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INSIDE: CENTER OF ATTENTION 2 | RE-CREATING REALITY 9 | GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES 14
Emory Nursing
Establishing the Twilla Haynes Faculty Award Dr. Twilla Haynes
The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing (NHWSN) community is mourning the loss of Twilla Haynes, RN, JD, 80MN, ANP-BC, FAAN, who passed away on Sunday, August 25, 2020. Haynes was a nurse practitioner and educator who dedicated her career to teaching students close to home and helping some of the world’s most vulnerable populations abroad.
Learn more about Dr. Haynes on page 28.
The Impact of Your Gift
For more information on how to donate, scan here:
To honor Haynes’ legacy, please join us in establishing the triennial Twilla Haynes Faculty Award Fund to recognize an outstanding faculty member who exemplifies teaching excellence and whose work addresses underserved or vulnerable populations. In addition to paying tribute to awarded faculty members, the prize will provide a stipend allowing awardees to focus on research during the summer months essential to their development as scholars, as well as field work to serve vulnerable populations. In honor of Haynes' legacy and impact, the School of Nursing will match all gifts made to the Twilla Haynes Faculty Award Fund through Dec. 31, 2020.
DEAN'S LETTER
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Photo by Emory Photo Video
Linda McCauley PhD, RN, FAAN, FAAOHN
Hello
Everyone,
e will always remember 2020. But I hope we don’t focus exclusively on the turmoil of wildfires, the COVID-19 pandemic, unforgivable acts of racism, and a raucous presidential election—to name just a few examples. My hope is we find and remember all the signs of hope, renewal, and progress. You may wonder how it’s possible, considering the clear pain and loss so many have experienced, myself included. I don’t have all the answers, but I know from my life’s journey that times of strife can make you stronger, wiser, and much more empathetic. That, of course, is also the makeup of a fantastic nurse. Earlier this year I spoke to the Class of 2020 in a unique circumstance—a virtual graduation. Before 2020, I never imagined this special time would occur on Zoom. I cherish the moments I get to look our graduates in the eye, recognize their hard work, and encourage them as they take the next step in their careers. While preparing to give my remarks to a webcam, I realized our graduates, more than anything, needed comfort and assurance as they are prepared to fight on the front lines against a relentless public health threat. These graduates are part of our collective hope for the future. Practicing in the time of COVID-19 makes better nurses, ones who get to truly understand the feelings behind their chosen profession. I see a renewed passion among nurses. They pursue what’s right. They provide quality clinical care and act as patient advocates. They have a heart for the vulnerable and a drive to create lasting and meaningful social change. While our last Emory Nursing magazine focused heavily on those fighting COVID-19 and efforts to improve health care around the world, this issue looks ahead to the progress and innovation occurring just a few miles from campus. I’m so excited to share more about the school’s work in downtown Decatur and the creation of the Emory Nursing Learning Center. Over the coming months, nearly 70,000 square feet of space will be renovated to provide state-of-the art facilities in simulation, innovation, continued education, and team building. The calendar continues to turn, but celebrating the new year is not merely a moment to move on from the past. In 2021— and beyond—we are more empowered. We’ve learned, we’ve planned, and we’ve done more to galvanize our mission.
I hope you join us! Enjoy the issue, Linda McCauley 79MN, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAAOHN Professor and Dean Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
FEATURES 9
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Emory University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer fully committed to achieving a diverse workforce and complies with all federal and Georgia state laws, regulations, and executive orders regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action.
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Emory University does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, gender, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.
IN THIS ISSUE 12
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Center of Attention.....2
Preview the new, cutting-edge Emory Nursing Learning Center.
Re-creating Reality.....9
Simulation labs deliver high-fidelity nursing training.
Simulating Home Care.....12
A space for students to hone patient care and communication skills.
Growth Opportunities.....14
Emory Nursing Experience continues to expand continuing ed.
Transforming the Future of Research.....18
Project NeLL helps nurses become change makers—via data.
Welcoming Emory’s 21st President.....20
Gregory L. Fenves: Right time, right place, right leader.
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PULSE 18
Dean, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
Linda A. McCauley 79MN Associate Dean and Chief Operating Officer
Jasmine G. Hoffman
Director of Communications
J. Mike Moore Managing Editor
Roger Slavens Art Director
Laura Dengler Director of Photography
Kay Hinton
Associate Director of Photography
Stephen Nowland Creative Director
Peta Westmaas
ALUMNI NEWS 27
Editorial Contributors
Pam Auchmutey Debbie Carlisle Kristin Baird Rattini Maddie Speece Copy Editor
Stacey Jones Production Manager
Stuart Turner
Executive Director, Communications & Marketing
Tionna Carthon
Executive Director of Content
Jennifer Checkner
Photo by Bita Honarver
Associate Vice President, Health Sciences Communications
ON THE COVER | The new Emory Nursing Learning Center in downtown Decatur
Vince Dollard
Emory Nursing is published by the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing (nursing.emory.edu), a component of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory University. ©2020. 20-SON-COM-0049
CENTER OF By Pam Auchmutey Architectural renderings by the Beck Group
The lobby of the new Emory Nursing Learning Center (ENLC). Phase 1 of the project will be complete in spring 2021.
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INNOVATION LEARNING ATTENTION ATTRACTION EXCELLENCE
COVER STORY
The state-of-the-art Emory Nursing Learning Center—with Phase 1 set to be complete in May 2021 in downtown Decatur—will give students and practicing nurses cutting-edge opportunities to hone their skills for the patient-care challenges of the future. The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University already ranks as one of the nation’s best in undergraduate, graduate, and professional education, but remaining on top—especially when facing new health care challenges and student enrollment that has more than doubled in the past six years—requires visionary thinking. Enter the Emory Nursing Learning Center (ENLC), an innovative new facility designed to anticipate challenges in nursing education and embrace innovative technologies and advanced teaching methods. Starting in May 2021, nursing students of all levels, from undergraduates, to doctoral candidates, to working professionals within the Emory Healthcare (EHC) system, can take advantage of a host of state-of-the-art learning environments, including an expanded, cutting-edge simulation and skills lab (page 9), new telehealth and remote learning facilities, an Innovation Hub, and even a “home” lab that replicates a small apartment (page 12). Located in nearby downtown Decatur, the ENLC will occupy four renovated floors at 250 E. Ponce, an existing eight-level office building two blocks from the city’s main square. Architectural design is well underway, and when fully built out by March 2022, the facility will provide a total of 70,000 square feet dedicated to enhanced instruction.
Take a virtual tour of the ENLC at links.emory.edu/ENLC. FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 0 |
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“The new simulation center will be the largest of its kind in Georgia and will allow us to share our facilities, equipment, and programs with others across the state who need advanced training.”
The new ENLC will include a home simulation lab (above) and plenty of common space (opposite page) where students can gather.
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“The ENLC is Emory’s first step in taking nursing education into the 21st century,” says Dean Linda McCauley 79MN. “The new simulation center will be the largest of its kind in Georgia and will allow us to share our facilities, equipment, and programs with others across the state who need advanced training.” By design, in the ENLC traditional nursing students and alumni will rub elbows with practicing nurses taking classes through the Emory Nursing Experience, the continuing education program led by the School of Nursing in partnership with Emory Healthcare (EHC). “Just imagine the conversation an undergraduate student and a midcareer nurse might have in the lobby or a hallway of the building,” says Sharon Pappas, chief executive nurse for EHC. “Practicing nurses can make key aspects of nursing education more relevant to students, and meanwhile students can share new knowledge and innovation to practicing nurses. Having that continuum of learning in the same space will make the Emory Nursing
Learning Center truly a special opportunity for collaboration and growth.
