identified
who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of
by the [National] Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute as a major
Nursing and B.S.N. and M.S. degrees from Sichuan University’s
health concern,” said Laura Mylott, executive director of the
West China Medical School. “You need the data to support it.”
hospital’s Center for Nursing Excellence from 2008 until 2012.
In the first phase of the study, Ye and her BWH assistants
Ye was named a BWH Haley Nurse Scientist in 2011 and began
interviewed 62 clinicians, mostly nurses, and found wide agree-
a study of patient sleep quality, and how to improve it. The
ment that sleep is hard to come by in a busy hospital. Beeping
Haley program, an academic practice partnership between the
alarms, pagers, unexpected phlebotomy visits, and other inter-
Connell School and the nursing department of Brigham and
ruptions regularly wake patients.
Women’s, sends nurse academics into the hospital to conduct
Ye published those findings in the June 2013 issue of the
scientific studies and collaborate with clinicians to forge evi-
Journal of Nursing Administration. In her article “How Do
dence-based nursing practices.
Clinicians Assess, Communicate About, and Manage Patient
The effects of sleep deprivation are well documented. A
Sleep in the Hospital?,” she prescribed a hospital-wide, multi-
lack of restorative rest impairs the immune system, memory,
pronged solution: All staff should be educated about the import-
metabolism, and mood. In hospital settings, Ye has found that
ant role sleep plays in healing; staff from different departments
sleeplessness often leads to delirium as well as to falls in elderly
should communicate with one another to avoid unexpected
patients—which in turn can cause further injury. Poor sleep
interruptions to patient’s sleep; patients should be taught to
“will significantly increase mortality and morbidity,” Ye said.
understand the value of their sleep and to speak up when it’s dis-
As part of her research at BWH, she hopes to document how
turbed; and patients’ families should be engaged in the effort.
poor sleep prolongs recovery time, increasing health care costs.
Ye also strongly advocated integrating sleep-quality assess-
“You cannot [simply] shout out, ‘Sleep is so important,’” said Ye,
ment into hospital rounds and record-keeping. Currently, patient hospital charts do not include a specific place on which
Ye speaks with patient Eduardo Reyes at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Photograph: Tony Rinaldo.
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voice | winter 2014
to note the quality of sleep. Nurses might casually ask how a patient slept, and some craft solutions for those who complain. boston college william f. connell school of nursing
7
How nurses can help patients sleep better sleep. Victims stop breathing and wake up several times a night, and are tired during the day, contributing to poor work performance, hypertension, and even car accidents. In fact, Ye estimated that undiagnosed OSA sufferers cost the health care system $3.4 billion per year. The most common treatment is called continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). A machine sends air, via a tube, through the patient’s nasal passages. Experts say it works like a charm—when patients use it. For a variety of reasons—some patients feel uncomfortable; some are embarrassed by the look of the device—many stop treatment after a few days. Frequently, the partner plays a key role in whether the patient adheres to the CPAP treatment. “Right now everyone believes the spouse is important, but beyond that we don’t know exactly what kind of behaviors are But there is no formalized system to rank the quality of patients’ sleep. In the improved hospital setting Ye envisions, nurses would
Ye (left) with (clockwise) research assistants Amanda Lulloff, M.S. ’14, Yvonne Shih ’15, Heather Johnston ’15, Colleen McGauley ’15, and Monica Wentworth ’15. Photograph: Tony Rinaldo.
ask patients to rate their previous night’s sleep on a 10-point scale (similar to a pain scale) and note it on the chart along
here. She’s made quite an impact.” Under Ye’s direction, Dykes
with heart rate, blood pressure, and other vital signs. Clinicians
said, nurses from departments across BWH formed an interest
would consider deferring or rescheduling vitals checks that con-
group to improve the quality of patients’ sleep.
flict with patient sleep, where possible, and hospital staff
The nurses are also helping Ye with the second phase of the
would do their best to create a sleep-friendly environment
hospital study by collecting sleep data from patients using sur-
(see sidebar).
veys, sophisticated light and sound sensors, and even electrodes
“The work she’s doing is groundbreaking in nursing,” said
that record brainwaves. Dykes said such cooperation is one of
Patricia Dykes, senior nurse scientist and program director
the major benefits of the Haley Nurse Scientist Program, which
of nursing research at BWH’s Center for Nursing Excellence.
was established in 2009 and is funded by Steven and Kathleen
“We’ve not had a sleep promotion researcher before she came
Powers Haley ’76, founders of the Brain Science Foundation.
