End of shift
Dean Terri Weaver set to retire
The pursuit of equity
Our response to injustice
The future of nursing research Zenk tapped for nation’s top post
FALL 2020
Faces on the front
ALL ALLIT ITTAKES TAKESIS IS AASINGLE SINGLE
Join the UIC College of Nursing as we blaze a Join the UIC College of Nursing as we blaze a trail toward our most ambitious fundraising trail toward our most ambitious fundraising goal in history, all to support students, increase goal in history, all to support students, increase resources for faculty and improve facilities. resources for faculty and improve facilities. Small and large gifts to any of these funds move us Small and large gifts to any of these funds move us closer to our $33 million goal. closer to our $33 million goal. • COLLEGE OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP FUND • UIC COLLEGE OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP FUND • COLLEGE OF NURSING ANNUAL FUND • UIC COLLEGE OF NURSING REGIONAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND EQUITY & INCLUSION FUND • COLLEGE OF NURSING • UIC COLLEGE OF NURSING ANNUAL FUND • GERTRUDE E. SKELLY EMERGENCY FUND • DEAN’SFACULTY FACULTYCATALYST CATALYSTFUND FUND • DEAN’S
Givetoday todayatat Give go.uic.edu/IgniteUICNursing. go.uic.edu/IgniteUICNursing.
Volume 35
This issue is dedicated to those in the extended UIC Nursing community who have lost their lives to COVID-19.
FALL 2020
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURES
12
26
2 Message from the Dean 3 Notepad College of Nursing news
Researching COVID (page 35)
12 Faces on the front Stories of students, faculty and alumni on the frontlines of the COVID-19 fight. 20 The future of nursing research Shannon Zenk is tapped for the nation’s top nursing research post.
Virtual reality (page 25)
22 End of shift Dean Terri Weaver will bid goodbye after 11 exceptional years.
26 The pursuit of equity The college demonstrates its commitment to inclusion and social justice with a new associate dean. 28 And the awards go to... Meet our Distinguished Alumni Award winner and Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award winners.
19 Student Spotlight Seniors reflect on the abrupt end to in-person learning 25 Focus on Education Virtual is now reality 30 IGNITE Impact Achieving goals through philanthropy 33 Expert Viewpoint Charles Yingling on embracing telehealth 34 Research Round-up Highlights from UIC nurse scientists 7 Around the State 3 Updates from Peoria, Quad Cities, Rockford, Springfield and Urbana 40 Looking Back Celebrating 50 years of our home in Chicago
DEAN Terri E. Weaver, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF CHIEF EDITOR Liz Miller MANAGING EDITOR & WRITER Deborah Ziff Soriano
On the cover: Student Jennifer Neely packages a collected COVID test on Aug. 6 at Hotel 166 in Chicago. (see p. 12)
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Liz Miller, Lori Botterman, Jeffron Boynés, Jacqueline Carey
Photo by Joshua Clark/ University of Illinois Chicago
PHOTOGRAPHERS Mark Mershon, Joshua Clark
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Joanne Chappell
UIC COLLEGE OF NURSING OFFICE OF ADVANCEMENT Steven A. George, Assistant Dean Liz Miller, Director, Marketing and Public Affairs Sara Almassian, Associate Director, Alumni Engagement and Participation Caitlyn Cannatello, Advancement Coordinator Joanne Chappell, Graphic Designer Mark Mershon, Multimedia Associate Jennifer Samples, Digital Content Strategist Deborah Ziff Soriano, Editorial Writer
Vital Signs is published for the alumni, faculty, students and friends of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing. © 2020 Your comments are welcomed: University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing (MC 802) 845 S. Damen Ave. Chicago, IL 60612 Phone: 312.996.5497 Email: lhmiller@uic.edu Web: nursing.uic.edu Facebook: UIC.CON Twitter: @uicnursing Instagram: uicnursing LinkedIn: UIC College of Nursing
DEAN’S MESSAGE
This will be my last message to you in Vital Signs, as I am retiring in August of next year. It is with mixed emotions that I prepare to end my shift as dean. While it has been my great honor and privilege to lead the UIC College of Nursing, I am ready for the next phase of my life, which I hope to fill with travel, golf, and time with my family and friends. In the past 10 years, I’ve never been prouder of the UIC Nursing community than I am right now. Facing an unprecedented international health crisis, the UIC Nursing faculty, staff, students and alumni have shown their resilience, ingenuity, selflessness and commitment to the nursing profession. In early March, associate dean for practice and community partnerships Charles Yingling saw what was coming and put out a call to faculty colleagues, asking them to work at UI Health during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 100 responded ‘yes.’ Clinical associate professor Susan Walsh stepped up to organize a University Health Service COVID-19 remote screening line while clinical assistant professor Rebecca Singer developed the employee COVID-19 testing program. Our faculty and staff have also pivoted to provide students with the experiences they need, even when they can't be in-person, and have worked to respond to issues of health equality in our communities. When I took on the role of dean a decade ago, I knew if I did my job right, it wasn’t necessarily going to be glamorous, but it would be fulfilling. My goal was to advance the tripartite mission of the college—teaching, research and practice—and I’m proud to say that I believe we’ve done that. We increased enrollment by almost 25% across all programs and revamped the advanced practice nursing curriculum, transitioning it to the doctoral level. We created new philanthropically funded faculty positions, recruited top scientists and prioritized shared governance. We opened a nurse-run clinic in Humboldt Park to better reach underserved communities. We’ve made sure our campuses’ physical environments were on par with the best in the U.S. and would help students excel. This includes last year's grand opening of the M. Christine Schwartz Experiential Learning & Simulation Lab in Chicago, among the largest such labs of any U.S. nursing school. A national search for a new dean is already underway, and I feel confident that my successor will continue to advance our mission and burnish our reputation as a world-class institution. One of my highlights as dean is presiding over commencement each year, when I have the satisfaction of knowing we’ve prepared hundreds of new graduates to take on the healthcare challenges of our time. Make no mistake, even in retirement, I’ll still be watching eagerly to see what the graduates of this fine college do next.
Terri E. Weaver, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF Professor and Dean
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NOTEPAD
A critical lifeline Recognizing that COVID-19 patients likely wouldn’t think to bring their cell phone chargers to the ER with them, UIC Nursing clinical instructor Megan Cairns Tress, MS ’18, FNP, started a fundraising campaign to buy and deliver chargers to area hospitals. “[The patients] can’t have any visitors," Tress says. "If they can’t use their phones, they’ve lost that vital contact point.” She quickly raised enough to buy 700 chargers in three days—more than enough for every bed at UI Hospital and West Suburban Medical Center—and her efforts garnered media attention as she took her initiative national, delivering chargers to hospitals across 10 states.
U.S. NEWS RANKINGS: UIC NURSING CLIMBS AGAIN
th
DNP PROGRAM
#6 nationally and #1 in the Midwest
rd
RN TO BSN
#3 overall and #2 for student engagement
th
MS PROGRAM
Highest ranked nursing master's program in Illinois
VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 3
NOTEPAD
Remembering Dean Duxbury Duxbury is flanked by Dean Emerita Mi Ja Kim, left, and former faculty member Karyn Holm, now Vincent de Paul Professor Emerita Nursing at DePaul University. “[Mitzi] was able to stand toe-to-toe with anybody,” says Holm. “That’s what she taught me to do.”
Mitzi Duxbury, PhD, RN, FAAN, who led the UIC College of Nursing as its fifth dean from 1983 to 1988, died in February 2020. She was 87. Duxbury left her mark on the college in ways that are felt today: She guided UIC Nursing into the burgeoning realm of nurse-led research, cemented an academic-practice collaboration with the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, and created a fertile environment for new nurse researchers to grow. “We just lost a giant star in nursing,” said Mi Ja Kim, PhD, RN, FRCN, FAAN, who served in various administrative roles under Duxbury and succeeded her as dean. Duxbury, an obstetrics nurse who held advanced degrees in educational policy and administration, understood the workings of a university, and in particular, of a health science center. At the time, nursing was not fully embraced as a science-driven discipline, but Duxbury played a vocal role in changing that. “Nurses have the unique opportunity—indeed, the responsibility—to advance the science of nursing,” she wrote in the January/February 1978 issue of The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing. “No one has the continuous access to the client that nurses have. No one has the opportunity for observation and data collection we have.”
Fall 2020 brought with it the renovated Arthington Mall and UIC College of Nursing plaza, paved with stones that donors gave to honor alumni, friends, faculty, mentors and family.
R E A D M O R E about Duxbury’s life and recollections from friends and colleagues at go.uic.edu/RememberingDeanDuxbury.
APPLAUSE! Dean Terri Weaver was named to Crain’s Chicago Business’ 2019 list of Notable Women in Health Care. UIC Nursing-Urbana Campus director Krista Jones, DNP ’11, MS ’07, RN, PHNA-BC, was selected to participate in the 2020-2021 cohort of AACN’s Elevating Leaders in Academic Nursing Program.