MEETING GROWING DEMANDS The ENLC also will alleviate a problem that school leaders and faculty have wrestled with in recent years: providing more space to accommodate the needs of several hundred students. By 2021, the School of Nursing building at 1520 Clifton Road on Emory’s main campus will be 20 years old. When it opened, enrollment stood at 309 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students. The four-level building provided 100,000 square feet of space. At the time, and for the first time, the school had a caring skills center that included open rooms with hospital beds, patient exam rooms, and simulation technology and equipment with low- and high-fidelity mannequins. Initially, the school had room to spare and leased the third floor to Rollins School of Public Health next door. But building space subsequently filled up as the number of students, faculty,
COVER STORY
administrative staff, and research and other programs grew. The school’s reputation rose, consistently placing it among the top five nursing schools in the US. Enrollment ballooned as new degree programs were added—accelerated bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, an accelerated distance learning program, a joint bachelor’s program with Emory Healthcare, as well as a doctor of nursing practice, including a third track in nurse anesthesia. In the past six years, enrollment at the school has doubled, from 545 students to 1,151 students this fall. And it’s projected to reach 1,400 students by 2025. Also, each year an average of 7,000 practicing nurses, primarily from Emory Healthcare and around the Southeast, take Emory Nursing Experience courses. “Interest in nursing as a professional career has never been higher,” McCauley says. “And now, the COVID-19 emergency has put a spotlight on the importance of nursing in health care and public health emergencies. Our enrollment has been growing steadily, but
we could not have anticipated the class size we welcomed in fall 2020 in the midst of the pandemic.” Currently, the School of Nursing is spread across four locations: the 1520 Clifton Road building, where undergraduate students do simulation and clinical skills training; Emory Wesley Woods Campus, where graduate students do advanced simulation and clinical skills training; Emory School of Medicine, where nurse anesthesia students train in a simulated operating room; and Executive Park, where Emory Nursing Experience has a classroom and office space. About 18 months ago, nursing leaders began to weigh space options to accommodate current and future growth. The school wanted to remain at 1520 Clifton Road. With no room to build or renovate on Emory’s main campus, the school looked at purchase and leasing options around Atlanta. Then they toured 250 E. Ponce, a Dilweg Companies property, in Decatur. Built in 1962, the office structure had
previously housed two banks—each with strong ties to the local community. Nearby were the Emory Clinic at Decatur, on the same street, and Emory Long-Term Acute Care, just behind 250 E. Ponce. And Emory Decatur Hospital was just two miles away. “The 250 E. Ponce building wasn’t even on the market when we first looked at it,” says Gina Critchet, associate dean for finance at the School of Nursing. “Decatur has become a natural extension of Emory, especially around Emory Healthcare. When you walk into the building, it just feels right.” School and EHC nursing leaders saw vast possibilities in adapting the space. “The building would bring the School of Nursing back together and provide a convenient base for continuing nursing education,” says Critchet. “No one would have to go to Wesley Woods or Executive Park anymore.” The ENLC is set to go live in two phases. Emory Nursing Experience, located on the fourth floor, is scheduled to open first in May 2021. Three lower floors, one of which
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“Decatur has become a natural extension of Emory, especially around Emory Healthcare. When you walk into the building, it just feels right.”
Photo by Bita Honarver
will house the Simulation and Skills Lab, are expected to open in March 2022.
REIMAGINING NURSING EDUCATION
Four renovated floors of 250 E. Ponce in downtown Decatur (above) will house the ENLC's state-of-the-art facilities.
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The ENLC is being built with an eye toward completely rethinking nursing education at Emory. “Right now, nursing simulation is very inorganic,” says Beth Ann Swan, associate dean and vice president for academic partnerships. “Students come, they do an activity, and then they leave. The ENLC will allow us to create an academic practice that integrates education, research, and team-based practice. We’re also creating a ‘connected destination,’ so that students feel connected to the school, whether they’re at 1520 Clifton Road or 250 E. Ponce.” And when the ENLC opens, it will reflect the ideas of a diverse group of constituents: Emory nursing students, faculty, and staff; Emory Healthcare leaders in nursing and
patient and family-centered care; Emory interior design planners; architects with the Beck Group; and audiovisual and IT experts with the Sextant Group. Students, for instance, have called for design features that will help them embrace the new space in Decatur such as lockers, bike storage, parking, and easy access to community areas. The ENLC will live in a mid-20th-century building with what the architects describe as “good bones.” The first-floor lobby has been envisioned as a welcoming space featuring a “social” staircase that connects the first and second floors, a reception area, collaboration space, open space for school and community events, and exhibit space for local artists. On the terrace level below will be the Simulation and Clinical Skills Lab, with highfidelity patient rooms, patient exam rooms, clinical skills labs, and debriefing rooms. Before or after a simulation session, students will head up to the second floor for
COVER STORY
The ENLC will provide a mix of classroom learning and hands-on training in state-of-the-art patient care simulation facilities.
more learning in a large classroom (150 seats) or one of two small classrooms (45 seats each). The second floor also will feature an innovation hub, where students can develop ideas and test them in the open skills lab just steps away. Students can use the lab anytime to practice their skills, from taking blood pressure to inserting a urinary catheter or an IV. Also on the second floor: a home lab with data collection capability resembling a small apartment, conference rooms, and touchdown space for faculty. Emory nursing school leaders and faculty looked to several peer schools to glean ideas for the ENLC including Columbia University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of South Florida (USF). The Beck Group, architects for the ENLC project, previously designed an expansion for the nursing simulation center at Baylor University and a new medical learning and simulation center at USF. FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 0 |
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CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES One of the biggest challenges in planning the ENLC will be incorporating the technology that faculty need to run simulations and that Emory Nursing Experience instructors need to provide continuing education on the fourth floor. Amenities there will include a media room for recording webcasts and podcasts, a large classroom that can be divided in two, meeting rooms, and offices for staff who coordinate student clinical placements throughout EHC. A distance-learning classroom will be used to host and broadcast grand rounds for nurses at any or all of EHC’s 11 hospitals. The Beck Group’s Ken Higga has a designer’s appreciation for how the space will generate “intellectual collisions” among students, faculty, and professional nurses. He is also paying special attention to interior colors and materials that will link the building to the main Emory campus and elements that incorporate “flavors of Decatur” on the first floor. “We’ve talked about using local art to evoke the feel of the surrounding community and looking at how space can be used for community programs on nutrition and diet, exercise, heart health, and other topics,” says Higga. “Nursing academic programs are always looking for ways to serve and engage the local community through education. That goes both ways. It helps students understand what the needs are in the community and gives them an opportunity to work in the real world by talking to community members about issues that are important to them.” Decatur city leaders are eager to see the ENLC open its doors. “Emory’s School of Nursing has a real ability to integrate community health improvement with the workforce development of nursing students to provide a pathway to employment,” says Angela Threadgill, Decatur’s planning and economic development director. “We’re excited about collaborating with the school on programs that promote health and expose middle and high school students to careers in health. Those efforts will mean a lot to the community.”