Teaching tools A large part of Lichuan Ye’s effort to promote better patient sleep involves education. Visit her website, sleepeducationprogram.com, to view videos about sleep quality and sleep disorders and how they affect patient care in various clinical settings. Ye built the site, funded by the American Sleep Medicine Foundation, as part of a 10-hour education package for undergrads that she hopes to introduce at Boston College and then export to other schools.
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voice | winter 2014
Solid sleeping—and quicker recoveries—ultimately will require hospital-wide awareness and collaboration, said Assistant Professor Lichuan Ye. Before policies are formulated to effect that, nurses can try these strategies to improve patients’ sleep. • Enforce “Quiet Time” from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. • Shoo out visitors at 10:00 p.m. and limit overnight visits. • Close the doors to patients’ rooms. • Close the shades. Dim the lights, or turn them off and use night-lights. • Put cell phones and pagers on vibrate mode. • Turn off the TV and encourage patients to turn off
helpful,” said Ye. “Even if they have a great heart, if they don’t
cell phones and laptops, or at least use headphones
have a good strategy for the interaction, their [attempt to] help
for their neighbors’ sake.
could be detrimental.”
“ Sleep impacts everyone, and it’s been recently identified by the [National] Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute as a major health concern” — laura mylott, executive director of BWH’s Center for Nursing Excellence, 2008–12
• Introduce earplugs and eye masks. • Place a “Do Not Disturb” sign (or appropriate equivalent) on patients’ doors to minimize unnecessary interactions during quiet time. • Respond as quickly as possible to patient alarms.
The goal of Ye’s two-year study, as with her sleep quality research, is to figure out new ways the sleep deprived can get
Ye and a group of Connell School graduate and undergrad-
some desperately needed slumber.
n
uate student assistants will recruit 133 couples for her first-of-
“We’ve seen tremendous growth in clinical nurses’ engage-
its-kind study. They will follow the couples for three months
ment in evidence-based practice and interest in research and
after CPAP treatment begins, wirelessly collecting data from
we’re really grateful for the collaboration,” said Dykes.
the machines and conducting face-to-face interviews with two dozen of the couples.
Spouses and sleep apnea
When the research is complete, Ye expects to have a compre-
Ye is recognized for her work in sleep apnea, particularly for
hensive understanding of couples’ experiences with CPAP ther-
her research demonstrating that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA),
apy, and to know how spouses can help OSA patients adhere to
which many doctors think of as a male disorder, afflicts women
their treatment plan. She said clinicians might use this infor-
as well. Her NIH grant will allow her to expand her apnea
mation to create interventions and coping strategies to help
research to study couples in which one partner suffers from OSA.
both parties approach the problem as a team.
She hopes to learn what spouses should and should not do to
“This disease has a lot of bad impacts on the partner’s health
help their partners stick to the commonly prescribed treatment.
as well,” as the spouse ends up suffering from fitful sleep and
One in five adults has at least a mild form of OSA, making
daytime drowsiness and its attendant health dangers, Ye said.
it a public health problem on par with smoking, Ye said. The
“So we want them to treat the condition as ‘our’ problem, and
disorder is caused by a collapse of the respiratory airway during
to cope with it together.”
CPAP machine in use. Courtesy: ResMed Media Library boston college william f. connell school of nursing
9
Hispanic Studies minor translates to more equitable care
by alicia potter | Photographs by Caitlin Cunningham
At the Community Health Center in New Britain, Conn., Paulina Miklosz ’12, M.S. ’13, speaks to as many as half of her patients in Spanish. A native Polish speaker who learned English after her family immigrated to New Britain 16 years ago, Miklosz is fluent enough in her third language to interview and treat patients without help from the clinic’s interpreters. She said she knows her language skills are making a difference the minute she greets her patients. “Their faces light up,” she said. “They look so relieved and much more comfortable.” Miklosz graduated with a bachelors of science degree in
go undiagnosed, and Hispanics are twice more likely to die from diabetes than non-Hispanic whites. Read was spurred to launch the program after seeing freshman nursing students who wanted to study Spanish give up because they couldn’t fit the College of Arts and Science’s
nursing and a minor in Hispanic studies. Her training included
18-credit Hispanic Studies minor into their course load. Read,
a Connell School program that prepares students to care for
who studied Spanish in high school, designed a more flexible
Spanish-speaking patients and to better understand Hispanic,
18-credit Hispanic Studies minor specifically for the Connell
Latin-American, and Caribbean cultures.
