Quinnipiac Healthbeat Newsletter

HealthBeat

News from the School of Health Sciences, School of Nursing and the Frank H. Netter, M.D., School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University | february 2012 New courses promote teamwork

Quinnipiac is cultivating interest in primary care professions with a new leadership seminar that has students working in teams to solve health care challenges.

The one-credit course, “Health Challenges and Team-Based Solutions,” is one of two new interprofessional courses offered. Dr. Anthony Ardolino, senior associate dean of academic affairs for the Frank H. Netter, M.D., School of Medicine, and Kim Hartmann ’76, MHS ’82, chair of the occupational therapy department, are teaching the course this spring.

Hartmann also chairs the interprofessional committee of the Schools of Health Sciences, Nursing and Medicine, which has evolved into the Center for Interprofessional Healthcare Education at Quinnipiac University. Annaleila Williams, assistant professor of medical sciences, and Mary Helming, associate professor of nursing, represent their schools on the center’s executive board.

The center’s three-credit course, “Responsible Citizenship and Diversity Awareness in Health Care,” will be team-taught by OT clinical assistant professor Deanna Proulx-Sepelak ’92, JD/MHA ’02, and SHS Dean Ed O’Connor in Fall 2012.

Purdue Pharma provided a $59,000 educational grant that helped fund the center’s interprofessional programs. The grant’s focus will be two-fold: first, exploring how to implement the goals of interprofessionalism into the curriculum and then developing a specific interprofessional curriculum on pain management.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company provided seed money for the “Health Challenges” course.

Each week a team of health care professionals from different disciplines will present a real-life health care challenge and guide students to a solution by having them working together.

“This is an exciting way to get two or more health professionals in a room teaching students about health care issues and finding solutions to those issues as a team,” explains Ardolino. About half of the challenges also will be presented in a community setting to show other professionals how to collaborate to improve patient care.

Medical school on track to open in 2013 As founding dean of the state’s newest medical school, Dr. Bruce Koeppen arrived on campus last fall ready to roll up his sleeves and begin building. Today Koeppen has a crew of 14 administrators and faculty members shaping the educational framework of the recently named Frank H. Netter, M.D., School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University. In addition, about 50 physicians from St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Conn., the school’s clinical partner, are helping to develop the Dr. Bruce Koeppen, dean of the Frank H. Netter, M.D., School of Medicine, walks through the school’s academic programs North Haven Campus building that will become a state-of-the-art learning facility for students as newly named faculty. in medicine and other health care fields. He says the renovations are on schedule.

Eventually all physicians at anesthesiologist assistant master’s degree program, St. Vincent’s will play a role in the medical school. which is under development. A. William Paulsen Everyone involved is putting the school’s developjoined Quinnipiac in January as the director of the ment on track to welcome the inaugural class of 60 anesthesiologist assistant program. medical students in Fall 2013.

Renovations are under way on a second North Haven Campus building, which will be the medical school’s home as well as a hub of health care education. Plans call for a single entrance with a centralized atrium connecting the existing health sciences building and the new, approximately 145,000-square-foot building.

“It is a wonderfully designed space,” said Dr. Anthony Ardolino, senior associate dean of academic affairs for the medical school. “We’re quite excited about the concept of a unified campus for health professionals.”

The new building will have state-of-the-art classrooms, 16 assessment labs where actors will play the role of patients, two simulated operating rooms, a human anatomy suite and an expanded health sciences library. The cardiovascular perfusion, pathology assistant and diagnostic imaging offices also will be housed in the new building, as well as the

The renovations will include the addition of two 150-seat lecture halls and a 300-seat auditorium and conference event center.

“It will be available to the entire campus community for social events,” said Koeppen, who envisions professional organizations using the space for conferences and meetings. “We also want outside groups to use this space. We want to be a resource for the community. We want to be a destination.”

Professors in the health sciences and nursing are working on ways to integrate the new facilities into their curriculum. Similarly, the medical school curriculum will include collaborations with other programs.

The school is named in honor of Frank H. Netter, a noted surgeon and the world’s most prolific medical illustrator. A major gift from Barbara and the late Edward Netter made possible this tribute to Edward’s first cousin.

School of Nursing celebrates opening At an Oct. 18 celebration marking the official opening of Quinnipiac’s School of Nursing, founding dean Jean Lange welcomed 450 alumni, students and members of the campus community.

“Everybody dances to a different rhythm,” says Hartmann. “When people are in the same room and they start talking about a health care challenge, the solutions just emerge.”