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(Above) The ENLC will feature many spaces for students to study in a relaxing yet invigorating environment. (Opposite page, right) The center's Simulation and Clinical Skills Lab includes a high-fidelity labor and delivery room, a high-fidelity operating room, patient simulation rooms, and much more.
COVER STORY
RE-CREATING REALITY A virtual tour of the ENLC’s cutting-edge Simulation and Clinical Skills Lab By Pam Auchmutey
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Nursing education has employed simulation as a key mode of training for many decades, though in far less sophisticated ways as today. According to the American Nurses Association, in 1911 the first nursing mannequin was a life-sized doll named Mrs. Chase, which students used to learn to dress, turn, and transfer patients. More dynamic simulation technology as we know it today came from the airline industry. Pilots once sat in cardboard boxes to learn how to fly a plane safely but now they practice in high-tech cockpits fitted with virtually all the same controls as the real thing. In the 1990s, medical companies began catching up by developing affordable, high-fidelity patient mannequins that are the precursors of the ones that medical and nursing educators use today. As such, the new Simulation and Clinical Skills Lab that will be housed in the Emory Nursing Learning Center (ENLC) will be a far cry from what Beth Ann Swan experienced as an undergraduate nursing student in Pennsylvania some years ago. Swan, who serves as executive director of the ENLC for the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, says that her school had a skills lab with hospital beds and students practiced on each other, conducting assessments and giving injections to oranges. “We certainly didn’t have anything like the technology we have today,” says Swan. When opened in May 2022, not only will the ENLC’s Simulation and Clinical Skills Lab be the largest in Georgia, but it also will be one of the most advanced. The facility will include several simulated hospital rooms populated with high-tech patient mannequins, as well as a re-creation of an operating room, where nurse anesthesia doctoral students will train. All of the spaces in the lab will immerse students in clinical realism—psychological, physical, and conceptual. 10 Emory Nursing
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Courtesy of Women's College Hospital Archives
(Above and below) Patient-care simulation has definitely advanced since the days of ‘Mrs. Chase.’ (Opposite page) The new ENLC includes a high-fidelity operating room.
COVER STORY
An integrated audiovisual system will broadcast and record students during their simulated sessions with mannequins and standardized patients. “We’ll be able to capture and record video in real time and then faculty can use it as a teaching-learning strategy, or as a debrief tool, and students can use it to assess their skills,” Swan says. Virtual technology is also planned to be a key part of the lab, enabling students to don goggles to immerse themselves in a patient scenario. Computerized overlays can be placed on a patient mannequin to show, for instance, a more complicated type of wound. “When you have high-fidelity spaces that simulate real-world clinical experiences, students are able to have hands-on practice in a safe environment,” Swan says. “When students walk into a simulated learning environment,
they have the opportunity to practice critical skills in an immersive and dynamic space.” For Swan, the ENLC is about leveraging space and technology to optimize learning. Swan is eager for students and faculty to take full advantage of the new space. “The School of Nursing has an unprecedented opportunity to lead and reimagine the future for nursing education, research, practice, and lifelong learning, ultimately to advance health care delivery for individuals, families, and communities.” The terrace level of the ENLC will provide plenty of clinical skills space—open rooms with several hospital beds occupied by low-fidelity mannequins. Four of the rooms will be used by undergraduate students; a larger fifth lab will be dedicated to advanced skills training for graduate students. Other teaching spaces
include patient exam rooms, procedure rooms, a nurses station, observation rooms, and debriefing rooms, where students and faculty can replay videos and use an interactive white board to drill further into a scenario or concept. While spaces in the Simulation and Clinical Skills Lab will have definite uses, they will also allow for flexibility to inspire innovation and pop-up activities on the terrace level and on the second floor, so that students can practice delivering a baby in a car, assessing meal preferences at a homeless shelter, or setting up a COVID-19 testing center. “One of the beautiful things about our new space is that it will enable our faculty to be even more innovative,” says Carolyn Clevenger 02MSN, associate dean for clinical and community partnerships. “I fully expect to see a shift in their teaching practices.”
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SIMULATING HOME CARE One special highlight of the Emory Nursing Learning Center (ENLC) will be a home lab where nursing students can get a more realistic feel for what it’s like to care for a senior in assisted living, a mother at home with a new baby, or an older child who has asthma. Located on the second floor of the ENLC, the home lab will resemble a small apartment, with a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. Currently, undergraduate nursing students do “home visits” in the Charles F. and Peggy Evans Center for Caring Skills at Emory’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, where faculty and staff transform a hospital room into an apartment by bringing in furniture, rugs, lamps, and other home accessories. In one home visit scenario, students visit a gentleman, portrayed by a standardized patient, who has had open heart surgery. He lives alone, is not taking his medication, and his apartment is cluttered and not well
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lit. In another scenario, students witness the death of a cancer patient in hospice. These scenarios won’t require bringing in rugs and furniture in the new home lab in the ENLC “With the new home lab, students will be able to experience home visits, telehealth visits, home-based primary care and learn about social determinants of health,” says Beth Ann Swan, executive director of the ENLC. The home lab, and other spaces in the ENLC, will also be an incubator for nursing science. “It will provide a place where faculty and students—whether they’re undergraduates, PhD students, or postdocs—can be inventors,” Swan adds. “They can explore the notion of creating a smart apartment or experiment with improving quality of life for the person or population they are working with.”
COVER STORY
“It will provide a place where faculty and students—whether they’re undergraduates, PhD students, or postdocs—can be inventors.”
THE ENLC: BY THE NUMBERS Since 1905, the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing has evolved from a small training program in a fifty-bed hospital to an internationally renowned school that enrolls more than one thousand students annually. The new Emory Nursing Learning Center (ENLC) will continue to advance the school’s mission of educating visionary nursing leaders and scholars, while transforming nursing, health, and health care systems locally and across the globe. All this comes during a time of unparalleled change in the health care system that places an urgent call for the nursing profession to take on a greater role.
The following are a few key stats about the new center:
250
70,000
E. Ponce de Leon Avenue, Decatur
square feet of renovated space
$20.6M
4 Floors
investment
1,000
Supporting more than bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students annually
Key Facilities: Dozens of cutting-edge spaces, including several in the Simulation and Clinical Skills Lab—a high-fidelity operating room, a high-fidelity labor and delivery room, high-fidelity simulation rooms and the Home Care Lab—as well as the Studio media center, classrooms, student common areas, offices, conference rooms, and others.