School. Where the Arts and Sciences minor concentrates on
The demand for such training is urgent. The U.S. Census
advanced language and literature courses, the Connell School
Bureau reports that Spanish is the primary language of approxi-
program counts courses that are taught in English but align
mately 37 million people in the United States, yet it is spoken by
with the Nursing School’s goal of increasing cultural awareness,
fewer than three percent of registered nurses nationwide accord-
such as Latin-American history.
ing to a 2013 Migration Policy Institute study. Six years ago, Associate Dean Catherine Read led the Connell
Still, the Connell School’s Hispanic Studies program remains small: thirteen students graduated with the minor last May, and
School effort to establish a Hispanic studies program geared
another 23 out of 387 nursing undergraduates are enrolled for
to nurses, both to train Spanish-speaking nurses and to help
the 2013–14 academic year. This is likely because most nursing
address the troubling disparities that occur when patient
students’ workloads are jam-packed without the added demands
and health care provider cannot connect in an exam room.
of extra language and culture studies—let alone the semester
“Populations are being underserved because the nursing work-
abroad that most Hispanic Studies minors fit in. (The Connell
force can’t communicate with them,” she said. The National
School is one of a few nursing schools that offers minors at all.
Alliance for Hispanic Health has found that Hispanic- and
It is also among the 23 percent of 382 schools that responded
Latino-Americans suffer high rates of depression and obesity,
to a survey Read conducted and published in the Journal of
Clockwise from top: Paulina Miklosz ’12, M.S. ’13, with patients Dominga Colon, Leticia Torres, and Anibal Silva Morales.
are commonly misdiagnosed, and may delay care or ignore
Professional Nursing that permit semester-long study outside
Photographs: Caitlin Cunningham.
treatment advice. Additionally, most Hispanics with Alzheimer’s
the United States.)
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voice | winter 2014
11
by debra bradley ruder
ma l one y ha l l The future home of 21st-century nursing at Boston College
Left: Catherine Read, associate dean, undergraduate program. Right: Molly Smith ’14. Photographs: Caitlin Cunningham
Those who have completed the program, however, agree that
Miklosz said that her time abroad opened her eyes to “the
The Connell School is on the move.
the extra work was entirely worth it—not just because it enhanced
importance of religion and family in Hispanic culture.” Likewise,
their employment prospects but because it also improved their
Hannah Cote ’13, a nurse in the Emergency Care Center at Sturdy
School of Nursing will pack up its offices, classrooms, and
delivery of care.
Memorial Hospital near Attleboro, Mass., reported that her
memories and relocate to larger, custom-designed quarters in
semester in Santiago, Chile, heightened her awareness of cultural
Maloney Hall.
“When your health care provider speaks your language, it builds
After more than five decades in Cushing Hall, the Connell
trust,” said Miklosz. Being able to speak Spanish “has made a huge
differences and her sensitivity to miscommunication. When a
difference in how I connect with my patients,” she said.
Spanish-speaking couple arrived at the center carrying a fevered
research and teaching functions will be united on the second and
infant bundled in thick layers—a practice common in some
third floors of Maloney, the gateway between Boston College’s
dents, faculty, and staff, Gennaro wrote, acknowledging the diffi-
with four years of high school Spanish behind them. But some,
Hispanic and Latino cultures to prevent air from entering the
Lower and Middle campuses.
culty of leaving a building cherished in many memories. “We will
like Molly Smith ’14, start the program as beginners. Smith took
body and causing sickness—Cote knew how to read the situation.
Many students, like Miklosz, enter the Hispanic Studies minor
A summer 2015 move has been set for the School, whose “Since 1960, Cushing Hall has been a wonderful home” to stu-
Designed to meet the current and future needs of nursing
carry the traditions of Cushing Hall with us to our future home in
five classes over three semesters, enough to reach Intermediate
students and faculty, the School’s new 35,000-square-foot home
Maloney, where we will train the next generation of extraordinary
Spanish by her junior year. She was able to spend a semester
will offer 78 percent more usable space than Cushing Hall.
nurses as they build their dreams and careers. n
abroad in Seville, Spain, where she lived with a host family and
In keeping with today’s team-driven, collaborative approach to
completed core electives in Spanish at the Universidad de Sevilla.
“ When your health care provider speaks your language, it builds trust.” — paulina miklosz
health care, the design features an open floor plan with neighbor-
Do you have memories, stories, and/or photos of Cushing Hall? If
hood-like clusters that encourage interaction and collaboration.
so, please share them with us at csonalum@bc.edu for an upcoming
her newfound skills in an externship at the Hospital for Special
Among the other changes: a 150 percent increase in student
article planned for Voice magazine.