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UIC Nursing preceptor Norma Rolfsen, MS ’03, FNP-BC, was awarded the 2020 Preceptor Gold Star Award, conferred by the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties. Associate professor Susan Dunn, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, was selected as the new head of the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science.
NOTEPAD
UIC NURSING CLINIC EXPANDS CARE A $1.5 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration will expand care at the UIC College of Nursing-managed Mile Square Health Center in Chicago’s underserved Humboldt Park neighborhood.
TRAININGS
SCREENING
Interdisciplinary trainings will be offered on trauma-informed care, domestic violence and implicit bias, among other topics.
Providers will screen universally for substance use and, for those who screen positive, offer therapy and medication-assisted treatment.
T E L E H E A LT H
I N - P E R S O N CA R E
Men at Safer Foundation’s Crossroads and North Lawndale Adult Transition Centers who are transitioning back to the community from the Illinois Department of Corrections will be able to access providers at Mile Square Health Center-Humboldt Park via telehealth.
A nurse will be on site twice a week at the Crossroads Adult Transition Center to conduct health assessments and offer a public health clinical experience for students.
Legendary alumna Kathleen (Kitty) Buckwalter, PhD ’80, RN, FAAN, was named a Living Legend this year by the American Academy of Nursing. It’s the academy’s highest honor. Buckwalter is recognized for her health policy work and spearheading the development of the geropsychiatric nursing subspecialty. She completed her doctoral work while also raising a young family, and she says her classmates, advisors and faculty were thoroughly supportive.
“Unquestionably, my doctoral education at the UIC College of Nursing provided the foundation for any future academic success, for which I am most grateful.” - KITTY BUCKWALTER “Then-dean Helen Grace [PhD, MS ’65, FAAN] not only taught me in an independent study class, but during my dissertation defense, went beyond her role as a committee member and changed the diaper on my 4-month-old daughter,” she recalls.
#UICPROUD Eva Smith, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate professor emerita, was honored at the 32nd annual National Black Nurses Day celebration in February. Clinical professor emerita Martha Dewey Bergren, DNS, RN, NCSN, PHNA-BC, FNASN, FASHA, FAAN, has been named the executive editor of the Journal of School Nursing.
Ardith Z. Doorenbos, PhD, RN, FAAN, was formally invested as Nursing Collegiate Professor during a ceremony on Nov. 7, 2019. Gwyneth Milbrath, PhD, RN, MPH, was named director of the Midwest Nursing History Research Center, housed at UIC Nursing.
VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 5
NOTEPAD
A clinic goes to school The UIC College of Nursing has opened an on-site health clinic at Altus Academy, a nonprofit, private elementary school in an underserved neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side. The clinic, which serves students and their families, offers health maintenance visits with a bilingual, family nurse practitioner student supervised, via Zoom, by Susan Walsh, DNP ’14, MS ’00, BSN ’80, CPNP-PC, director of the pediatric nurse practitioner programs. If the Altus student requires immunizations or other services, the family is connected to the college’s Mile Square Health Center in Humboldt Park. “As Altus is already part of families’ busy days, providing a variety of healthcare services on site is helpful,” says Walsh.
Students who serve Three UIC College of Nursing Doctor of Nursing Practice students were selected for the distinguished Schweitzer Fellowship, a year-long service-learning program intended to address the unmet health needs of Chicago communities.
Nicole Camardo, MS ’16, RN, nurse-midwifery student, will implement sexual and reproductive education classes for adolescents and young adults in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood.
Kelly Moore, RN, adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner student, will connect with isolated seniors through Little Brothers— Friends of the Elderly to explore health and end-of-life concerns.
Marjorie Remy, RN, family nurse practitioner student, will initiate health information sessions that will include mental, sexual and physical health to adolescent African American girls at Women of Virtue, Chicago.
Veronica Galvalisi, MS ’15
Bernard Vonderhaar, DNP ’18, visiting clinical nurse practice educator/visiting clinical instructor
APPLAUSE! 13 alumni, faculty members and students are among the Illinois Nurses Foundation’s 2020 list of “40 Under 40 Emerging Nurse Leaders.” They are:
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College of Nursing
Christy Gomez, MS ’13 Thao Griffith, PhD ’17, BSN ’12 Thomas Houchins, DNP ’20
Hiba Abbas, current DNP student
Sara McPherson, clinical assistant professor at our Springfield Campus
Anna Baboulas, DNP ’20, BSN ’15
Emma Oanes, DNP ’20
Minseung Chu, DNP ’19, assistant professor
Isis Reyes, BSN ’09 Susan Tracy, current DNP student, visiting clinical instructor
Rebecca Vortman, DNP ’17, clinical assistant professor In addition, Maura Conlin and Lindsey Menard, both nurses practicing at UI Health, are on the list of honorees.
NOTEPAD
Strong start for Alumni Mentor Program For Nicole Jacksetich, BSN ’15, RN, the UIC College of Nursing Alumni Mentor Program (AMP) could not have come at a better time. She had been working for four years as a bedside nurse and was starting to feel burned out. But her match with Susan Okuno-Jones, DNP ’10, MS ’06, FACHE, NEA-BC, RNC, RN-BC, vice president and chief nursing officer at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, gave her a much-needed boost.
Susan lent an empathic ear, provided insightful perspective, and challenged me as I considered the next steps in my nursing career. NICOLE JACKSETICH, BSN ’15
“Susan lent an empathic ear, provided insightful perspective, and challenged me as I considered the next steps in my nursing career,” Jacksetich says. “In my opinion, no one inspires nurses as much as other nurses.” Jacksetich and Okuno-Jones were among the first class of matches in AMP, which launched in fall 2019 to connect veteran alumni with early- and mid-career professionals. “UIC Nursing is committed to creating the next generation of nurse leaders, and that commitment doesn’t end on graduation day,” says Terri Weaver, dean of the UIC College of Nursing. “Our goal is to continue to help our graduates grow their practice knowledge, navigate career paths, build their networks and gain self-confidence, even after they leave our formal academic program.” Mentored employees have been found to have improved career outcomes, with higher compensation, more promotions, and stronger feelings of satisfaction and commitment. Research shows there’s value in it for the mentors, too, who are more satisfied with their jobs and committed to their organizations, according to a 2013 study published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior. V I S I T go.uic.edu/nursingAMP if you’d like to join the program as either a mentor or mentee.
#UICPROUD Eileen Collins, PhD, RN, FAACVPR, FAAN, ATSF, associate dean for research, was the 2020 recipient of the Elizabeth A. Rich Award from the American Thoracic Society.
Clinical assistant professor Robin Shannon, DNP ’17, MS ’09, RN, NCSN, PHNA-BC, was inducted as a fellow in the National Academy of School Nurses.
Adjunct faculty member Eileen Moss, MS ’11, RN, PEL-CSN, NCSN, received the 2020 National Certified School Nurse of the Year award from the National Board for Certification of School Nurses.
Donna Calvin, PhD ’09, and clinical instructor Megan Cairns Tress, MS ’18, were named to Crain's 2020 list of Notable Health Care Heroes.
VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 7
NOTEPAD
CELEBRATING THE FIRST ZERWIC AWARD RECIPIENT
PhD Proud Two PhD students—both of whom study aspects of health and healthcare in Rwanda—were selected for highly competitive research opportunities. Glorieuse Uwizeye, PhD ’20, was awarded a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship with the Dartmouth Society of Fellows, an interdisciplinary community of faculty and postdocs who participate in research, teaching and mentorship.
Charese A. Jackson, assistant director of the UIC Nursing Urban Health Program, was the inaugural winner of the Julie and Mark Zerwic Diversity Award. The annual, endowed award was established by the Zerwics in 2019 to recognize a faculty member, staff member or student who has made a significant contribution to support diversity and foster equity and inclusion within a department, the college, the university and/or the community. “Living in a world where there is a growing need for diversity, equity and inclusion to be more than just buzzwords, I am grateful to receive an award that seeks to recognize individuals who demonstrate their commitment to these words by exemplifying action,” Jackson says. Jackson oversees and enhances the recruitment, admission, retention and graduation processes of underrepresented minority students. She also helped students establish the Urban Health Program College of Nursing Student Association, which helps students of all backgrounds to understand health and healthcare disparities experienced by minority populations.
Uwizeye was one of only six fellows selected from an application pool of 747. Uwizeye, a survivor of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda, became interested in researching the experiences of survivors and their children while working there as a mental health nurse. Her dissertation, which she successfully defended in February 2020, was “Health Outcomes of Exposure to Extreme Stress Among Rwandan Adults Born of Genocidal Rape.” She’ll expand upon that research during her fellowship. Associate professor Julienne Rutherford, PhD, Uwizeye’s doctoral advisor, says her selection reflects “the great promise of her important work and the caliber of the education she has received here in the college.”