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GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES The Emory Nursing Experience (ENE) invites practicing nurses to think outside—rather than merely checking—the box with their continuing nursing education. And ENE’s world-class instructors from the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and pioneering practitioners at Emory Healthcare are the ones driving this innovative and collaborative approach to continuing nursing education. By Kristin Baird Rattini
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COVER STORY Nurses are now able to take certificate programs—like our wound, ostomy, and continence certification—that open up new career options for them. ENE is taking what some might regard merely as a professional obligation and reframing it as a flexible, invaluable, and exciting opportunity for working nurses to improve patient care, develop new skills, and advance their careers in these challenging pandemic times. The creation of a new state-of-the-art space dedicated strictly to the ENE reflects the energy and momentum of this growing program. Set to occupy the fourth floor of the new Emory Nursing Learning Center (ENLC) on Ponce de Leon Avenue in downtown Decatur, this new center of innovation will serve as the centralized learning hub for ENE’s distinctive virtual and in-person instruction for nurses from the Atlanta area and far beyond. “When we established the ENE in 2019, we wanted to build a platform of our own accredited content around the tremendous expertise of our Emory nurses, faculty, and staff and put it out there for practicing nurses anywhere to take advantage of the content in an engaging and flexible way,” says Carolyn Clevenger, who oversees the ENE as associate dean for clinical and community partnerships at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. “Because of the Emory Nursing expertise, we can offer content that nurses are not able to get anywhere else.” For example, among its dozens of online class offerings, ENE offered a free overview course on COVID-19 that featured an expert from the National Emerging Special Pathogen Training and Education Center headquartered at Emory. ENE also offers an online version of the nursing school’s in-demand and highly regarded wound, ostomy, and continence
nursing certification program. “At a university, academics often think that if you’re going to get an education to set you up for your next career, it has to be a degree program,” Clevenger says. “But more and more, nurses are now able to take certificate programs that open up new career options for them.” Since ENE’s content went live online in July 2019, more than 3,500 nurses have enrolled in courses. Demand naturally increased with the onset of the pandemic and is driving the very design of ENE’s new facility. “Having this new space that we are able to adapt to our needs in the time of COVID and beyond—in terms of social distancing, online learning, and having the most up-to-date IT—is invaluable,” says Tim Cunningham, vice president of practice and innovation for Emory Healthcare and Clevenger’s counterpart in leading the ENE. A distance-learning classroom will broadcast nursing grand rounds and other events that Emory Healthcare shares via video feed with its affiliated facilities. A state-of-theart recording studio will enable instructors to create new course content. “Our content can be accessed remotely from anywhere in the world,” Clevenger says. “We needed a space where we can produce courses professionally and put out the highest-quality content possible.” The recording studio also will be used to create new episodes of Nurse’s Notes, ENE’s podcast. “Right now, we’re recording the podcast in a little closet, which is not the ideal space,” says Laika Steiger, ENE’s director of operations. The recording studio’s debut should dovetail with the launch of the second
season of Nurse’s Notes, which will focus on the timely theme of innovation in health care. ENE students also will be able to take advantage of other nursing resources in the building, particularly the Simulation and Skills Lab (page 9), which will be the largest in metro Atlanta. The lab will include a model of a highrise senior apartment, a relevant setting for nurses in ENE’s Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Certification program. “That specialty cares for patients in the community as well as acute care settings,” Steiger explains. “To be able to teach that material in that setting makes it more likely to be retained.” Much consideration has gone into ease of access and use of the new ENE facility. The building is on the MARTA line from the airport and shares a parking lot with Emory’s LongTerm Acute Care Center next door, providing easy access for both out-of-state students and local commuters. Its location on Decatur Square puts students within walking distance of numerous restaurants and shops. The three open, spacious classrooms offer more room to spread out than crowded hospital conference rooms. And a number of thoughtfully designed “touchstone spaces” allow faculty and students alike to tend to both personal and work needs. There’s a breastfeeding station, secure internet stations for accessing electronic medical records and emails, and soundproof rooms for taking confidential work calls. “Nursing is holistic,” Cunningham says. “This new ENE space is too. We want to support not only our students’ professional growth but personal growth as well.” FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 0 |
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Join Us Today EMORY NURSING LEARNING CENTER The opening of the Emory Nursing Learning Center will constitute a milestone in the history of our school. Partners like you will make it a reality for hundreds of nursing students and professionals each year. This cutting-edge facility represents a concept unique among simulation centers and healthcare education programs worldwide. The names attached to simulation spaces, skills labs, classrooms and conference rooms will be part of Emory nursing for generations to come. As you consider deepening your commitment, know that your gift will inspire, engage and empower students through education, research, scholarship and service so they may transform lives and healthcare across the globe.
For more information or to discuss these giving opportunities, contact:
Alison Thompson
Assistant Dean of Advancement and Alumni Engagement
(470) 561-2964
alison.m.thompson@emory.edu Follow Us: nursing.emory.edu facebook.com/emorynursing www.instagram.com/emory_nursing twitter.com/EmoryNursing
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FA L L / WFA I NLT LE R2 0 2 02 200 | | Emory Emory Nursing Nursing
Transforming the Future of Nursing Research
Every Nurse Can Be a Change Maker—They Just Need the Right Data
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mory School of Nursing is radically transforming the way nurses think about research—and empowering nurses of all levels to solve the problems they encounter at the front lines of care. Project NeLL, the school’s hands-on suite of applications for learning, teaching, and practicing health care data science, is helping to close data skills gaps and teaching nurses how to find data-driven solutions for health care’s top challenges. Project NeLL—which stands for Nurse’s Electronic Learning Library—allows researchers to explore vast stores of patient data, extract trends, create engaging data-visualization graphics, and download data sets directly to their computers. It will be available to nursing students, researchers, and faculty across the US starting in winter 2021. Currently, NeLL is being used as a teaching tool for Emory nursing courses and a rich data source for Emory student researchers. This suite of tools, which users can access from anywhere by logging into an online portal, is unique in a number of ways. First, it was made by nurses for nurses—to address the real-world frustrations of nursing research. Unlike many other health care data repositories, NeLL isn’t limited to one practice or specialty area. It also contains nursing-sensitive data (among other types) and emphasizes nurses’ notes as a rich and largely untapped data source. Importantly, nurses can use NeLL on their own time—without an analyst’s help. It was designed to make data science easy and intuitive, even for users who know zero about analytics. That includes ready-made curricula for nursing faculty who want to incorporate data-based research projects into their syllabi but who might be nervous about teaching this emerging subject or simply lack the time to study it themselves. It also offers self-paced online learning modules and a comprehensive, proprietary data dictionary. Project NeLL’s repository contains searchable, deidentified records from more than 1 million patients, totaling 800+ million unique records from patients’ different visits to
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the health system. Data sets span 2012 to 2020 (and beyond), rural and urban settings, all levels of care, and countless conditions. Soon, it will contain COVID-19 big data as well. Ten Emory nursing students from undergraduates to doctoral candidates have already used NeLL to complete high-impact capstones and dissertations. Their work has revealed important findings, such as: • Racial disparities in opioid administration for breast cancer patients • A cost value associated with nurse anesthetists compared to other provider types • The cascade of care for patients with hepatitis C within the Baby Boomer cohort. One student from the Emory–Addis Ababa PhD in Nursing program, Emebet Berhane, used Project NeLL to identify predictors of death among patients with pressure ulcers, including dehydration and malnutrition. “In Ethiopia there isn’t an electronic data repository related to my work,” Berhane says. “But by accessing Project NeLL, I was able to complete my course work on time. It showed me how to set clear research objectives, let me explore huge data sets to reveal underlying causes of death for my patients and apply those findings to improve health outcomes.” Project NeLL was brought to life by a small
team of determined nursing data scientists at the School of Nursing. Andi Plotsky, director of database projects, served as the primary database architect and coprinciple investigator on the project. Masato Yoshihara, applications support analyst, has been the lead programmer, creating NeLL’s user-friendly web pages and ensuring it returns the data requested. Judy Katz, senior director of IT, along with Gina Critchet, associate dean of finance, are working to make Project NeLL affordable and accessible to nursing schools across the country. Vicki Hertzberg, director of Emory’s Center for Data Science, and Roy Simpson, assistant dean of technology management, were coprinciple investigators on the project. Dean Linda McCauley has provided ongoing leadership, support, and financial backing for Project NeLL. In addition, a hard-working cadre of students from Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, Emory College’s Computer Science Department, and the School of Nursing have collaborated on cleaning and organizing the data. If you or your school would like to subscribe to Project NeLL—or if your organization is interested in partnering with us to help this project grow—please contact ProjectNeLL@ emory.edu.