Surgery in New York City.
lounge space; a nursing lab double the current size, including two
“I returned pretty much fluent,” said Smith, who recently used
Although Hispanic Studies minors can choose to study in a
“I could sense [the couple] panicking when we unwrapped the
additional simulation labs and control booths, three more viewing
range of Spanish-speaking countries, many, like Miklosz, opt
baby and placed her under one sheet,” she says. “But I was able to
rooms, and two more exam rooms; and state-of-the-art presentation
to spend a semester in Ecuador and take part in the Connell
explain to them in Spanish why we had to do this.”
technology in all meeting spaces.
School’s spring break trip to Nicaragua. (Both programs include clinical nursing components that fulfill baccalaureate requirements.) In Ecuador, Miklosz took a community health class as
Hispanic Studies minors see the value of their skills in even the briefest of exchanges.
Susan Gennaro said she and faculty are actively involved in plan-
“Simply being able to tell a patient in their own language that a
well as elective courses at La Universidad San Francisco de Quito,
doctor is coming can decrease anxiety,” said Kelsey Burns ’14. She
and volunteered in a hospital intensive care unit and public clinic.
pointed to another small moment from her clinical at Shriners
In Nicaragua, she worked in a clinic outside Managua providing
Hospitals for Children-Boston: As a nurse changed the dressings
care and health education.
on a severely burned Latino boy, Burns was able to distract the
Students say the experiences do more than fast-track language skills. They also increase cultural competency, which the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority
child by asking him in Spanish silly questions about his favorite
preparing 21st-century nurse leaders.
Top: Maloney Hall. Photograph: Lee Pellegrini. Bottom: Architect’s rendering of one of the simulation labs. Courtesy: MDS/Miller Dyer Spears.
“It reminded me that as nurses, we’re at the bedside more than other medical professionals,” she says. “My Spanish opens the
improving patient-provider relationships.
door for me to comfort and care for even more patients.”
voice | winter 2014
ning a “bright and welcoming” environment that is well suited to
color and whether he had brothers and sisters.
Health has called critical to reducing health disparities and
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In a letter to nursing school alumni and friends this fall, Dean
n
boston college william f. connell school of nursing
13
Nurse educators bring new passions, expertise
Assistant Professor tam
Boston College since 2011. In her new role, she is teaching
nguyen, Ph.D., M.S.N./M.P.H,
a pharmacology course and supervising students at Newton-
RN, was a toddler when her family
Wellesley Hospital. Sly delivered acute care for years until she
boarded a small fishing boat to
realized she wanted to help patients earlier in their diseases.
escape Vietnam, hiding women
“That’s when I decided to become a nurse practitioner,” she
and children under ice. They
recalled. She earned her master’s degree from Regis in 2011,
were among the refugees known
and currently sees patients as an urgent care nurse practitioner
by debra bradley ruder
as “boat people” who fled their
at Charles River Medical Associates in Framingham, Mass.,
Photographs by Caitlin Cunningham
country in the late 1970s and early
and is a staff nurse at Newton-Wellesley. Noting the national
The Connell School this fall welcomed five talented professionals as new faculty or into new faculty positions. They come with decades of experience in teaching, patient care, and research, and expertise that ranges from prevention strategies to decrease human papillomavirus
1980s after the fall of Saigon. A U.S. oil tanker rescued them at
need for more nurse educators, Sly hopes eventually to pursue
sea and took them to Malaysia, where Nguyen, her parents, and
research on problem-based learning, a teaching style that con-
her brother stayed in a refugee camp until they could immigrate
nects theory to practice.
to the United States, where they eventually settled in California. “So many people helped us along the way, and that has given me motivation to give back to the community,” Nguyen said. “I think being a nurse is what I’m meant to do in my life. I feel
infection, to health promotion among vulnerable populations including underserved ethnic
like it is my calling.” Nguyen pursued nursing at the University
groups, to integrative therapies and bedside teaching.