Nanyombi Lubimbi, PhD student, has been selected for a 2020-21 Fulbright U.S. Student Award to Rwanda. She’ll study the Human Resources for Health Program, a cooperative, global effort on the part of health colleges—including UIC Nursing—to improve the health workforce of the country. Lubimbi will be studying the factors that affect collaborative partnerships and sustain global health nursing leadership. “After so much investment in the program, leading to gains in nursing education, leadership and practice, it’s important to understand how to sustain those gains and to continue improving future health outcomes,” she says. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program of the U.S. Lubimbi will represent the country as a cultural ambassador while she is overseas, helping to enhance mutual understanding between Americans and the people in Rwanda. Lubimbi's advisor is Linda McCreary, PhD '00, MS '93, BSN '73, RN, FAAN.
Glorieuse Uwizeye (left) and Nanyombi Lubimbi 8 |
College of Nursing
NOTEPAD
Pomp and COVID-19 circumstance Like thousands of UIC's 2020 graduates, Annette Lopez, BSN ’20, watched virtual graduation from her home on May 18. The recorded ceremony was in place of the usual in-person pomp and circumstance, delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lopez was one of 303 nursing students who graduated in the spring with a bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral degree or certificate. “We were all sad, but I think our class of students really understands that this is important. We have to break the spread of the disease or else the numbers of cases will keep going up,” Lopez said. R E A D M O R E about how 2020 graduates felt about the abrupt end to their college career on page 19.
Students earning BSN degrees from the Springfield and Urbana campuses celebrated the annual pinning ceremony, to mark their passage from student to nurse, in two live virtual ceremonies. Here, Urbana grad Mary Kate Mulcahey (left) celebrates with a guest.
B S N G R A D UAT E S
Springfield: 33 | Urbana: 66 | Chicago: 86
You’re getting a degree from an esteemed university and, at this moment, the world appreciates nurses more than ever. We are in demand more than ever. The world sees nurses as heroes, as they should.” COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER LESLIE MANCUSO, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF JHPIEGO, AN INTERNATIONAL NURSE-RUN NGO VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 9
NOTEPAD
NEW FELLOWS American Academy of Nursing Associate professor Pamela Martyn-Nemeth, PhD, RN, FAHA, conducts research on reducing cardiovascular disease risk and improving self-management behavior and quality of life in persons with Type 1 diabetes. She is examining the role of sleep and other stressors—such as fear of hypoglycemia—on self-management behavior and glycemic control. Associate professor Kamal Eldeirawi, PhD, RN, an epidemiologist, focuses his research on chronic conditions, especially asthma in vulnerable and underserved populations. He conducted pioneering studies on the effects of immigration and acculturation on the risk of asthma and atopic conditions in children of Mexican origin. He is currently replicating some of this work with other immigrant populations.
American Association of Nurse Practitioners Carolyn Dickens, PhD ’17, APRN, ACNP-BC, adjunct clinical assistant professor, and Lauren Diegel-Vacek (pictured), DNP ’10, MS ’02, FNP-BC, CNE, clinical assistant professor and director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program, were inducted into the Fellows of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners in June. They were among 71 nurse practitioner leaders chosen for the selective honor in 2020 and the only two from Illinois.
American College of Chest Physicians Susan Corbridge, PhD ’09, APRN, FAAN, FAANP, executive associate dean, was selected as a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians. Corbridge is a board-certified acute care nurse practitioner with more than 20 years of experience, specializing in COPD, asthma and smoking cessation.
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College of Nursing
Giving thanks The UIC College of Nursing and Dean Terri Weaver celebrated National Nurses Week in May 2020 by sending 2,500 healthy, individually wrapped meals to nurses at University of Illinois Hospital, an initiative made possible through a generous gift from husband and wife donors, Frank Naeymi-Rad, PhD, (pictured) and Theresa Kepic, MD, as well as Leap of Faith Technologies Inc. “Never have nurses deserved our gratitude more than this year,” says Weaver. “They are risking their own health and safety, and that of their families, as they put patient care first during this [COVID-19] health crisis. We deeply appreciate that donors the stature of Frank and Theresa are stepping up to help us to thank our nurse colleagues.” Naeymi-Rad is the founder and chairman of Intelligent Medical Objects Inc., and Kepic is a retired obstetrics and gynecology physician. They own health informatics company Leap of Faith Technologies. “COVID-19 is a wake-up call for humanity and has highlighted the important role our nurses play in our lives,” Naeymi-Rad says. ”While this pandemic is affecting everyone in the world, it is important that we focus on our community and support our frontline soldiers—our nurses— in this war.” Nurses working at UI Hospital say gifts like this one fortify them to carry on and let them know their work is valued. “It absolutely is wonderful when you are physically and emotionally tired to not have to think of food; to know someone thought of you,” says clinical associate professor Julie Schwind, DNP ’17, MS ’06, BSN ’00, RN, who worked 12-hour hospital shifts during the pandemic.
More than a dozen cartons of boxed meals were delivered to the hospital once or twice each day throughout the week.
NOTEPAD
3 questions with “the NP” In his social media series, “Ask the NP,” James Q. Simmons, DNP, MS ’14, RN, answers publicly fielded questions about health topics such as risk of strokes with COVID-19 or the symptoms of Lyme disease. With a background in broadcast journalism, the proudly Black, queer and doctorally prepared nurse has a knack for lively, humor-filled—but still evidence-based—content, and his audience has grown to more than 60,000 across social media platforms.
Vital Signs: Why did you decide to start the series? JQS: I feel very strongly about the need for more nurses,
particularly nurses of color and queer nurses, having our voices in the media. I see no reason why a nurse can’t be chief medical correspondent for CNN when Sanjay Gupta decides he wants a different job, and I would love to be that nurse.
VS: Your "Ask the NP" tagline is, “Everything you’re too scared to ask your MD.” Why? JQS: It’s not because I don’t like MDs. We need
physicians, but “white coat syndrome” is a real thing. Mistrust of the medical institution, particularly doctors, by people of color, people who are LGBTQ+, and other marginalized individuals is very real, and it’s rooted in some understandable reasons. Instead, what people end up doing is Googling their symptoms, or asking a friend of a friend. I felt it sort of my responsibility to merge my media background with my healthcare knowledge to translate the most evidence-based, most practical, most important health information for people using social media.
VS: As a student, you got a scholarship from the Boothroyd Scholars Program. How did that help you on your path? JQS: Getting a scholarship means everything,
particularly as a career changer. To be at such a well-regarded institution with a social justice focus, and then to be honored as someone to receive these scholarships, it felt amazing. It felt like I was on the right path.
R E A D M O R E about the life and work of James Q. Simmons at go.uic.edu/MeettheNP.
VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 11
PHOTO BY JOSHUA CLARK
Faces
Norah Kilpatrick, right, readies a test for fellow student Jennifer Neely to give to a resident at Hotel 166, which the City of Chicago is using to shelter high-risk individuals during the pandemic.
12 |
College of Nursing
on the Front As the country shut down in an effort to ward off the
spread of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, UIC College
of Nursing faculty, students and alumni were doing just the opposite.
Businesses shuttered their doors. Schools went virtual.
People left their homes only for the essentials, hunkering down like a never-ending storm was approaching.
But not UIC nurses. Far from only doing the essential, many went running to the frontlines. They knew that
hospital ICUs would soon be inundated; that testing sites would need staffing; that triage lines would need to be
answered by experts. They also knew this wasn’t a benign call-to-duty. This was a merciless and invisible enemy,
a virus that was killing thousands of people each week, which could infect them and their families.
But as so many of our community told us, the call to
use the skills they learned at UIC Nursing and through
hard-earned experience was just too strong. They wanted to help.
Norah Kilpatrick, a pre-licensure master’s degree student, says that, at the beginning of the pandemic, “I felt pretty
useless.” She began volunteering, and later working, with an interdisciplinary team to test people across Chicago
in homeless shelters, encampments, senior housing and long-term care facilities.
“I can’t tell you how much this means to me, to be part of
a team that responds to outbreaks and is actually making a difference during a pandemic,” she says.
R E A D M O R E Faces on the Front and extended profiles at nursing.uic.edu/news-stories/faces-on-the-front. VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 13
‘We all feel a responsibility’
In March, the UI Health Pilsen Family Health Center Lower West was a comprehensive family clinic. By April, it had transformed into a temporary COVID-19 assessment site, staffed by an interprofessional team of providers, including UIC Nursing clinical faculty members Carolyn Dickens, PhD ’17, APRN, ACNP-BC, Janey Kottler, DNP, FNP-BC, and Karen Cotler, DNP, FNP-BC, FAANP.
The providers evaluate patients to see if they should be tested for COVID, if they can manage at home or need to be hospitalized, and if they have comorbidities that could put them at higher risk, says Kottler, a clinical instructor who typically practices at the college's Mile Square Health Center. Carolyn Dickens, right, gets fitted with protective gear before the Pilsen clinic opens to assess COVID patients.