PULSE Emory School of Nursing Honors First DNP-CRNA Class
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he Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing honored its Doctor of Nursing Practice, Nurse Anesthesia program students during the school’s DNP-CRNA graduation ceremony on August 7. Friends and alumni viewed the graduation ceremony online, celebrating the accomplishments of the inaugural graduating class of 10 students. The DNP-CRNA program is a nine semester, full-time program where students are educated for the full scope of practice. Graduates earn a doctor of nursing practice degree with a specialty in nurse anesthesia. The ceremony was held via video conference in order to follow social distancing guidelines. The event featured dynamic class and faculty speakers and a brief awards presentation honoring students and faculty. Student speaker Kaitlyn Ogden spoke about the excitement of the momentous occasion, celebrating the inaugural class by thanking friends and family for their continued support, especially during a unique graduation experience. “We have learned how to work in a completely new environment,” said Ogden. “We became pioneers in a whole new way, but we adapted and survived the impact. We persevered, we met the challenges, we excelled. This same spirit within us will surely follow as we enter our careers.” In the ceremony’s closing remarks, student speaker Sarah Green encouraged her 10 peers to provide the highest quality of care for every patient. “Remember how far you’ve come. We’ve been through it all together—sleepless nights, loss, personal struggles,” said Green. “But also laughter, joy, and celebration of so many small victories. We have worked hard to make sure we succeeded together. We have done it. We came together as strangers, but we leave as family.”
American Academy of Nursing Inducts Nine with School of Nursing Ties into 2020 Class of Fellows
The American Academy of Nursing selected 230 distinguished nurse leaders to join the 2020 Class of Academy Fellows, nine of whom come from the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. The new fellows are invited to join the fellowship based on their significant contributions to enhancing the quality of health and nursing, reducing health disparities and inequalities, and strengthening nursing and health delivery systems. The 2020 Class of Academy Fellows represents 39 states as well as 13 countries. Nine selected fellows currently attend or are alumni of the School of Nursing, including: • Brenda Baker, PhD, RNC, CNS – Emory University • Susan Brasher, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC, FAAN – Emory University • Carolyn Clevenger, DNP, RN, GNP-BC, AGPCNP-BC, FAANP, FGSA – Emory University • Erin Ferranti, PhD, MPH, RN, CDCES, FAHA, FPCNA – Emory University • Linda Grabbe, PhD, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC – Emory University • Ursula Kelly, PhD, APRN, ANP-BC, PMHNP-BC, FAANP – Emory University • Victoria Pak, PhD, RN, MTR, MS – Emory University • Samuel Shartar, MSN, RN, CEN, GA-PCEM – Emory University • Weihua Zhang, PhD – Emory University The academy is currently composed of more than 2,700 nursing leaders who are experts in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia who champion health and wellness both locally and globally. The inductees were recognized for their contributions at the academy’s annual Transforming Health, Driving Policy Conference in late October. A significant milestone in a nurse leader’s career, induction into the academy is earned after a competitive, rigorous application process. The 2020 Class of Fellows will be honored by their colleagues within the profession for their commitment to the academy and to transforming health systems across the world. FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 0 |
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The School of Nursing Welcomes Gregory L. Fenves, Emory’s 21st President
Gregory L. Fenves, formerly the president of the University of Texas at Austin, began his tenure at Emory on August 1, 2020.
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regory L. Fenves began his tenure as Emory University’s 21st president on August 1 by affirming the university's most fundamental commitments. From upholding the highest quality of education for students and support for faculty excellence to advancing research discoveries, scholarship, and patient care in the service of humanity, Fenves says the mission and goals of Emory remain unwavering—even as the university navigates extraordinary new challenges. Fenves is well aware that his arrival in Atlanta coincides with one of the most severe global crises in modern history—a pandemic that has forced sweeping changes for universities, communities, and families. “COVID-19 has reconfigured everything—from our daily work to the world we live in. The pandemic has changed what we can do and how we educate students at a top research university,” he says. “It’s also had economic repercussions, requiring our community to make very difficult decisions. But it hasn’t changed us. It hasn’t changed Emory’s mission nor our values. It hasn’t altered our ability to achieve, transcend, and lead.” Indeed, Fenves contends Emory is uniquely well-suited to deal with the current crisis. “I believe this university is as well prepared as any university is in the country because of the dedication of the staff and the leadership to safety, but also and especially because of the expertise of Emory Healthcare and the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, including faculty who are experts in public health in one of the top schools of public health. Across the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory experts are leading the way in the local, statewide, and national pandemic 20 Emory Nursing
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response, integrating your research, teaching, and clinical missions in ways that save lives.” Fenves arrived on campus eager to connect with the Emory community as it prepared to welcome first-year students to the fall 2020 semester. His first week included a series of socially distanced drop-in visits with faculty, staff, students, researchers, and frontline health care workers, and appearances at two community forums. He has since enjoyed numerous opportunities to share dialogue with the Emory community as the semester advanced and has started to work with faculty, staff, and students to build a strategic vision for the university moving forward. A civil engineer by training, Fenves earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a master’s degree and PhD from the University of California (UC), Berkeley. He began his academic career as an assistant professor in the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s civil engineering department in 1984. In 1988, Fenves returned to UC Berkeley, where he was on the faculty for 20 years and became an international expert on structural engineering for earthquake preparedness. He returned to UT Austin in 2008 to become dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering, was recruited to the position of provost at UT Austin in 2013, and in 2015 was appointed president. Fenves was elected in 2014 to the National Academy of Engineering, the highest recognition for an engineer in the United States. Fenves is married to Carmel Martinez Fenves, a textile artist and former small business owner. They have two adult daughters, a son-in-law, and one granddaughter, all of whom live in Austin.
PULSE Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Created Dean Linda McCauley, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAAOHN, named Lisa Muirhead the school’s first assistant dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion in July. Muirhead Lisa Mulrhead Benjamin Harris coleads the School of Nursing's efforts to create and sustain an even stronger campus culture that embraces and promotes diversity and inclusion. Benjamin Harris was also hired to serve as the director of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The focus of the new office will be to implement the school’s diversity initiatives, enhance the curricula in all nursing programs, and continuously and effectively support the school’s community. “I take this position very seriously and understand the complexities of the work,” Muirhead says. “We need to promote equal opportunities in education, practice, and research. It is critical we build a diverse nursing workforce, cultivate a learning environment and workplace of inclusion." Muirhead has been a member of Emory’s faculty since 2012 and is a fellow of both the American Academy of Nursing and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She is a nationally recognized expert in delivering care to veterans and vulnerable populations and stands as a consultant to numerous professional advisory boards focused on bettering these populations.