from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in 2006
“ I think being a nurse is what I’m meant to do in my life. I feel like it is my calling.” — tam nguyen
of Maryland, then earned her master’s and doctorate degrees and 2012, respectively, sharpening her scholarly focus on health
laura white ’85, Ph.D. ’10,
promotion, psychometrics, and strategies for engaging hard-to-
RN, CPNP, a pediatric nurse
holly fontenot, Ph.D. ’12,
As an acute care nurse in the
reach, vulnerable populations in health sciences research. Her
practitioner who is interested
RN, WHNP-BC, is a women’s
early- and mid-2000s, carina
dissertation explored whether health literacy affected the ability
in integrative health care, youth
health nurse practitioner whose
katigbak, Ph.D., RN, won-
of Vietnamese Americans to manage chronic diseases such as
development, and mental health,
clinical and research interests
dered how she could help her
high blood pressure. She joins the faculty with several years of
is a new clinical assistant pro-
include reducing the rate of
cardiovascular patients avoid sur-
clinical, teaching, and research experience at Johns Hopkins,
fessor. White earned a master’s
human papillomavirus (HPV)
gery in the first place. She went
most recently as a faculty research associate, and said the Connell
degree in pediatric primary care
infection, sexual health and
back to school to become an adult
School beckoned because of its liberal arts and social justice
safety, and forensic nursing. She
primary care nurse practitioner,
traditions, opportunities for multidisciplinary research, and affil-
1990 and then provided primary care, HIV-related nursing, and
joined the Connell School fac-
earning a master’s degree from
from Columbia University in
iations with teaching hospitals and community organizations.
other services as a pediatric nurse practitioner in three New
ulty in 2004 and became a clinical assistant professor in 2007.
New York University College of Nursing in 2007 and a doctor-
Nguyen is teaching a master’s-level course on evidence-based
York City and Boston-area hospitals during the 1990s. In recent
Since 2009, she has practiced at the Sidney Borum Jr. Health
ate in 2013. Katigbak’s academic interests include immigrant
practice. “I’m excited about the opportunity to grow and contrib-
years, she has worked as a per-diem school nurse in her home-
Center, a downtown Boston clinic that specializes in care for
and minority health, health disparities, and cardiovascular
ute to the University and School of Nursing,” she said.
town of Ashland, Mass., and taught part-time at the Connell
homeless and vulnerable young adults. “I’ve always worked
care. As a new assistant professor, she plans to build on her
School and Simmons College. Since 2011, White has cared for
with underserved groups; I find it the most rewarding part of
dissertation research (which captured a Distinguished Doctoral
adolescents receiving treatment for mental health disorders,
being a nurse practitioner,” says Fontenot, who has published
Dissertation Award from NYU) on the role community health
jacqueline sly ’88, M.S.N,
most recently at Walden Behavioral Care in Waltham, Mass. An
widely, most recently in the Journal of Forensic Nursing, Nursing
workers play in helping ethnic minorities, especially Asians,
RN, FNP, comes to Boston
advocate of safe and evidence-based integrative therapies, she
for Women’s Health, and the Journal for Nurse Practitioners. In
connect with health services and adopt healthier behaviors.
College as a clinical instructor
plans to augment her published dissertation research on mind-
2013, she received the Connell School’s Ann Wolbert Burgess
Though she studied these lay workers’ impact on addressing
with specialties in medical/surgi-
ful yoga’s ability to reduce stress in school-age girls. “Nurses
Dissertation Award and was inducted into the National
hypertension, “I now see they can be used for any disease pro-
cal care, pediatrics, rehabilitation,
have a responsibility to investigate any type of health care that
Academies of Practice as a distinguished practitioner and fel-
gression,” Katigbak said. She joins the Connell School with sev-
spinal cord injury, and ventilated
can make a difference in facilitating well-being,” she said. “I
low. In her new faculty role as a tenure-track assistant professor,
eral years of teaching and research experience at NYU, where
patients, but said her passion is
want to help nurse practitioners see health care as a way to
Fontenot continues to teach and coordinate the women’s health
she most recently was an adjunct instructor and junior research
“Teaching students. Teaching
increase human flourishing.”
nurse practitioner graduate program, even as she accelerates
scientist. Katigbak, who is coteaching an undergraduate class
patients. Teaching students how
her research on sexual health awareness, including ways nurses
on health development across the life span this fall, applauds
to teach patients.” An adjunct faculty member at Regis College
can promote vaccine use to prevent HPV infection and its
Boston College for supporting new faculty as they transition to
in Weston, Mass., since 2008 (and before that at Quincy
associated cancers. “I can help alleviate some of the suffering
new positions.
College), Sly has been a part-time clinical faculty member at
n
related to this virus,” she said. 14
voice | winter 2014
boston college william f. connell school of nursing
15
faculty publications
Nancy Allen Pozzar, R., K.D. Stamp, N.A. Allen, “Using Focus Groups to Inform Innovative Approaches to Care,” American Journal of Nursing 113, no. 8 (2013): 48–53.
Viola Benavente de Leon Siantz, M.L., X. Castaneda, V. Benavente, T. Peart, E. Felt, “The Health Status of Latino Immigrant Women in the United States and Future Health Policy Implications of the Affordable Care Act,” Global Advances in Health and Medicine 2, no. 5 (2013): 70–74.