Dickens, UI Health nurse practitioner in cardiology and adjunct clinical assistant professor at UIC Nursing, says she is proud of how her fellow advanced practice nurses (APRNs) stepped up to volunteer at the new clinic. “We recognize that this virus is highly contagious,” she says. “We’re all going to extra lengths to protect our families at home. But we all feel a responsibility as APRNs to provide the needed care for our patient population.”
It’s pretty crazy. These are complete white-outs. You don’t typically see that happen so fast. ICU nurse Tom McClure, BSN ’18, talking about how a COVID-19 patient’s lungs look on an X-ray 14 |
College of Nursing
“This is a moment where the importance and effectiveness of palliative care is really being highlighted, and the same thing with hospice. We’re learning that, the more we talk to each other about our wishes for end-of-life, the better off we are.” Clinical associate professor Geraldine Gorman, PhD, RN, who practices as a home health hospice nurse on the weekends, pictured in the early days of the pandemic
‘Never more proud to be a nurse’
After working 13 hours at the University of Illinois Hospital, UIC Nursing clinical assistant professor Julie Schwind, DNP ’17, MS ’06, BSN ’00, RN, clocked out, got to her car, and started sobbing.
She was exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed by the critically ill patients Julie Schwind who filled the floors of the hospital. The ICUs brimmed with COVID-19 patients and the stepdown units held patients who survived the disease but were then fighting liver and kidney failure. Some were unable to absorb tube feedings; some had bloody stools infiltrating their bedsores; some had been bedridden so long their muscles were wasting away. “My coworkers are dying, and we all fear that we could be next,” she wrote in a Facebook post, referring to two UI Health nurses and a surgical technician who died of COVID-19. “My patients are dying, and their families cannot be there. My fellow nurses are struggling, because there has never been anything like this in our careers, and it is hard to fathom keeping up this level of work indefinitely.” With a full-time faculty position, Schwind no longer typically practices as a floor nurse, but she offered to take on shifts at University of Illinois Hospital to help combat the pandemic. After an accelerated orientation—led in part by one of her former students—she was assigned to the neuro stepdown unit, where she was working 12-hour shifts each week in addition to her teaching duties.
“My fellow nurses are struggling, because there has never been anything like this in our careers, and it is hard to fathom keeping up this level of work indefinitely.” But she ended her post, which she wrote during National Nurses Week, on a note of optimism. “Nurses, you are amazing,” she wrote. “I have NEVER been more proud to be a nurse.”
VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 15
PHOTO BY JOSHUA CLARK
‘Organized chaos’
(L-R) UIC Nursing's Rebecca Singer, Thomas Huggett, a physician with Lawndale Christian Health Center, and Stockton Mayer, UI Health Infectious Disease specialist, consult at Hotel 166, a testing site in Chicago.
A typical day for the COVID Rapid Response Team is “organized chaos,” says UIC Nursing clinical assistant professor Rebecca Singer, DNP ’18, RN.
Because the people being tested are particularly at-risk, the project aligns well with the college’s mission of social justice and care for vulnerable populations.
Four to five days each week, a team composed of health sciences faculty and students from UIC and Rush University arrives at a site somewhere in Chicago to conduct COVID-19 testing under a contract with the Chicago Department of Public Health. The sites include homeless shelters, encampments, senior housing and long-term care facilities.
Singer, who has worked with Doctors Without Borders for more than a decade, says she was “eager to do something to help the humanitarian crisis in my own country.” Earlier in the pandemic, she managed a pop-up COVID-19 testing site for employees of the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System. She says working with future health leaders is one of the highlights of the project.
“We come with our personal protective equipment—gloves, gowns, masks, face shields—all our testing equipment, plus all the cleaning supplies we need to clean before and after testing,” says Singer, who co-leads the project with UIC College of Medicine assistant professor Stockton Mayer.
“It’s thrilling to see these students—young future doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists—stepping up and saying, ‘I want to help solve this problem and be part of this solution,’” Singer says. Singer was featured in a University of Illinois and Illinois Public Media-produced podcast, Rising to the Challenge, and a UIC Creative & Digital Services video on lens.uic.edu. Both contributed to this report.
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Susan Corbridge seeing a patient via telehealth from her home.
‘A true learning curve’
As a pulmonary specialist at UI Health, Susan Corbridge has patients who are some of the most vulnerable for having poor outcomes if they contract COVID-19. “It’s been super important to keep our patients with lung disease out of the hospital,” says Corbridge, PhD ’09, APRN, FAANP, FAAN, who is executive associate dean at the UIC College of Nursing and maintains her clinical practice in addition to her role at the college. Corbridge says many of her patients are “extremely scared” to leave their houses, so telehealth has been a vital way to continue to care for them. Still, it’s been an adjustment for both providers and patients, as they navigate a new way of delivering healthcare. “This has been a true learning curve for all of us,” she said. Given the almost-overnight transition to telehealth in her practice, Corbridge says she and her team began to wonder what affect the change might have on access to care. Telehealth requires having access to technology—a video-capable device and relatively high-speed Internet access—and the know-how to use it. She is working with Mary Pasquinelli, DNP ’18, MS ’14, a nurse practitioner who specializes in lung cancer, to conduct a study of 200 patients in their practice to look at whether telehealth is creating disparities—whether due to race, age, income or other factors—and how to break down those barriers. “I think it’s going to be really eye-opening, and something we’ll be able to share with the entire UI Health system,” Corbridge says.
To me, one of the hardest things to deal with in this pandemic is that we might be the only people that a patient is going to see before they expire. We just go in there and make them as comfortable as possible and try to bring comfort and closure to families. Jenine Johnson, a master's degree student who works as a patient care tech at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center
VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 17
Beth Todd
‘Did I miss something?’ It had been four hours since the patient arrived in the ambulance bay, and Beth Todd, RN, PEL-CSN, hadn’t left her side.
and immediately returned to the ER to tend to two, less urgent patients.
Todd was crammed in a small, hot room with seven people, all wearing protective gowns, gloves and masks. The 50-year-old patient, a woman, was struggling to breathe, her skin was marbled and red. The team tried to intubate her, but her throat was so dry it took two tries.
There, she learned the patient’s husband—who wasn’t allowed inside the hospital due to COVID restrictions—had been calling for updates. About an hour later, she heard a call for a “Code Blue” to the patient’s room. Her husband never made it to the hospital to say goodbye. COVID was determined as the cause of death.
It was March 2020, just as the COVID-19 epidemic was hitting the U.S. in full force. Todd, a DNP student at the UIC Nursing campus in Rockford, was working as a third-shift ER nurse. She was living in a pop-up camper in her driveway so she wouldn’t infect her family as she returned from work each day.
“My teammates and I were devastated,” Todd says. “I was emotionally, physically and mentally drained. I was overwhelmed, upset, sad and could not process what had just happened. And yet, I needed to continue the last two hours of my shift.”
In that small room, Todd and another nurse worked feverishly to stabilize the patient, pouring in fluids, maintaining sedation, starting antibiotics, ordering labs, pushing pain medications and ordering restraints to keep her arms away from the tubes. The patient had eight IV lines.
Todd says similar stories happened later, but this one stays with her.
When Todd handed off the patient to the ICU team after five hours without a break, she disrobed from her COVID gear
“She was one of those patients where you ask, ‘Could I have done something better or different to change the outcome? Did I miss something? Could she still be alive today?’” Todd shared her story as part of a class project and it was adapted for this report.
They can’t see my face. They can only see my eyes. I can’t touch them. I have to try to reassure them verbally, making my eyes as kind as possible. Elisabeth Schreiber, MS ’11, assistant director of advanced practice providers for UI Health’s Clinical Decision Unit, talking about providing compassionate care to patients while wearing PPE
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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
#IN THESE SCRUBS
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tiffany Maduakolam knew in March she would likely never again put on her student scrubs. All clinicals and classes were going virtual for the remainder of the semester. She wanted to find a way to mark the abrupt end to her in-person college experience, so she posted a photo of herself on Facebook with a few reflections: “In these scrubs, I’ve watched life begin and end,” she wrote. “I’ve been called a blessing, a mother, a best friend, a companion, a godsend and a hero.” Other seniors responded with their own stories and gave us permission to share excerpts from them. R E A D M O R E Complete reflections from these students and others, as well as a video adaptation, can be found at nursing.uic.edu/ in-these-scrubs.
In these scrubs, I learned. I learned so much. Not only did I learn the skills of nursing practice, I learned how to be a better nurse. I learned how to comfort patients when they are scared. I learned how to listen to patients in a time of need. I learned how to support my fellow healthcare team. LAUREN YATES, BSN ‘20
In these scrubs, I met people I will never forget. I have met patients who have made an impact on my nursing care. I have met students who have given me words of inspiration when I needed it the most. I have met faculty who have the best intentions for their students. I have survived in these scrubs. These scrubs have made a significant impact on the rest of my life.