Harris has worked with various university student affairs offices. In these roles, he focused on advancing diversity initiatives and developing programming to further engage campus communities. He joins Emory after serving as the inaugural director for the Division of Student Affairs Center for Multicultural Life at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. “These new roles are integral to strengthening the school’s commitment to building and fostering diversity, social justice, antiracism, antidiscrimination, restoration, reconciliation, and accessibility,” McCauley says. “We are committed to creating an environment free of discrimination and wholeheartedly believe Muirhead and Harris will be outstanding leaders in our efforts.” Already the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has organized events and resources for the school’s benefit. The new diversity web page includes links to webinars and events for students and faculty to attend. In addition, this page provides books, articles, podcasts, and more to help educate students, faculty, and staff on racism and prejudices. Other related university partners such as the Office of the Provost and the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence can be found on this page. Attention to issues of equity and inclusion is of great importance due to ongoing instances of violence aimed at Black and Indigenous populations of color, notably the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. “We are honored to serve students, faculty, and staff, and I bring with me the commitment and fortitude to help lead the change we wish to see—dignity and respect for all,” Muirhead says.
School of Nursing Set to Launch New Website The School of Nursing embarked on an exciting journey in 2020, culminating with a redesigned website. The multiyear project was completed with Edgar Allan, a digital design agency based in Atlanta. Beyond a facelift, the site has become easier to navigate. Prospective students can now more easily learn about programs or complete an online form to help identify a program based on their interest. The site also presents more events, news, and social media posts, allowing visitors to learn more about the school and its efforts in health care and the community.
STUDENTS
Admissions & Academics
FACULTY & STAFF
ALUMNI
Student Experience
HEALTH SYSTEMS & RECRUITERS
Research & Initiatives
NEWS
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EVENTS
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GIVING
Nursing changes you. APPLY
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New Positions and Leadership Transitions
Lisa Muirhead
Melissa Owen
Elizabeth Downes
Tricia Benson
Beth Ann Swan
Drenna Waldrop-Valverde
Lisa Thompson
Alison Thompson
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he School of Nursing made multiple hires to its leadership ranks in spring and summer 2020. The additions, according to Dean Linda McCauley, will position the school for lasting success. “I’m so excited to see so many new faces joining our community,” McCauley says. “Some of these positions are brand new, and together our new staff members will work to diversify the school’s revenue streams and increase interaction with alumni and external partners.” Lisa Muirhead, DNP, RN, APRN-BC, ANP, was named the school’s first assistant dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion in July. In her new role, Muirhead spearheads the school’s efforts to create and sustain an even stronger campus culture that embraces and promotes diversity and inclusion. In addition to the creation of this position, the school created the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, co-led by Muirhead (page 21). The focus of this new office is to implement the school’s diversity initiatives, enhance the curricula in all nursing programs, and continuously and effectively support the school’s community. Muirhead joined the faculty in 2012 and is a fellow of both the American Academy of Nursing and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She is a nationally recognized expert in delivering care to veterans and vulnerable populations and stands as a consultant to numerous professional advisory boards focused on bettering these populations. Also in July, Melissa Owen, PhD, RN, CCTC, stepped into the role of assistant dean for prelicensure programs. Owen, who previously oversaw
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the BSN program, now advises senior leadership on prelicensure curriculum development, program planning, and student affairs. Owen also works as a progressive care cardiac nurse and heart transplant coordinator. The position of assistant dean for graduate clinical programs is now held by Elizabeth Downes, DNP, MPH, FNP-C, CNE, FAANP, ANEF, FAAN. In this role, Downes leads the school’s nationally ranked DNP and MSN programs. Downes joined the faculty 18 years ago. Since that time, she has provided a key voice in educational development. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, a fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and a fellow of the National League for Nursing's Academy of Nursing Education. To support the rapid growth of the school and its partnerships, McCauley recently announced the addition of Tricia Benson as chief engagement officer. In this position, Benson works with the dean and leadership council to cultivate and champion strategic partnerships, advance collaboration, oversee special projects, and seek philanthropic opportunities that advance the mission and strategic priorities of our school. Her initial project includes the renovation of 250 Ponce de Leon in Decatur. Most recently, Benson worked for the national office of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as senior director of planned giving, annual fund, and direct response. Her other past roles include director of foundation relations and planned giving at the Human Rights Campaign and program director at Camp Sunshine.
PULSE Prolific Pair Retires from Lilian Carter Center Beth Ann Swan, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate dean and vice president for academic practice partnerships, joined the school in July. She spent nearly 12 years at Jefferson College of Nursing, where she served as a faculty member, academic leader, and, from 2011 to 2016, dean. Swan is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, past president of the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing, and a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow. She was an early leader in exploring the impact of changing health care delivery models on outcomes of care. At Emory, she is charged with ensuring the school’s continued growth in new and innovative academic models and partnerships. After almost four years of dedicated work, Drenna Waldrop-Valverde PhD, has decided to step down from her role as the director of graduate studies. For the fall semester, she will be codirecting the program with Lisa Thompson, PhD, RN, FNP, FAAN. Thompson will assume full directorship on January 1, 2021. She is a tenured associate professor and an appointed faculty member in the Department of Environmental Health at Rollins. Prior to joining Emory in 2017, she was a faculty member in the School of Nursing and global health sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she was actively involved in advancing doctoral education. She was the first program director for the PhD program in Global Health Sciences and chaired a task force in the School of Nursing to revise quantitative courses at UCSF. She has mentored 22 doctoral students and four postdocs in the past 12 years. Alison Thompson, MPA, joined the school in August as senior director of development and assistant dean of advancement and alumni engagement. Thompson has nearly 10 years of experience in business development, philanthropy, and fundraising. In her most recent role as the associate vice president for advancement for the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Foundation), she was responsible for the organization's resource mobilization efforts in support of CDC's public-private partnership priorities, leading a team of fundraisers and personally securing $130 million during her tenure.