Stewart Bond Ridner, S.H., E. Poage-Hooper, C. Kanar, J.K. Doresam, S.M. Bond, M.S. Dietrich, “A Pilot Randomized Trial Evaluating Low-Level Laser Therapy as an Alternative Treatment to Manual Lymphatic Drainage for Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema,” Oncology Nursing Forum 40, no. 4 (2013): 383–393. Bond, S.M., D.K. Hawkins, B.A. Murphy, “Caregiver-Reported Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Patients Undergoing Treatment for Head and Neck Cancer: A Pilot Study,” Cancer Nursing (2013). DOI: 10.1097/ NCC.0b013e31829194a3
Ann Wolbert Burgess Burgess, A.W., D.M. Slattery, P.A. Herlihy, “Military Sexual Trauma: A Silent Syndrome,” Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services 51, no. 2 (2013): 20–26.
Easing the burden of neuropsychiatric symptoms Depression, anxiety, impaired cognition, and other neuropsychiatric symptoms frequently afflict patients undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer as well as their caregivers and families, Assistant Professor Stewart Bond and colleagues at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center found in a pilot study published in Cancer Nursing. The researchers surveyed 23 family caregivers of patients with head and neck cancer. They asked them to identify neuropsychiatric symptoms they observed in the patient, rate each symptom’s severity, and gauge their own distress. Each caregiver pointed to at least one symptom, and the group identified an average of 7.5 symptoms per patient. The most common were trouble with appetite and eating, altered nighttime behaviors, depression or dysphoria, anxiety, irritability, and agitation or aggression. Coping with these symptoms—particularly with irritability, agitation or aggression, and difficulty eating—caused measurable caregiver distress. The prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms among head and neck cancer patients could lead them to disrupt their treatment or neglect their rehabilitation, the researchers noted. It could also affect patients’ abilities to care for themselves, increasing the burden on caregivers and straining family relationships. With this in mind, the study authors recommend that clinicians take steps to assuage these outcomes, informing patients and their caregivers about possible neuropsychiatric symptoms before treatment begins so they can develop coping strategies. They also advise clinicians to monitor symptoms before, during, and after treatment, and if necessary manage them with appropriate drugs and psychological support.
Susan DeSanto-Madeya
Joyce Edmonds
Jane Flanagan
Battista, V., G. Santucci, S. DeSanto-Madeya, P.J. Grace, “Nursing Ethics and Advanced Practice: Palliative and End-of-Life Care Across the Lifespan,” in Nursing Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Advanced Practice, 2nd ed., ed. P.J. Grace (Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2013), 483–533.
Edmonds, J.K., R. Yehezkel, X. Liao, T.A. Moore-Simas, “Racial and Ethnic Differences in Primary, Unscheduled Cesarean Deliveries among Low-Risk Primiparous Women at an Academic Medical Center: A Retrospective Cohort Study,” BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2013). DOI: 10.1186/1471-2393-13-168
Flanagan, J.M., “Nursing Ethics and Advanced Practice: Adult-Gerontologic Health,” in Nursing Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Advanced Practice, 2nd ed., ed. P.J. Grace (Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2013), 349–392.
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voice | winter 2014
Flanagan, J.M., “Appreciating Our Past— Virtual Issues,” International Journal of Nursing Knowledge 24, no. 2 (2013): 63.
Holly Fontenot
Pamela Grace
Katherine Gregory
Fontenot, H.B., H.C. Fantasia, M. Sutherland, “The Effects of Intimate Partner Violence Chronicity on Personal- and Partner-Mediated Sexual Risk Behaviors,” Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing 42, no. 1 (2013): S79.
Grace, P.J., D.J. Perry, “Philosophical Inquiry and the Goals of Nursing: A Critical Approach for Disciplinary Knowledge Development and Action,” Advances in Nursing Science 36, no. 2 (2013): 64–79.
Horowitz, J.A., C.A. Murphy, K.E. Gregory, J. Wojcik, J. Pulcini, L.R. Solon, “Nurse Home Visits Improve Maternal/Infant Interaction and Decrease Severity of Postpartum Depression,” Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing 42, no. 3 (2013): 287–300.
Fontenot, H.B., “Intersection of HPV and Sexual Assault: An Opportunity for Practice Change,” Journal of Forensic Nursing 9, no. 3 (2013): 146–154.
Nursing Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Advanced Practice, 2nd ed., ed. P.J. Grace, (Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2013).