The first time I wore these scrubs, I was terrified and afraid of what was to come. I arrived to my clinical one hour early and stood outside for at least 10 minutes wondering if I was good enough, ready enough or smart enough. When it got too cold outside, I stormed in while reciting my positive self-talk: “You got this, Tiff. You can do this.”
VINCENT GEBALA, BSN ‘20
TIFFANY MADUAKOLAM, BSN ’20
In these scrubs, I have been able to help birth babies into the world. I have been able to walk alongside those on the road to recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. I have been able to help support and cope with someone who just got diagnosed with HIV. I have cared for patients who have been shot and burned. I have learned that human beings are resilient. We are fighters. CAROLINE PACH, BSN ‘20
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THE FUTURE OF NURSING RESEARCH Shannon Zenk, an alumna of UIC Nursing who spent 14 years on faculty, is the new director of the National Institute of Nursing Research, NIH's arm for nursing science. When Shannon Zenk, PhD, MS ’99, MPH, FAAN, was an early-career nurse, she worked in home healthcare near the Twin Cities, caring for patients after they returned from the hospital. Though only there about a year, the experience left an impression that would later drive her research career. “What really struck me was how people’s living conditions made such a powerful impact on their health, both in terms of the privilege that some people had as well as the deprivation or poverty that other people faced,” she said.
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Zenk began studying neighborhood conditions as they relate to health. Her pioneering work on food deserts drew national attention to the problem of inadequate access to healthy foods in low-income and Black neighborhoods. At only mid-career, she’s been extraordinarily productive, with more than 107 journal papers, almost 7,000 citations, and $50 million (past or current) in extramural grant funding to her name. Now, she’ll have an opportunity to shape the direction of nursing research for the entire nation. As only the third permanent director of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) since it became an institute in 1993,
she’ll oversee its annual budget of $170 million, supporting extramural research institutions (like UIC) and directing an intramural program on the NIH campus to improve the lives of individuals and families living with illness. Zenk says she’s “grown up at UIC,” earning a dual master’s degree in public health nursing and community health sciences and spending 14 years on faculty. During her tenure at UIC Nursing, she was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame and invested as Nursing Collegiate Professor, a philanthropically funded position.
Zenk says she sees her position at NINR as an opportunity to improve the health of patients and populations, strengthen the nation’s healthcare system and achieve health equity. That’s especially true as the nation grapples with a once-in-a-century pandemic and complex, systemic health inequities caused by a wide socioeconomic divide. “Nursing puts the patient, family and community at the center of practice and of research,” says Zenk, who was also a fellow at UIC’s Institute for Health Research and Policy. “As our country faces critical challenges impacting our health, including the coronavirus pandemic, structural racism, and so many others, nursing research is more important than ever.” VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 21
end of shift Terri E. Weaver, the UIC College of Nursing’s eighth dean, announces her retirement after a decade at the helm.
When Terri Weaver, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF, came to the UIC College of Nursing 10 years ago to become the dean, she had never lived in the Midwest. She was a sleep researcher who had spent 30 years on the nursing faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. She’ll leave in August 2021 having made a remarkable impact in Chicago and beyond. Under Weaver’s leadership, the college expanded from five campuses to six with the addition of Springfield. She left no campus untouched, making major physical enhancements to each one. She developed a partnership with alumna and philanthropist M. Christine Schwartz, BSN ’70, to overhaul the Chicago campus’s aging building and create a cutting-edge simulation lab. She’s forged new global health partnerships, strengthened shared governance with students and faculty, and mentored future academic leaders. Most importantly, she dedicated herself to advancing the college’s tripartite mission of excellence in teaching, transformative research and community-based practice. Weaver says the most rewarding part of being dean is seeing the accomplishments of faculty and alumni, and welcoming new graduates to the alumni ranks at commencement. “It’s just wonderful to see those nearly 400 graduates every year,” she says. “It’s the faculty and staff that do the bulk of the work, but I’d like to think I have some part to play in every class we graduate.”
review session with dean weaver Her own reflections on her career
My dad was an engineer and my mom was a nurse, although she kept trying to talk me into being a teacher. There were not a lot of choices for women at the time. But I always loved science and the caring part of nursing. My entire life, I wanted to be a nurse. Being dean doesn’t get good PR, and it should, because it’s great fun.
I went into research and academia kicking and fighting. I said many times that I would not ever get a doctorate. But as I practiced with the pulmonary team, there was a question that arose that I couldn’t answer. I saw some individuals who were really disabled by their COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and some who were not as much. I didn’t understand why some people were more functional with the same level of disease than others. It became my dissertation. continued on page 24
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10 years of progress ... and counting 2012 2013
UIC Nursing becomes one of 13 U.S. partners in Rwanda Human Resources for Health Program, designed to create a high-quality, sustainable healthcare system in Rwanda.
#2
College is ranked among U.S. nursing schools for NIH research funding
2015
2014
Quad Cities student numbers balloon by 50% with 74 advanced practice nursing students College hosts first annual White Coat Ceremony for prelicensure students Ribbon-cutting on 10,000-sq.-ft. of newly remodeled classroom, student, faculty space and 3,000-sq.-ft. sim lab in Urbana
Infamous and inoperable Chicago campus escalator is removed in a 2,500-sq.-ft. renovation, creating the M. Christine Schwartz Lobby, Seminar Rooms and first Experiential Learning Laboratory
Springfield campus is founded in collaboration with the University of Illinois Springfield and with a significant lead gift from Memorial Health System
2016
Establishes Nursing Collegiate Professor to reward exceptional faculty College celebrates 65th anniversary, including formal gala at Navy Pier
Grand opening of Mile Square Health Center-Humboldt Park clinic operated by UIC Nursing
2018
2019
Weaver named to the first class of fellows of the American Thoracic Society
Grand opening of 15,000sq.-ft., state-of-the-art Schwartz Lab, featuring the Nita & Phil Francis Family Birthing Suite
College is redesignated for eighth time as WHO Collaborating Centre in Nursing and Midwifery
Weaver named to Crain’s Chicago Business 2019 Notable Women in Healthcare
2017
College launches Rural Nursing (RNURSING) DNP concentration at Rockford Campus; expands to all campuses in 2018
$5 million Secures $5 million gift from M. Christine Schwartz to expand experiential learning facilities in Chicago; gift jump-starts IGNITE, college's most ambitious fundraising campaign ever Named to a two-year term on the board of directors of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing; renewed in 2019 Inducted into Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame
Secures the Dr. Mi Ja Kim Endowed Faculty Research Award New lab, classrooms and offices unveiled at Springfield, including equipment donated by Memorial Health System and Memorial Medical Center Foundation
All UIC Nursing programs receive 10-year reaccreditation in clean sweep
2020
No. 6
College’s DNP program ranked in the nation by U.S. News & World Report
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continued from page 22
I entered my doctoral program with no children and came out with two, four years later. I always tell students worried about graduate school with young kids that it’s the best time, because they still take naps and you can get things done. The invention of the continuous positive airway pressure [CPAP] machine for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea has mirrored my own career. When I was in pulmonary practice, OSA was still a relatively new syndrome. The way we treated it was to do the tracheostomy, and I would teach patients how to care for it after the procedure. I was there from the beginning. I developed a tool during my postdoc to evaluate daily functioning related to sleepiness. That tool has now become the gold standard in the field to look at outcomes related to sleep disorders and their treatment. When the dean at Penn Nursing, Afaf Meleis, asked me to be the department chair, I said, “I don’t think I want to do that.” I enjoyed teaching and was a funded investigator. I was a very happy camper. I asked who else she was considering, and she said, “You’re it.” I’m indebted to her because I was in that position for eight years, and it led me to this job. My leadership style is participative. I like having a team. I like consulting the team, but in the end, the buck stops with me. One of the most phenomenal things about our college is that people step up to leadership. Before coming to Chicago, I was an East Coast girl. I only knew one way; I had spent pretty much my whole career at Penn. I thought it was important for me to see another part of the country and another way of doing things. I love it here. I love the Midwest. Nursing is not a stagnant career. It allowed me to have an evolution. I wasn’t always at the bedside; I wasn’t always a specialist. I’ve had an academic career and a career as a researcher. It’s not homogenous. You can do all kinds of great things.
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next chapters Dean Terri Weaver isn’t the only one bidding farewell to the college in 2020.
Carol Estwing Ferrans, PhD ’85, MS ’82, RN, FAAN Professor (now emerita), Harriet Werley Endowed Chair in Nursing Research Ferrans has legendary status due to her influential work in two realms: She co-created the Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index, now translated into 21 languages and published in 400 studies; and her research was instrumental in reducing the breast cancer rate among African American women in Chicago. She spent her whole career at UIC.
Marlene Sefton, PhD ’99, FNP-BC Clinical assistant professor Sefton is a family nurse practitioner who spent 30 years on faculty in the FNP program. She has long practiced with the college’s clinical arm and received the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty’s 2003 Outstanding Clinical Practice award.