Martha Rogers
Kathy Kite
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t’s never easy saying goodbye, especially in the nursing school community. That’s why it’s so bittersweet to see two members of our family move into retirement. Martha Rogers and Kathy Kite of the Lilian Carter Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility retired at the end of August. Rogers, a board-certified pediatrician, was a well-respected member of the nursing school’s faculty since joining in 2002. She is perhaps best known for her efforts controlling the impact of HIV/AIDS worldwide by paving a trail in research, serving on task forces and sharing her work through seminars and publications. Prior to joining Emory, she worked for 20 years as a research medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One of her most-credited accomplishments was implementing the use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic method when testing for HIV infections in infants. Rogers also served as director of the Lillian Carter Center. In this role, she led efforts to improve the health of vulnerable people around the globe and supported our students in domestic and international immersion programs. Kite served the school and the community as senior associate director of programs and administrative director of the Lillian Carter Center. Her work in strategic planning was instrumental and will impact the center for years to come. Prior to coming to Emory, Kite served as the conference director and publications manager for the Southern Center for International Studies, handling programming and administrative duties for more than 50 televised conferences around the world. Under Rogers’ and Kite’s leadership the Lillian Carter Center expanded to work in more than 100 countries and to send faculty and students across the globe for research and community care. FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 0 |
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Alumna Publishes Book to Help Children Cope with COVID-19
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Shelly Hutchinson 73N chose compassion over fear. Hutchinson, a long-time nurse working in pediatrics and mental health, took the opportunity to help children cope with the public health crisis. From hygiene to living in a world of face masks and social distancing, the author set to work on an entertaining yet factual book for kids and families. COVID Quarantine Crisis! details the highs and lows children face during the pandemic. Hutchinson uses words, rhyme, and pictures to create a context where families can talk about the frustrations and emotions at play during life-changing events. The main character, a young boy, struggles with losing school, friends, and activities. The parents offer safety, support, facts, and encouragement. “Families can pull together along the theme of ‘we’re all in this together,’ ” Hutchinson says. Promotion of the book has come largely through word of mouth. Hutchinson also gave an opportunity to her neighbor’s teenage daughter, an aspiring artist. “I never expected to make a lot of money,” she says. “I wanted to embed knowledge and the CDC guidelines for families to understand what they have to do and to start the conversation by giving voice to kids’ feelings.” COVID Quarantine Crisis! is available on Amazon.com. 24 Emory Nursing
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School Mourns Loss of D-ABSN Student
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Devin P. Hussey
evin P. Hussey, 31, a member of the D-ABSN program, died August 6 at his parents’ home in Maryland. Devin was a valued member of our community and will be greatly missed. The School of Nursing hosted a virtual gathering for faculty, staff, and students to remember Hussey in August. According to his family, he enjoyed the outdoors and spending time connecting with other people. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from University of Maryland University College. He also worked as a certified personal trainer. At Emory, he worked to become a nurse, thus following in the footsteps of his grandmother. The family requested donations be made to the Devin P. Hussey Memorial Fund at the Community Foundation of Howard County: https://bit.ly/Devin_ Hussey. Funds will be allocated to support nonprofits striving for social justice and health equity.
PULSE COVID-19 Research Roundup
Faculty, staff, student, and alumni researchers at the School of Nursing and Emory Healthcare have been working feverishly on a number of projects to help with the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are a few highlights: LAUNCHED
IN PROGRESS
The School of Nursing established a Dean’s Pilot Award for COVID-19 research projects and will soon award grants for two research projects, including one that will focus on educational technology. Studies that nursing faculty are currently undertaking include topics ranging from effects on cancer care, symptoms, and quality of life in an autoimmune population (lupus), COVID-19 in correctional institutions, pandemic effects on the mental health of nurses, navigating health care by family caregivers of elders during a pandemic, COVID-19 impact on HIV care, and health disparities. Investigators: Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing researchers
IN PROGRESS
Researchers have begun an ancillary study on stress and fear during the pandemic among vulnerable populations in Atlanta. The focus is on Black adults with more than one chronic condition and their concerns. The ancillary study will inform how the pandemic changed symptoms and stress perceptions. Investigators: Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing researchers
In response to the pandemic, an advanced practice provider (APP) leadership team at Emory Healthcare redeployed its members and created alternative care models, leveraging skill sets to meet the demands in shifting areas of patient care. The skill sets of more than one thousand APPs, who comprise nurse practitioners and physician assistants, were swiftly catalogued, with leaders working with their APP teams to identify prior clinical experiences and competencies that could be used quickly to meet identified clinical needs across the organization in various areas. One of the key strategies was to provide support and relief for primary care providers for potential redeployment to areas where patients would need more care. The innovations from the APP teams in partnership and collaboration with physician colleagues minimized viral exposure to patients and staff and provided flexibility in managing services. The APP leadership team will continue to monitor and collect data, examining clinical outcomes, cost avoidance, and APP engagement as the crisis advances in our health care setting. A paper on these initiatives will soon be published in Nursing Economics. Investigator: Bonnie Proulx
LAUNCHED
During the pandemic, an interprofessional team at Emory University Hospital was tasked with identifying a process to reduce workflow burden and preserve personal protective equipment (PPE) in acute care COVID-19 units. The team developed a warm zone model (WZM) that facilitated the movement of staff between rooms of patients confirmed COVID-19 positive while wearing the same mask, eye protection, and gown. Staff were trained on extended PPE
use and how to properly change gloves and complete hand hygiene between rooms of patients. The WZM reduced the overall number of PPE donning and doffing per shift, while maintaining or increasing the number of patient room entries and exits. The risk for self-contamination while doffing is well documented. Daily gown use decreased on WZM units, helping to preserve and extend current PPE supplies. Once the WZM proved successful in acute care, it was modified and instituted in critical care COVID-19 units. A paper documenting the impact of the warm zone model and how it eased workflow burden and improved teamwork while maintaining personal safety has been submitted to the American Journal of Nursing. Investigator: Sarah Omess, clinical nurse specialist for Emory Healthcare
IN PROGRESS
Emory nursing researchers are leading the way in documenting some of the processes to make caring for COVID-19 patients more effective and efficient. At Emory Clinic, a Care Coordination and Transitions Management (CCTM) team comprising registered nurses, social workers, and primary and hospital medical providers established a multidisciplinary model for transitioning COVID-positive patients from hospital to community. The team created a mechanism for patients discharged from hospitals to connect with a primary care provider (PCP), who followed up with the individuals via telemedicine. The PCP was responsible for then creating an individualized plan of care. The CCTM team will follow up with the patient by telephone on a consistent schedule: this may be twice a day, daily, every other day, or weekly for up to four weeks after discharge. In addition, the CCTM team supports the patient’s psychosocial needs after they are discharged. Investigator: Misty Landor, director of advanced practice providers for Emory Healthcare FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 0 |
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Two Emory Nursing Graduate Students Selected as Nurses Education Funds Scholar Recipients for 2020–2021 Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing doctoral students Alisha Bhimani, BSN, and Carrie Henry, MSN, CNM, are among the 23 candidates selected for the Nurses Education Funds (NEF) 2020–2021 scholar list. NEF is a not-for-profit scholarship organization for registered nurses seeking to further their education and in need of financial assistance. The NEF board directors are predominately in the nursing field and select recipients based on their academic excellence, community service, and potential to make impactful contributions to their field. Alisha Bhimani is the recipient of the Eleanor C. Lambertsen Scholarship, a fund awarded annually to a doctoral applicant in nursing education or administration. She earned a bachelor of science in nursing from Emory University and is continuing with a population health doctorate in nursing practice with a focus in family and emergency medicine at Emory. For more than two years, Bhimani worked and lived in Khorog, Tajikistan, to study and implement a curriculum using evidence-based protocols for better patient care. Her goal is to work with health care institutions worldwide to advance the
training of medical professionals. She hopes her contributions improve the quality of patient care by outlining protocols for effective team communications on a global scale. Carrie Henry was awarded the 2020–2021 Miriam M. Powell Scholarship, an annual fund dedicated to clinical nursing leadership. She earned a bachelor of science in nursing from the Capstone College of Nursing at the University of Alabama, and a master of science in nursing in nurse-midwifery from the Medical University of South Carolina. Henry practiced as a labor and delivery nurse for four years and a nurse-midwife for six years, where mentoring opportunities inspired her to teach. After five years of teaching undergraduate nursing students at Emory, she discovered her passion for research and began her pursuit of a PhD. Henry’s dissertation study focuses on the coping methods of Black women after a stillbirth, research that will help to develop quality care for mothers following perinatal loss. The scholarships presented by NEF are highly competitive and are awarded once for a full academic year. The number of recipients and the amount of funds depends on availability, as many contributions to the NEF programs are made by leaders in the nursing community, nursing institutions, and other organizations with a passion to further nursing education.