Race and ethnicity matter in C-section decisions At a time when one in three of the four million babies born each year in the United States is delivered by cesarean section, some studies have suggested that rates of unscheduled C-sections vary by race and ethnicity. Assistant Professor Joyce Edmonds and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School looked at five years of patient data from the Worcester, Mass., medical center and found that among low-risk primiparous women at the hospital, black women and Asian women were indeed more likely than white or Latino women to have undergone C-sections because of fetal distress. The researchers published their findings in the September issue of BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. Edmonds and her coauthors identified a dataset of 4,483 low-risk, first-time mothers who went into full-term labor with a single baby with normal (vertex) presentation and then had either spontaneous vaginal delivery (74.1 percent), operative vaginal delivery (9.2 percent), or unplanned cesarean delivery (16.7 percent). The researchers, who controlled for variables such as maternal age, body-mass index, neonate size, and primary language in their research, also found that black women were likelier than other women to undergo unscheduled cesarean deliveries because of fetal distress. The researchers conclude that the differences in C-section rates at the academic medical center may be best explained in further study of the variation in clinical decision-making about what indicates fetal distress and failure to progress. They suggest that future research might explore that topic as well as women’s involvement in the decision-making, and variations in fetal tolerance for labor.
Sandra Hannon-Engel Hannon-Engel, S.L., E.E. Filin, B.E. Wolfe, “CCK Response in Bulimia Nervosa and Following Remission,” Physiology & Behavior 122 (2013): 56–61.
M. Katherine Hutchinson Cederbaum, J.A., M.K. Hutchinson, L. Duan, L.S. Jemmott, “Maternal HIV Serostatus, Mother-Daughter Sexual Risk Communication and Adolescent HIV Risk Beliefs and Intentions,” AIDS Behavior 17, no. 7 (2013): 2540–2553. Kang, S.Y., M.K. Hutchinson, N. Waldron, “Characteristics Related to Sexual Experience and Condom Use Among Jamaican Female Adolescents,” Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 24, no. 1 (2013): 220–232.
Susan Kelly-Weeder Wolfe, B.E., S.S. Kelly-Weeder, A.W. Malcom, M. McKenery, “Accuracy of Self-Reported Body Weight and Height in Remitted Anorexia Nervosa,” Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association 19, no. 2 (2013): 66–70.
Sr. Callista Roy Generating Middle Range Theory: From Evidence to Practice, ed. C. Roy (New York, NY: Springer, 2013).
Lori Solon Horowitz, J.A., C.A. Murphy, K.E. Gregory, J. Wojcik, J. Pulcini, L.R. Solon, “Nurse Home Visits Improve Maternal/Infant Interaction and Decrease Severity of Postpartum Depression,” Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing 42, no. 3 (2013): 287–300.
boston college william f. connell school of nursing
17
faculty publications
Kelly Stamp Pozzar, R., K.D. Stamp, N.A. Allen, “Using Focus Groups to Inform Innovative Approaches to Care,” American Journal of Nursing 113, no. 8 (2013): 48–53.
Melissa Sutherland Fontenot, H.B., H.C. Fantasia, M. Sutherland, “The Effects of Intimate Partner Violence Chronicity on Personal- and Partner-Mediated Sexual Risk Behaviors,” Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing 42, no. 1 (2013): S79. Sutherland, M.A., “Incarceration During Pregnancy: Implications for Women, Newborns, and Health Care Providers,” Nursing for Women’s Health 17, no. 3 (2013): 225–230. Sutherland, M.A., A.F. Amar, K. Laughon, “Who Sends the Email? Using Electronic Surveys in Violence Research,” Western Journal of Emergency Medicine 14, no. 4 (2013): 363–69. Prowse, K.M., C.E. Logue, H.C. Fantasia, M.A. Sutherland, “Intimate Partner Violence and the CDC’s Best-Evidence HIV Risk Reduction Interventions,” Public Health Nursing (2013). DOI: 10.1111/phn.12076
Patricia Tabloski Gerontological Nursing, 3rd ed., ed. P. Tabloski (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson, Prentice-Hall, 2013).
Pamela Terreri Grace, P.J. and P.A. Terreri, “Nursing Ethics and Advanced Practice: Psychiatric and Mental Health Issues,” in Nursing Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Advanced Practice, 2nd ed., ed. P.J. Grace (Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2013), 397–422.