Martha Dewey Bergren, RN, NCSN, PHNA-BC, FNASN, FASHA, FAAN Clinical professor (now emerita) After joining the faculty in 2003, Bergren served in numerous leadership roles. Her scholarship focuses on supporting child health in the school setting. “Retirement” may be a misnomer for Bergren, who was named executive editor of the Journal of School Nursing in September 2020. She succeeds alumna Julia Cowell, PhD, MS ’74, RN, APHN-BC, FAAN.
Mary Catherine Kapella, PhD ’03, MS ’94, RN, FAAN, ATSF Associate professor (now emerita) and interim director of the Center for Sleep and Health Research Kapella arrived at UIC Nursing in 1998 as a research specialist. She is both a sleep health scientist—with research focused on insomnia therapy for COPD patients—and a dedicated educator who was deeply involved in curriculum development activities, particularly the college’s certificate in sleep health.
FOCUS ON EDUCATION
ow n s i v Virtual reality
Lab coordinators and clinical instructors showed agility in the COVID-19 pandemic by swiftly converting classes and clinicals to virtual formats and finding other creative ways to replace in-person experiences. When word came down from the University of Illinois System in mid-March 2020 that all in-person classes would migrate online to prevent the spread of COVID-19, it presented a special challenge for nursing clinical instructors. How do you give nursing students a clinical experience without being in a clinic? Clinical faculty and lab coordinators quickly rose to the challenge by turning to a virtual simulation program called iHuman. Using avatar patients, bachelor’s and graduate-level students could read patients’ charts, ask questions, and even check the patients’ heartbeats from the safety of home. Via videoconference, faculty met with students before seeing the patient and led a debrief after. “Our goal was to replicate the experiences our students would typically receive in clinical settings or the lab with virtual software, and for our graduating seniors, to give them the skills they need to graduate and enter the workforce,” says Catherine Vincent, PhD, RN, associate dean for academic affairs.
For instance, Kilroy says instructors are using the Schwartz Lab’s Team-Based Learning room—equipped with a central camera and microphone, small-group seating and flat screens at each table—to give bachelor’s degree students an opportunity to practice patient education on standardized patients, or trained actors who play the parts of patients. To keep the standardized patients safe, they don’t come to campus as they usually would; instead, they’re streamed in on a videoconference platform. Students interact with the patient as if they were assisting a nurse practitioner on a telehealth appointment. “Our instructors have shown incredible creativity by finding ways to deliver needed competencies and skills in the face of curtailed in-person opportunities, and our students are responding with impressive adaptability and flexibility,” Vincent says.
iHuman, a virtual simulation program, presents avatar patients that let students do everything from read patient charts to check heartbeats.
On-site clinical rotations returned in the fall, as well as classes in the simulation labs. Students are rotated through both, in addition to some virtual training. Safety precautions are in place, such as disinfecting spaces and equipment between sessions, and requiring masks and frequent hand washing. The state-of-the-art M. Christine Schwartz Experiential & Simulation Laboratory on the lower level of the Chicago campus, which opened in fall 2019, has proved itself to be invaluable, says Susan Kilroy, MSN, RN, director of the UIC Nursing Clinical Learning Resource Center. The Schwartz Lab’s size—15,000-square feet—and realistic environment (with ER, birthing suite, nurse practitioner rooms, home health suite and more) makes it adaptable for safely training students during the pandemic. “The Schwartz Lab has been a lifesaver,” Kilroy says. “We’re so grateful to have this large learning space because we can break it into smaller rooms to keep class sizes small.”
Marlene Sefton teaching summer classes at a social distance in the spacious Team-Based Learning classroom of the Schwartz Lab VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 25
"BLM MURALS" BY UAJAMIE1, USED UNDER CC/DESATURATED FROM ORIGINAL
THE PURSUIT OF In January of 2020, Phoenix Matthews, PhD—a clinical psychologist who has been on faculty since 2003—took the helm as the UIC College of Nursing’s first associate dean for equity and inclusion. It was just as the college was confronted with the need to demonstrate a commitment to equity, justice and diversity. By spring of 2020, communities across the U.S. exploded in reaction to video of a white police officer in Minneapolis pressing his knee into the neck of George Floyd, an African American man who died following the incident. As protests raged, professor Phoenix Matthews helped the UIC Nursing community grapple with complex feelings, thoughts and opinions about the role of race and police in America. Matthews embraced the opportunity, sharing resources and holding a series of open meetings for faculty, staff and students to learn and listen. Calling the sessions, “A time to talk,” Matthews assured the college community that the conversations would be open and informal: “No authority; no right answer; no right approach.” Matthews’ initiatives are part of the college’s overarching goals of creating a more equitable, inclusive and diverse environment. The spring of 2020 brought not just renewed attention to racism in policing, but also sharply exposed the way communities of color suffer from healthcare inequities. Black and African American people in the U.S. were hospitalized 4.7 times more often than white people due to COVID-19, and were dying twice as often, according to the CDC.
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Growing ‘champions of change’ When the college began looking for an associate dean for equity and inclusion, Matthews , who uses a gender-neutral pronoun, was well-suited to the position because of their commitment to the college, their research expertise, and their deep-seated interest in improving access and inclusion. Matthews, who is also the college’s Helen K. Grace Diversity Scholar, has focused their career on health disparities research, particularly as it relates to tobacco use. They helped pass Chicago’s first restrictions on menthol-related tobacco sales, and last year, helped shepherd through legislation requiring every single-occupancy restroom in the state of Illinois to be labeled gender-neutral. In addition to their own research on health equity, Matthews recognizes that UIC Nursing has an integral role to play in preparing future nurses and nurse leaders to level health outcomes globally. “We’re in a moment in time in which a lot of polarization in our country related to equity and access has resurfaced,” Matthews says. “I think it is important to create a culture in the college in which we can have respectful dialogue and exchange of ideas about how to move forward toward our goals in our work as nurses, researchers and champions of change.”
UIC Nursing’s official statement on equity and inclusion The UIC College of Nursing wants to make clear: There is no room for racism in our institution; in our profession; in healthcare; in our country, our neighborhoods, schools or workplaces; nor in any dimension of society. The College of Nursing is committed to condemning racism in all its forms and supporting education, policies and practices that advocate for equity and social justice for all.
Alysha Hart, PhD '20, RN, gives a TV interview during the Black Nurses Matter march.
Read the full statement online at nursing.uic. edu/about/diversity-inclusion
EQUITY A college community that’s diverse, open to dialogue and active in pursuit of social justice sets the stage for healthcare team members who will do the same, Matthews says. That includes having faculty and students who are representative of the overall population, making sure the curriculum includes case studies and examples that reflect a diversity of patients, and inviting faculty and staff to explore their own cultural biases. In a letter to the college community, Matthews and Dean Terri Weaver wrote about the college’s dedication to understanding and addressing the impact of social determinants of health—poverty, poor access to healthcare, social exclusion and segregation—on health outcomes. The college has a proud history of training nurses to work with disenfranchised and vulnerable patients. “As current and future health professionals,” wrote Weaver and Matthews, “we have an opportunity and a duty to affect injustices in health and society by acknowledging its existence; providing care to the underserved; training the next generation of nurse-activists; and highlighting the needs and potential interventions through our research on food and pharmacy deserts, lack of access to healthcare, and other social injustices.”
Alumna, Matthews' mentee co-founds Black Nurses Matter As Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, Alysha Hart, PhD ’20, RN, knew she wanted to join in the fight for justice and equality, and she saw an opportunity to bring a nurse’s perspective to the cause. The UIC Nursing postdoctoral researcher and three other nurses decided to found the nonprofit organization, Black Nurses Matter. The group’s mission is to eliminate systemic and structural racism across the healthcare spectrum using patient advocacy, active resistance efforts, and networking and mentorship. Black Nurses Matter held a Nurses March in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 29. The group also marched alongside Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III and families of police brutality victims at the National Action Network and NAACP’s Commitment March on Aug. 28. Black Nurses Matter is tapping into the moment: The social and racial injustice that leads to police brutality is also the root cause behind health disparities for minority communities, Hart says. Hart said as a nurse practicing in home-based palliative care, she saw “pervasive gaps” in care of underrepresented minorities. She and the group’s other founders believe one of the ways to address this is by broadening and improving the education of all nurses to care for diverse populations—to help them understand that their actions matter in equalizing the care provided to patients of all races. While the Nurses March kickstarted the group’s activities, Hart says she wants Black Nurses Matter to be “sustainable and ongoing.” The group’s next step will be to offer an evidence-based mentorship program.
VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 27
And the awar In 2020, the UIC College of Nursing conferred the 42nd annual Distinguished Alumni Award and honored the third class of Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award winners.