Forty years after Quinnipiac began offering an associate’s degree in nursing, it now has a school that offers a bachelor’s degree and a doctor of nursing practice.

SPREADING HOLIDAY CHEER PA, nursing and nurse practitioner students collected, wrapped and distributed nearly 200 toys to children at the Hospital of St. Raphael in New Haven on Dec. 16.

Toys and books were provided to more than 150 families with children ranging from infants to adolescents. Children also received hats, mittens, scarves, stuffed animals and a candy cane treat.

NP and PA students also filled 60 shoeboxes with holiday gifts for Samaritan Purse’s Operation Christmas Child. The shoeboxes, stuffed with small toys, school and personal supplies and other gifts as well as a personal note, were distributed to children around the world for Christmas.

Jean Lange, founding dean of the School of Nursing, talks about the future of the profession at the school’s opening celebration.

“With an aging workforce poised to retire, we need more doctorally prepared nurses who can test ways to improve patient care, teach the next generation of nurses, and help bridge our nation’s monumental gap in access to primary care providers,” Lange said.

The school, housed in a highly advanced facility on the North Haven Campus, is positioned to provide an educational experience where nursing students learn alongside students from a host of health care disciplines, Lange said.

The open house included a display of nursing artifacts, from past nursing uniforms to antique equipment, and a slide show of photos. Senior nursing student Christine Rohan said, “It’s exciting to be part of the first class to graduate from the School of Nursing.”

Scan with your mobile device for more nursing open house photos.

News Briefs Bone marrow drive During National Physician Assistant Week, physician assistant students helped register about 200 people at a bone marrow drive on Oct. 6 organized by Quinnipiac’s National Institute for Community Health Education.

Patrice Tillman spoke about her experiences as a bone marrow transplant recipient.

North Haven First Selectman Mike Freda and Robert Wooten, president of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, also attended the event. In December, PA students served dinners at the Grand Street Men’s Shelter holiday dinner.

Nurse Practitioner Week During National Nurse Practitioner Week, Nov. 14–18, nursing students took blood pressures, checked blood sugar levels and distributed information on a variety of health issues, including cardiac disease, diabetes and breast health on the North Haven Campus.

ATSM hosts Walk for Thought Athletic training and sports medicine students held the annual “Walk for Thought” event to raise money for the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut. It’s the third time they’ve held the event. About 40 students and faculty members participated, raising about $1,600. The nonprofit organization supports individuals with brain injuries and their families and also raises awareness about brain injury prevention.

PT volunteers for quad rugby About 50 physical therapy students attended and volunteered at the Connecticut Classic Wheelchair Rugby Tournament Dec. 3-4. The Connecticut Jammers Wheelchair Rugby Team played other Northeast teams. Most of the team members have suffered cervical spinal cord injuries and are quadriplegic. The Sports Association of Gaylord Hospital sponsored the tournament, which was held at the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, Conn.

Walk to School Day Occupational therapy students fit helmets on students at Helen Street School as part of International Walk to School Day on Oct. 5.

The day was organized as a way of preventing injuries for kids under the age of 15. First- and second-grade students at the Hamden school learned pedestrian safety. The OT students represented Safe Kids Greater New Haven, which works to prevent childhood injuries in New Haven County.

Faculty News Cynthia Lord, MHS ’97, director of the physician assistant program, has been named the American Academy of Physician Assistants’ representative to the coordinating committee of the new National Program to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk, an initiative of the National Institutes of Health.

Juan C. Garbalosa, director of the Motion Analysis Laboratory, has been appointed by the American Physical Therapy Association as a representative to the Commission for Motion Laboratory Accreditation.

Lynn Price, associate professor of nursing, has created a blog about her trip to Nicaragua with 10 nursing students and alumna Kristen Sommer ’11. Price was in the country for three weeks, and the group joined her from Jan. 2–10 to work in the rural town of Chinandega.

To learn more about the group’s work, visit http://aprnadventures.wordpress.com.

A group of eight physical therapy students and eight occupational therapy students also did service work in León, Nicaragua, in January.

Physical therapy associate professors Maureen Helgren ’83 and Kathy Harris and occupational therapy associate professor Sal Bondoc led this group.

DI hosts Yale and UConn residents The facility for the Frank Netter, M.D., School of Medicine at Quinnipiac is still under construction, but medical residents have already arrived on campus thanks to the Department of Diagnostic Imaging’s partnerships with the Yale School of Medicine and the UConn School of Dental Medicine.

This year, diagnostic imaging professors instructed dental students on the CT, MRI and sonography equipment to identify and treat oral and maxillofacial diseases and conditions.