Judith Vessey DiFazio, R.L., J. Vessey, “Advanced Practice Registered Nurses: Addressing Emerging Needs in Emergency Care,” African Journal of Emergency Medicine. http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.afjem.2013.04.008
Marathon daffodils
Sampling student responses to surveys on violence Online surveys are considered particularly well suited to research on interpersonal violence, but getting responses may depend on who’s asking, according to a new study by Assistant Professor Melissa Sutherland and collaborators from two other nursing schools. “Who Sends the E-mail? Using Electronic Surveys in Violence Research” suggests that college students may be likelier to respond to e-mails from individual researchers asking them to participate in online surveys than to e-mail requests sent by campus officials or survey-sampling firms. The study appeared in the August issue of the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine.
voice | winter 2014
assistant Michele Hubley was headed down the Marathon route with her husband and son, hoping to see her daughter, Samantha ’15, cross the finish line. Samantha, who was running her first Boston Marathon to raise money for Boston College’s Campus School, was close to the end of the course when two bombs exploded on Boylston Street. Public safety officials halted the race, turning back runners and spectators who were streaming into the city. It took Samantha’s family several hours to find her, safe and sound.
Researchers reviewed e-mail response rates of students from seven univer sities who had been asked to participate in three studies of interpersonal violence. The students were invited and later reminded by e-mail to answer the surveys. All of the e-mails used the same subject line, but the identity of the sender varied. Some messages came from an individual researcher, others from a central campus office, such as the dean of students, and others listed a survey-sampling company as the sender. The messages from researchers had a mean response rate of 41 percent, compared to 15.5 percent for those from campus offices, and less than 1 percent for those from the survey-sampling company.
Michele Hubley says she’s loved the Marathon since she was a child growing up in Hopkinton, Mass., where her mother Penny Manchester, a town selectman,
Three of the schools involved in these studies are historically black colleges or universities. As a secondary finding, the researchers noted consistently lower response rates at these schools, and suggested that pen and paper surveys may be a more effective way to complete research there.
Barbara Wolfe Wolfe, B.E., S.S. Kelly-Weeder, A.W. Malcom, M. McKenery, “Accuracy of Self-Reported Body Weight and Height in Remitted Anorexia Nervosa,” Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association 19, no. 2 (2013): 66–70. Hannon-Engel, S.L., E.E. Filin, B.E. Wolfe, “CCK Response in Bulimia Nervosa and Following Remission,” Physiology & Behavior 122 (2013): 56–61.
Effect on the Oxytocin System,’” Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association 19, no. 4 (2013): 192–194.
Lichuan Ye Ye, L., K. Keane, S.H. Johnson, P.C. Dykes, “How Do Clinicians Assess, Communicate About, and Manage Patient Sleep in the Hospital?,” Journal of Nursing Administration 43, no. 6 (2013): 342–347.
Wolfe, B.E., “The Value of Pilot Studies in Clinical Research: A Clinical Translation of the Research Article Titled ‘In Search of an Adult Attachment Stress Provocation to Measure
Above: Michele Hubley and Samantha Hubley ’15. Left: Michele Hubley (in red) and daughter Samantha ’15 (behind her in blue) with (from left) Connell School staff and faculty members Anne Severo, Cathy Hill, Tam Nguyen, Colleen Simonelli, and Zanifer John. Photographs: Lee Pellegrini.
All research summaries by Corinne Steinbrenner 18
on marathon monday, Connell School staff
helped organize the event. So she was inspired when she heard about plans to line the 26.2-mile Marathon route with 100,000 daffodil bulbs, which are expected to bloom next April in honor of victims and first responders in the 2013 attack. Hubley and her family planted bulbs in Hopkinton as a tribute to her mother, who died in August. She then suggested to Associate Dean Anne Severo that the Connell School participate in the Marathon Daffodils project. Severo took the idea to the Connell School and Boston College’s Facilities Management office, which signed on as cosponsors of the project. On Friday, November 8, members of the Boston College community planted some 3,500 daffodil bulbs on the portion of campus that abuts Commonwealth Avenue— where the Marathon is run. n
non-profit org. u.s. postage paid boston, ma permit #55294
william f. connell school of nur sing 140 Commonwealth Avenue Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 www.bc.edu/cson
Save the date Join the Connell School for our upcoming Pinnacle lecture Courtney H. Lyder Dean, UCLA School of Nursing Professor of Nursing, Geriatric Medicine and Public Health, UCLA School of Nursing Assistant Director, UCLA Health System Executive Director, UCLA Health System Patient Safety Institute
monday, march 31, 2014 5:00 p.m. yawkey center, murray room
The Pinnacle Lecture Series brings recognized nursing leaders to Boston College to address issues at the forefront of health care today.
Read more and RSVP at www.bc.edu/pinnacle. Courtesy: UCLA Newsroom
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voice | winter 2014