OUTSTANDING ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
“[My staff] are the people who run into the building that’s on fire. To be part of that is a privilege and an honor. It doesn’t matter how tired, or somedays how hard it gets; the work we’re in is about saving lives.” ANGELIQUE RICHARD, PhD ’99, RN, Senior Vice President, Hospital Operations and Chief Nursing Executive, Rush System for Health; Associate Dean for Practice, Rush University College of Nursing
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD
“There are a lot of places where nurses don’t have the same voice, where nurses aren’t seen as partners in outcomes and managing the patients. At our organization, nurses are really seen as leaders and as integral to achieving the overall mission.” BRIAN M. STAHULAK, BSN ’97, DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
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rds go to... OUTSTANDING ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
“Learning how to bridge the gap between theory and practice, that’s been my passion my whole nursing career.” PHYLLIS PELT, MS ’95, BSN ’67, RN, Founding Director, UIC Nursing School Nurse Certification Program OUTSTANDING ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
“What I love about research is putting the pieces of a puzzle together. It’s so much fun doing that with students. There’s nothing like seeing them get funded and move forward with their careers.” JOELLEN WILBUR, PhD ’84, MS ’75, APRN, FAAN, Professor and Independence Foundation Chair in Nursing, Associate Dean for Research, Rush University College of Nursing; Professor Emerita, UIC College of Nursing
R E A D M O R E Visit nursing.uic.edu/alumni/meet-our-alumni to read full profiles of our award winners. The college is accepting nominations for the 2021 Alumni Awards Program through Feb. 1. Nominate a colleague at go.uic.edu/NursingAlumAwards. VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 29
IGNITE IMPACT
Finding meaning in tragedy The Goldsmiths are endowing a faculty scholar in memory of their sons.
W
ith more time at home during the pandemic, Beverly Bernstein Goldsmith, MS ’73, BSN ’69, began reflecting on how the critical thinking skills and motivation she developed at the UIC College of Nursing helped her cope with life’s challenges, past and present. “Life is a journey and sometimes it is a challenging one,” says Goldsmith. “All you can do is to prepare yourself as best you can to cope with whatever life presents, and hopefully you have the skills to deal with what comes your way.” Goldsmith and her husband of 42 years, Barry, have chosen to endow a faculty scholar position in psychiatric mental health nursing. "My years at the college and my continued connection with it better prepared me to deal with life’s tragedies and continue my journey on a productive and meaningful path,” she says. The gift is being given in memory of their two late sons, Adam and Jacob, and is being directed to the area of Beverly’s expertise. She worked as an adult psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner for many years in the Washington, D.C., area. “I wanted to be sure that not just our lives had meaning,” she says. “By giving this gift, we are giving lasting meaning to Adam's and Jacob’s lives.” The Goldsmiths older son, Adam, had a neurodegenerative disorder. As his disease progressed, Goldsmith spent time searching for a diagnosis and treatment, all the while providing him with a comfortable daily life. Although a diagnosis was never found by his death at age 18, the family learned 15 years later that his disorder was caused by a genetic mutation. Their younger son, Jacob, also struggled emotionally with his brother’s illness and his own addiction for 15 years. He died at age 31. Goldsmith says she hopes the endowed faculty scholar gift will help to enrich the science behind psychiatric mental health nursing and that the beneficiaries of the gift will teach those approaches to new nurses and nurse practitioners entering the field.
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“My hope is this gift will in some way help other families who are coping with progressive neurological or addiction issues,” Goldsmith says. “Over the years, the recipient scholars will pass on their knowledge to many other nurses giving care.”
Barry and Beverly Goldsmith
Beverly grew up modestly in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood and says she feels lucky to be able to make the gift to UIC Nursing, adding that by doing so, it allows her to give “more meaning” to her own journey and give “dignity and respect” to her late sons and their journeys.
"My years at the college and my continued connection with it better prepared me to deal with life’s tragedies and continue my journey on a productive and meaningful path." Goldsmith was in one of the first graduating classes of the community mental health nursing graduate program at UIC, started by Gertrude Stokes. During her studies, she learned the importance of research-driven nursing practice. Goldsmith, a former assistant professor at UIC Nursing, was part of a research team that explored relationships before marriage, spearheaded by former dean Helen Grace, PhD, MS ’65, FAAN, and she co-authored a chapter with UIC Nursing professor emerita Kathleen Knafl in the book, “Families Across the Life Cycle.” “I realized that 10 years of my adult life was spent at the College of Nursing,” she says. “The college and its faculty inspired me and helped me develop into who and what I am. Over the years, I have come to value the importance of all nurses pursuing a baccalaureate degree and using a theoretical framework in practice. I owe a debt of gratitude to the entire faculty, and especially former dean Mary Kelly Mullane for leading and pioneering this educational track at the university more than 50 years ago.”
IGNITE IMPACT
‘A world of difference’
A Memorial Health System Scholarship allowed Cristal Gutierrez, BSN ’20, to overcome financial challenges and personal heartbreak to get her BSN.
D
uring Cristal Gutierrez’ last year of nursing school, her mother’s health began to decline. Her mom had a complex cocktail of medical problems, including epilepsy, Crohn’s disease, cardiac disease and renal insufficiency. Gutierrez, a student in Springfield, quit her job so she could spend her spare time traveling to Chicago to help with her mom’s care. A first-generation college student, Gutierrez has three older siblings and relied on that job to pay for school. She says when she found out she would receive a scholarship from the Memorial Health System Scholarship Fund, “it made a world of difference.” “[It] took the stress of paying for school needs off my shoulders in a time that I had no other financial means to support my dreams of becoming a nurse,” she says. Gutierrez says her mother’s co-morbidities made her a challenging patient. Watching the
way various healthcare workers interacted with her mom over the years sparked her interest in becoming a nurse—one who could give compassionate, holistic and evidence-based care to even the most complex patients. “I grew up watching some nurses work well with my mother, as they tried to understand her needs, and we also encountered some that did not make us feel welcomed or comforted,” she says. “Experiencing that with my mom inspired me to become a great nurse and work alongside my own ‘difficult’ patients and families while they’re in their most vulnerable states.” When her mom died in fall 2019— Gutierrez’ last year of nursing school—she had to make a difficult decision. “I could either take a break from school and find a job as a nurses’ aid to help my family back home, or continue and finish my last year of college,” she says.
She decided to head back to school, and in spring of 2020, she graduated with her bachelor of science in nursing degree. Gutierrez says the scholarship gave her more than financial support; it also gave her an important morale boost. “I thought of all the people rooting for me—those I knew, and also didn’t know,” she says. “I could not let all of the people supporting me down.”
“The scholarships I have received here at UIC are phenomenal. I have two teenagers, and I never wanted my return to school to impede anything they needed. The scholarships helped ease the burden. Instead of having to work extra shifts while going back to school, it has allowed me to be at home, with my family, while managing my courses.” Michael Ann Bevill, DNP student, neonatal nurse practitioner program; recent recipient of the Traut Family Scholarship and Mitzi L. Duxbury Perinatal Nursing, Neonatal Nursing, and Midwifery Scholarship VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 31
IGNITE IMPACT
Carrying on a legacy
A group of nurses and former co-workers came together to honor Joann Deagosteno, BSN ’77, with a scholarship.
‘I saw the need’ Gift will support faculty, staff and students in Urbana, the college’s second-largest campus.
P
eter Kale, BSN ’79, APRN, was part of the push to legally recognize nurse practitioners in Illinois two decades ago, and he spent more than 20 years as a devoted preceptor to Urbana’s UIC Nursing students.
(L-R) Ella Straka, Karen Dalal and Joann Deagosteno in Las Vegas
W
hen things got a little crazy during the night shift in the old University of Illinois Hospital, Joann Deagosteno, BSN ’77, was always there with a laugh.
“Joann would come down the hall and we would give each other a look,” recalls her longtime friend Karen Dalal, BSN ’75. “She would start singing the Four Seasons song, ‘Oh, What a Night,’ and we would start laughing. She had a way of making everything fun.” Deagosteno passed away in February 2020, and to honor her memory, Dalal and 13 former coworkers decided to start a scholarship fund at UIC Nursing, When they learned about it, family members of the late Ella Straka, BSN ’77, another friend and classmate of Deagosteno, also made gifts to the fund. Dalal says she was proud of how a group of retired nurses came together to create the fund. “People think you need a lot of money to create a scholarship,” she says. “But smaller amounts of money can help tremendously.” In addition to working together on 7 East, a surgical wing at UI Hospital, and later in the emergency room, Dalal and Deagosteno were also roommates and travel companions, and Deagosteno was a bridesmaid in Dalal’s wedding. “Joann was just what I think of as an ideal nurse: high standards, very efficient, very personable,” Dalal says. “I think her patients always felt they were the highest priority. She was someone you not just enjoyed working with, but someone you wanted to emulate.” Deagosteno grew up on Chicago’s South Side and attended South Suburban College for her associate’s degree in nursing before transferring to UIC for her bachelor’s. Dalal says cost is the reason Deagosteno started at a community college, and the scholarship will be given preferentially to transfer students and those from the South Side. “Both of us were people who came from working class backgrounds,” Dalal says. “College can seem out of reach for a lot of people. My hope is that this may help push someone through, or maybe it will stimulate someone else to do something similar.”