Dr. Michelle Johnson, left, a Yale interventional neuroradiologist, performs a fluoroscopic guided lumbar puncture demonstration with Dr. Rebecca Stackhouse, a Yale radiology resident, in the diagnostic imaging lab at Quinnipiac.

“They are offered a chance to do hands-on scanning that they don’t have the opportunity or the time to do during their normal rotation,” explained Bernadette Mele ’05, MHS ’07, clinical assistant professor of diagnostic imaging.

Professors also worked with residents from Yale who used all of the equipment in the diagnostic imaging suite to learn techniques for interventional procedures such as biopsies, joint injections and lumbar punctures.

Quinnipiac has the luxury of having diagnostic imaging equipment solely for educational use, said Dr. Ramon Gonzalez, director of the radiology assistant program. Radiology residents compete with postgraduate fellows for time on this type of advanced equipment at hospitals. “The partnership is a good example of interprofessional learning,” Gonzalez explained. “We have our master’s program students actually working at the same level with senior Yale residents.”

Students in the radiology assistant program, who also do their clinical work at Yale, helped instruct the residents; other DI students will work with dental students in the future. Gonzalez noted that Quinnipiac students have an opportunity to build working relationships with future physicians they may encounter in their careers.

Eventually, Quinnipiac’s medical students will partake in similar projects. The second building on the North Haven Campus that is currently being renovated will have an anatomy lab. DI faculty members will be imaging all cadavers. The images will be used to teach undergraduate diagnostic imaging, radiologist assistant and medical school students.

AT students practice in DI football programs In August junior Zack Currie worked at the “birthplace of college football,” alongside athletic trainers and other health care professionals in the Rutgers University Division I football program.

“It was an incredible opportunity,” said Currie, a Victoria, B.C., native who was one of 20 athletic training and sports medicine students participating in Quinnipiac’s preseason football internship. “Hopefully, it will open some doors for me down the road.”

Building a pipeline to universities with nationally recognized athletic programs is one of the goals of the internship, said Lenn Johns, chair of the Department of Athletic Training and Sports Medicine. He calls the preseason internships “a five-week job interview,” noting that many former students have received job offers from some of these programs.

“The response has been nothing but positive,” said Susan Norkus, professor of athletic training and sports medicine.

This year QU students worked at football programs including national championship runner-up LSU and No. 7-ranked Stanford University, as well as the University of Wyoming, the University of Virginia and others. The preseason football internship program has doubled since it began in 2007 from 10 juniors and seniors at six colleges in five states to 20 students at 13 sites in 10 states.

Zack Currie working at Rutgers during the summer.

“The football environment is a high-volume, high-paced and potentially high-pressure situation,” explained Norkus. “The addition of this experience expands the student’s skill set and increases his or her marketability upon graduation.”

The students work alongside the schools’ athletic trainers, physicians, nutritionists, sport psychologists, sport scientists, pharmacists, radiologists and other health care and medical professionals.

“It gets you out of your comfort zone,” said Currie, who has worked with Quinnipiac’s women’s soccer and men’s baseball team. “It’s a different experience to get us away from the people we’re always working with. It teaches us how to adapt to a new environment and work with new people.”

Students Walk to cure diabetes School of Nursing Dean Jean Lange is pictured with nursing students who volunteered at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s “Walk to Cure Diabetes” fundraising event in September on the North Haven Campus.

SPOTLIGHT ON ALUMNI

Dr. Peter Vosler ’00: Moving from the military to medicine Whether he is on the battlefield, in an operating room or in a laboratory, Dr. Peter S. Vosler ’00 is protecting and saving lives.

Vosler served as a military intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, most recently as part of the first special forces unit to enter Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He also was a researcher investigating ways to help stroke victims avoid paralysis. Today, he is a physician in the otolaryngology residency program at UPMC in Pittsburgh, specializing in ear, nose and throat disorders.

So much of what he learned in the military laid a foundation for what he does in research and medicine.

While on active duty in Iraq, his group collected data to determine who were influencers in the community, who was trying to disrupt the U.S. occupation and how best to maintain civility.

“As a military intelligence officer, we are taking different pieces of information to make a cohesive picture, which is similar to what we do in research. We try to understand what’s happening based on the information we are given,” explains Vosler.

Early in his military career, he simultaneously began working on a bachelor’s degree in psychobiology and chemistry from Quinnipiac. With guidance from Professor Joan Bombace, he began research projects that led to a research assistant position at Yale University School of Medicine after college.