Emory-Ethiopia Trainee Earns Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowship in Public Health for Research on Life-Threatening Infections in Newborns The Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowships in Public Health has selected Katherine Ku, BA, as a 2020 fellow for her work with Emory University Ethiopia. Emory-Ethiopia is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) dedicated to bringing together important players from across Ethiopia and the Emory Network to advance scientific discoveries and deliver well-informed, locally led services to communities. This partnership was Katherine Ku initiated by the School of Nursing and Ethiopian partners more than a decade ago and has led to a host of public health advancements across both Ethiopia and the US. The Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowships in Public Health, offered through a partnership between the Fulbright program and the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), help to promote the expansion of public health research in resource-limited 26 Emory Nursing
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settings. Candidates must be enrolled in medical school or in a graduate-level program. Ku currently attends Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine as a fourth-year medical student. She has been accepted as a trainee of Abebe Gebremariam and John Cranmer, global advocates for maternal-infant health and central figures in the Emory-Ethiopia maternal-infant health partnership. The research produced by the Emory-Ethiopia partnership is coauthored by scientists across Ethiopia and the US and has had measurable positive impacts in both countries. Ku’s personal research will draw upon more than a decade of locally led analysis done through the Emory-Ethiopia partnership. She intends to leverage findings on the factors that prompt community members to seek care for potentially life-threatening signs of infection in newborns in Ethiopia. She will apply these insights to create a community-based care strategy that includes broad, ongoing input from local stakeholders in the Amhara region of Ethiopia and then evaluate its effectiveness over time.
ALUMNI NEWS
IN MEMORY
Remembering Twilla Haynes The School of Nursing lost an honored and loved member of our community on August 25. Twilla Haynes, RN, JD, 80MN, ANP-BC, FAAN, passed away at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital at the age of 76. She is survived by many friends and family, including two members of our faculty, her daughters Hope Haynes Bussenius 93MN, DNP, APRN, FAANP, and Angela Haynes Ferere 91PH, 08BSN, 09MSN, DNP, APRN. All hold degrees from the nursing school and strong connections to the university. “I’ll never forget the day I met Twilla,” Dean Linda McCauley says. “I felt an instant connection, as if we were sisters. We shared a heart for our home state of North Carolina, Native American populations in Appalachia, and community health. I learned so much from Twilla and her humanitarian work as did many of our faculty, students, and alums.” Haynes worked tirelessly to provide health care to underserved communities in Atlanta and Haiti. She focused her energy and influence to help those less fortunate, especially children. She started a foundation and an orphanage to put her passion into action. Because of her, thousands of people of all ages receive necessary medical care, food, medicine, and the supplies to live a healthier life. Hope Haven Orphanage and Eternal Hope in Haiti (EHIH) will long outlive her time on Earth. Many
Emory nursing students traveled to Haiti with her to gain not only skills but the invaluable experience of an expanded worldview. “Nursing is much more than knowing medical facts and procedures,” McCauley says. “As a nurse, you are the patient’s advocate and a resource for families. You have an obligation to care for the vulnerable. As such, you have an opportunity to personally work for social change. In other words, you must be like Twilla.” Haynes earned an MSN from our school in 1980. She also received a BSN from the Medical College of Georgia and a law degree from Atlanta Law School. Her list of accomplishments is a lengthy one, but her Emory Medal, awarded in 2010, secures her part in the history of Emory and the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. She was also featured in the summer 2020 edition of Emory Nursing magazine. She talked at length about her work, which included the entire family—even grandchildren. “I learned how simple it was to save lives,” Haynes said shortly after receiving the Emory Medal, the university’s highest alumni honor, in 2010. “We’re not talking about rocket science. It’s primary care, it’s learning about these diseases, working side by side with these strong practitioners.”
FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 0 |
Emory Nursing 27
Carolyn Clevenger
Alexis Dunn
Tim Cunningham
Roxana Chicas
New Webcast Highlights Challenges, Opportunities in Nursing In August 2020, the School of Nursing released the first episode of the Nurses Station. This biweekly webcast and podcast series discusses life as a nurse, current trends in nursing, and misconceptions about the profession. The show is hosted by four of Emory's brightest and most energetic nurse leaders and researchers. Carolyn Clevenger, DNP, RN, GNP-BC, AGPCNP-BC, FAANP, FGSA, is the associate dean for clinical and community partnerships at the School of Nursing. She is a nationally recognized educational leader in advanced practice nursing and in geriatrics and gerontology. She is a past president of the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association, a fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) and the Gerontological Society of America, and contributor to the AANP Certification program. She is also clinical director of the nurse-led patient-centered medical home for people living with dementia, the Integrated Memory Care Clinic (IMCC). IMCC represents an innovative clinical model that provides memory and primary care in a single integrated model for people living with dementia and their care partners. Alexis Dunn, PhD, CNM, FACNM, is a research assistant professor conducting investigations in the relationships between health behaviors, inflammatory mechanisms, and adverse pregnancy outcomes among high-risk populations. She is a certified nurse midwife who works in a variety of professional roles within academic, hospital, and outpatient clinical settings. She currently serves in both a research and teaching capacity at the School of Nursing, through which she is able to share her passion for clinical excellence as it relates to primary care, and perinatal and postpartum care of women. Dunn is actively involved as the current vice president of the Georgia affiliate of the American College of Nurse Midwives, in which she participates on several committees focused on improving the health of women and families in Georgia. Tim Cunningham, DrPH, MSN, RN, vice president of practice and
innovation at Emory Healthcare, worked as an actor for nearly a decade in various regional theaters in the US and internationally. Through those experiences he began working with Clowns without Borders (CWB) in 2003. A small nonprofit, CWB sends professional artists into war zones, refugee camps, and other areas of crisis with the simple mission of catalyzing laughter and playfulness. It was working as a clown in a pediatric ward in pre-earthquake Haiti and then joining the ranks of the Big Apple Circus Clown Care program at Boston Children’s Hospital that inspired Cunningham to study nursing. In 2009, he began work as an emergency/trauma nurse. Cunningham has worked at the UVA Health System, Children’s National Medical Center, and New York Presbyterian, Cornell, in both adult and pediatric emergency settings. He has worked internationally as a clinician in post-earthquake Haiti, and in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak. Roxana Chicas, PhD, BSN, is a postdoctoral fellow at Emory School of Medicine. She received a BSN and PhD from Emory. As a bilingual and bicultural nurse scientist, her research focus is on environmental exposures and occupational health hazards among immigrant agricultural workers. She aims to understand factors that contribute to variation in occupational-induced indicators of heat stress and acute kidney injury, and examines interventions for the preservation of health and enhancement of work performance. Season one topics from the Nurses Station include nursing education, race and racism in health care, COVID-19, infant and maternal health, and much more. Each host comes from a different educational background and professional specialty, allowing for a wide range of topics to be thoughtfully and thoroughly covered for the show’s viewers and listeners. Each episode is posted on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and multiple other listening services. You can also interact with the show and view episodes at links.emory.edu/thenursesstation.
Emory Nursing
EXPERIENCE
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