“If you don’t have people who are going to nurture you and feel passionate about their own research, they aren’t going to help you and you aren’t going to go far,” says Vosler, who later entered a joint MD/PhD program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His first year of medical school came to a halt when he was called back to serve in Iraq. After a six-month tour, he returned home and jumped back into his program.

For his doctorate, he investigated methods to prevent cells from dying, which during a stroke could prevent serious damage to the brain that causes paralysis.

Vosler and his mentor found that if a cell can continue to make protein, it will survive. He has presented this research at international conferences.

During his residency rotation in plastic surgery, he participated in a facial reconstruction operation where surgeons removed a woman’s fibula from her leg to replace her bottom jaw. Blending his interest in research and medicine, Vosler hopes to combine his clinical practice with academic research in the field of otolaryngology.

Amy Kelly ’10: Serving military families Tens of thousands of military members are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and many will be struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. Amy Kelly ’10 plans to be one of the people who can help these soldiers and their families as a psychiatric nurse practitioner in the Air Force Nurse Corps.

Today, she is a commissioned second lieutenant in the Air Force, thanks to the Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program.

“The opportunity to serve in the Air Force really seemed to fit well with both my professional and personal goals,” said Kelly, who is a registered nurse in adolescent and young adult psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital. “I’m excited to be able to work directly with service members and their families, and I’m eager to use the skills gained from graduate training to address the pharmacological and psychosocial needs of the military community.”

After completing the accelerated nursing program at Quinnipiac, Kelly began the psychiatric nurse practitioner track in the master’s program at Fairfield University. Kelly is focusing her graduate research on PTSD treatment.

She plans to do her clinical work at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven, Conn.

The scholarship program will pay for most of her graduate education in exchange for serving three years in active duty. Military scholarship programs have helped the armed forces avoid nursing shortages that have plagued the general health care industry.

Kelly discussed her career plans as an alumni participant in the “Conversations with Leaders” lecture series, presented by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Careers in Nursing grant and the School of Nursing.

When Kelly graduates in 2013, she will begin commissioned officer training and then be assigned to a base. Depending on the need, she might be deployed to an international location.

She is uncertain of what she will face in the military, but Kelly says she’s up to the challenge.

“The experience I will gain in the Air Force will serve as a foundation for my clinical practice,” Kelly said. “I hope to use my role as an APRN to best serve the military community for many years to come.”

Eric Glassman, MHS ’03: Growing the PA profession In his home state of California, physician assistant Eric Glassman, MHS ’03, spends as much time educating the public about his profession as he does working in the field. In a state with 37 million people and only 8,000 PAs, not everyone has had exposure to the profession that is prolific in other states.

As president of the California Academy of Physician Assistants, Glassman is on a mission to change that.

“I would like more people to appreciate the role PAs can play in meeting the demand for additional health care providers,” explained Glassman, a PA at Newport Orthopedic Institute in Newport, Calif. A PA can diagnose and treat everything from the common cold to diabetes and hypertension.

“PAs can help so many patients who otherwise wouldn’t be seen,” he said, noting the need for primary care providers in underserved regions of his state.

At the Newport Orthopedic Institute, Glassman works with a patient at every stage of a surgery from discussing surgical options and risks to assisting the surgeon during the operation and providing postoperative care.

California only has nine PA training programs, and it has a small pool of professionals who are willing and able to be preceptors. “Even if you open up new programs, you need doctors and PAs to train them,” he explained.

CAPA has a public policy director who is working with state committees and coalitions to investigate ways to entice professionals to become clinical preceptors, such as offering PAs continuing medical credit for precepting.

“Seeing Cindy Lord and Bill Kohlhepp advance the profession really motivated me to take a leadership role,” said Glassman of his former professors.

He learned about the profession from a friend’s father who was one of the first PAs in California. After earning a BS in kinesiology from Westmont College, he moved to Connecticut to attend Quinnipiac’s well-known PA program.

“Going to school in Connecticut and seeing a strong history there, I had a good model of where I thought California could go as a profession,” Glassman explained. “The field is just growing beyond belief. I look forward to seeing what the profession will be like in the future.”

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Recent Alumni Taking the pulse of colleagues in the U.S. and abroad Brian Harvey, MHS ’11, was still working on a degree in cardiovascular perfusion when he began making an impression on his profession on an international level.

Harvey and six cardiovascular perfusion professionals created a 107-question survey on pediatric cardiopulmonary bypass to determine how the equipment and techniques in the U.S. vary with those abroad. The survey was sent to 278 programs in 32 countries.

“The intention is to give each individual center a benchmark on where they stand compared to everywhere else,” said Harvey, who now works as a cardiovascular perfusionist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. “It helps people understand what are best practices.”

The project included creating the survey, translating it into several languages, and collecting and evaluating the data. He and his colleagues plan to create a database of this information that could be updated.

Because Harvey had done so much work on the project, the group had him deliver preliminary findings at the American Society of ExtraCorporeal Technology’s international conference in New Orleans in April. Harvey is working on a manuscript, “International Pediatric Perfusion Practice: 2011 survey,” which will be published in the “Journal of ExtraCorporeal Technology.” What the findings are certain to show is how much perfusion is constantly changing and adapting to new technologies, Harvey said.

Stephanie Wong ’11 trains at Toshiba Diagnostic imaging faculty selected Stephanie Wong ’11 to receive the Toshiba America Medical Systems Student Sponsorship and attend Toshiba University in Irvine, Calif. The instruction included learning Pianissimo technology, which reduces acoustic noise created by the equipment and enhances patient comfort, as well as other software platforms for MRI. “Toshiba U does an exceptional job of teaching students how to navigate through the software and utilize the equipment to the best advantage,” said Wong, who is an MRI technologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

HealthBeat is published for alumni and friends of the School of Health Sciences by the Quinnipiac University Office of Public Affairs.

To submit information, contact alejandra.navarro@quinnipiac.edu.

Quinnipiac University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, gender, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, or disability status in the administration of its educational and admissions policies, employment policies, scholarship and loan programs, athletic programs, or other University-administered programs.

Photographers: Stan Godlewski, John Hassett, Robert Lisak, Karen Meyers, Frank Poole and Mark Stanczak.

Writers: Alejandra Navarro and Donna Pintek.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Diana Tarello

Caring for the whole person Senior nursing student Diana Tarello knows that holistic nursing means caring for the whole person, not just treating symptoms. It means looking at the mind, the body and the spirit.

“We learn about alternative ways to treat pain. For instance, we can try deep breathing or guided imagery to supplement a patient’s pain medication,” explained Tarello, who is originally from Long Island. She will receive her BS in nursing in May 2012.

Tarello wrote a poem called “Healing Others” as part of a holistic caring and healing assignment last fall. The poem depicts a patient in a rehab facility who is melancholy due to her circumstances. The simple gesture of a manicure lifts her spirits. The poem is being published in the 6th edition of “Holistic Nursing.”

The experience of her first clinical assignment inspired Tarello to write the poem. She realized just how effective compassion can be in the healing process. She was pleasantly surprised to learn that the poem would be published.

She feels there is a big difference between holistic and traditional nursing programs. Quinnipiac’s nursing programs received an endorsement from the American Holistic Nurses’ Certification Corporation. “Our goal is to make sure the person is feeling OK mentally, physically and emotionally. It means really caring for someone as you would want to be cared for,” Tarello said.

Tarello has known for a while that she wanted to be a nurse. In high school, she spent a lot of time visiting her grandfather in the hospital. At that time, she pictured herself doing the things the nurses did.

She is still considering which field of nursing she wants to enter. Last summer, she interned at Cornell Medical Center in New York City, where she enjoyed working in the neonatal intensive care unit.

“The great thing about nursing is there are so many doors and so many opportunities that you don’t have to know exactly what you want to do upon graduation,” Tarello said.

CATCH UP WITH Join the Quinnipiac University community at the following conferences and events: Feb. 25, 2012

Physical Therapy Alumni Academic Conference, “Differential Diagnosis of Dizziness and General Vestibular Dysfunction,” North Haven Campus.

March 7, 2012

The Third Annual Health Professions Career Fair, North Haven Campus.

March 24, 2012

Tau Rho Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International, Honor Society of Nursing, Induction featuring speaker Cheryl Tatano Beck, distinguished professor at UConn’s School of Nursing. Mount Carmel Campus.

March 27, 2012

Conversations with Leaders, A Nursing Leadership Lecture Series, presents A Living Legend: Angela Barron McBride. Mount Carmel Campus.

March 28, 2012

Matthew Sanford, author of “Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence,” to lecture.

Sponsored by NICHE. Mount Carmel Campus.

April 26–29, 2012

American Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference and Alumni Reception, Indianapolis, IN.

May 26–31, 2012

American Academy of Physician Assistants Annual Conference and Alumni Reception, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

June 26–29, 2012

National Athletic Trainers’ Association Annual Meeting and Symposia, and Alumni Reception, St. Louis, MO.

For more event information as it becomes available, visit www.quinnipiac.edu/events.xml.