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A desire to ensure nursing students continue to get the best possible training to be leaders in healthcare inspired him to give a $25,000 unrestricted gift to the Urbana campus this year.
Kale at the UIC Nursing 2019 All-Alumni REUNION
“I’ve always felt a connection to the College of Nursing,” he says. “I saw the program in Urbana was in a growing phase, and I wanted to assist the BSN program. I saw the need here.” More than a third of UIC’s BSN students graduate from the Urbana campus. (The others attend in Chicago or Springfield.) Because Kale’s gift is unrestricted, it could go toward supporting faculty, scholarships, simulation lab equipment, or anything deemed necessary to enhance the education being delivered at that campus. “We are so appreciative of this gift and the flexibility to use it to address critical needs at our campus,” says Krista Jones, DNP ’11, MS ’07, RN, PHNA-BC, director of UIC Nursing’s Urbana campus. V I S I T go.uic.edu/givetonursing to read Kale's full story and meet more Faces of Philanthropy If you are interested in creating your own fund to help us reach our $33 million IGNITE goal, please contact Steve George, assistant dean for advancement, at steveg@uic.edu.
EXPERT VIEWPOINT
Though abrupt, the shift to telehealth should be embraced When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Chicago in the early months of 2020, the college’s clinic, Mile Square Health Center-Humboldt Park, quickly pivoted to telehealth, providing 85% of primary care visits and nearly all mental health visits at a distance. Charles Yingling, DNP ’12, MS ’05, FNP-BC, FAANP, who was named associate dean for practice and community partnerships in 2020, says the pandemic is forcing a much-needed sea change in healthcare delivery. For us at the Humboldt Park clinic—like many across the country—we fumbled a bit as we tried to abruptly shift much of our practice to telehealth due to COVID-19. We marched through four telehealth platforms in short order. The devil was in the details: How do we send patients a telehealth link when we don’t have their email address? How do we bill for visits? But once we got both our providers and patients comfortable with the fourth and final platform, we began to reap the benefits of telehealth. COVID-19 was the impetus to move very quickly, but for far too long, it’s been a provider-centric model of care. If you have a health need, your only way to address it is to move yourself to the place where the person is providing care. That is not patient-centric. Move the data, not the people. I learned that phrase from telehealth entrepreneur Judith Hicks, MS ’75. It’s the idea that, as a clinician, my decision-making is based on data that I get from you: things you tell me, elements of your physical exam and test results. If we can move the data, not the people, it makes our patients’ care a lot more accessible, so they don’t have to take a half day off from their job to come see me in my clinic across town. There are certain things we can’t do remotely, such as physical exams and lab tests. Body language cues can be harder to pick up on in telehealth. But the lion’s share,
at least of primary care, can be done via telehealth with the right equipment, the right structures in place, and the right resources in place. I think that’s what COVID-19 has proved to us. I envision a blended model of remote and in-person care. At our Humboldt Park clinic, we have a number of patients on long-acting, injectable psychotic drugs. Those patients have to come to the clinic every three to four weeks for an injection as well as a consultation with a psychiatric nurse practitioner. But if that consultation can happen via telehealth at home, they can zip in for the injection at a time that’s convenient for them. A lot of people think of telehealth as a video visit, but there are many other aspects of telehealth, including remote patient monitoring, or devices that can remotely gather and send data about a patient. We know access can be a problem for some patients, and we are piloting solutions to that. We have a DNP student working on a project using remote glucose monitors that send data using cell phone SIM cards, rather than relying on Internet access that many of our patients don’t have. We can’t go back to the old model, and, in fact, we must grow our competence in care at a distance. We, of course, will continue in-person care as much as possible during and after the pandemic, but we can’t walk away from this transformation in healthcare delivery. It’s exciting.
VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 33
RESEARCH ROUND-UP
Pain relief for sickle cell patients Nursing Collegiate Professor Ardith Doorenbos, PhD, RN, FAAN, will lead a $7.1 million, five-year national study to determine the effectiveness of acupuncture and guided relaxation for people with chronic pain from sickle cell disease, or SCD. The National Institutes of Health grant is part of its Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or NIH HEAL, aimed at improving prevention and treatment strategies for opioid misuse and addiction. "The opioid crisis in the U.S. is very severe, and some states have had more deaths from opioid overdoses than from car accidents,” Doorenbos says. “We're trying to do what we can to reduce opioid use in the sickle cell disease population who have high pain levels and opioid use.” Sickle cell disease affects as many as 100,000 people in the U.S., and at least 20 million worldwide. Pain, both acute and chronic, is a constant companion to those living with SCD, and is so severe that it requires opioids to attempt to keep it at tolerable levels.
“The opioid crisis in the U.S. is very severe, and some states have had more deaths from opioid overdoses than from car accidents.” For the study, 360 SCD patients will receive acupuncture twice a week for five weeks. UIC Nursing associate professor Judith Schlaeger, PhD, MS ’88, BSN ’80, FAAN, a practicing licensed acupuncturist, developed the SCD treatment plan. Patients will also be asked to use guided relaxation techniques at least once a day. Both acupuncture and guided meditation were proven effective in pilot studies on SCD pain management. The researchers will be working with patients with sickle cell disease in the fall of 2021, pending additional approvals from the UIC Institutional Review Board.
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Quinn named Minnich Professor Clinical professor Laurie Quinn, PhD ’96, RN, FAAN, FAHA, CDE, was named the Katherine M. Minnich Endowed Professor and director of the Center for Sleep and Health Research at the College of Nursing. “Dr. Quinn’s accomplishments are stellar,” says Dean Terri Weaver. “She is a dedicated, talented teacher and innovative researcher who received universal endorsement for this appointment.” Over the past 20 years, Quinn has maintained a research program that focuses on improving the health of people with diabetes—looking at factors such as sleep–and reducing the burden of diabetes complications. Quinn, the inaugural Dr. Mi Ja Kim Endowed Faculty Research Award recipient, is working with engineers at the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago to develop an artificial pancreas that would revolutionize the way people with diabetes control their disease.
Laurie Quinn, left, sets up her lab with research assistants.
RESEARCH ROUND-UP
Studying COVID
At least three studies at UIC Nursing examine the novel coronavirus’ affect on different aspects of health.
HEALTH, HAPPINESS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING
Dunn, in red, is flanked by her research team: (L-R) Madison (Buursma) Goodyke, PhD student and research assistant, Melissa Gutierrez-Kapheim, project director, and Anna Luong, PhD student and research assistant
Susan Dunn, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, received an NIH supplement to expand her Heart Up! study, which focuses on how to improve care for heart disease patients struggling with hopelessness. She’ll be studying how the intervention—aimed at motivating patients to be more physically active—might limit the negative affect of shelter-in-place and social distancing measures put in place due to COVID-19.
BIRTH IN THE TIME OF COVID Assistant professor Kylea Liese, PhD, CNM, teamed up with associate professors Julienne Rutherford, PhD, and Mary Dawn Koenig, PhD, RN, CNM, to create the COVID-19 Pregnancy and Postpartum Experiences (COPE) Study, a survey about how isolation, stress and healthcare changes related to the coronavirus affect pregnancy and the postpartum period. The researchers say they hope the survey will paint a picture of life for pregnant people during a pandemic and be the first step toward building a cohort study looking at long-term consequences of babies developing in the midst of COVID-19.
A DISPROPORTIONATE TOLL UIC College of Nursing associate professor Wendy Bostwick, PhD, MPH, co-authored a paper in the journal Health Education and Behavior that maps COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on the south and west sides of Chicago, which are predominantly African American communities. Bostwick and lead author Sage J. Kim, an associate professor in the UIC School of Public Health, wrote that one of the reasons for the disparities could be the fact that African American communities were disproportionately affected by multiple chronic diseases before the pandemic. “This confirms and further demonstrates a whole host of inequities, and how those inequities are very geographically concentrated in Chicago,” Bostwick said in an interview.
Chicago's COVID-19 Disparities Share of population
56%
Share of cases Share of deaths
33%
46%
30%
20%
16%
White
African American
Source: COVID-19 data from the Chicago Department of Public Health up to April 20
VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 35
RESEARCH ROUND-UP
Sleeping better with diabetes Getting more sleep and establishing a regular sleep schedule is a common recommendation for maintaining and improving health, including for people with Type 1 diabetes. Short sleep patterns may affect how the body uses insulin, and irregular sleep schedules can affect glucose through changes in one’s circadian rhythm or biological clock. But how best to improve sleep? And, how can you get quality sleep when you’re trying to manage your blood sugar along with life’s other demands? UIC Nursing associate professor Pamela MartynNemeth has received a $3 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to help answer those questions.
“Many people with Type 1 diabetes consistently report not having normal sleep or a good night’s rest,” Martyn-Nemeth says. “They are afraid they’re going to run low or high blood glucose levels and many set alarms to check blood sugar.
“Many people with Type 1 diabetes report not having normal sleep or a good night’s rest, sometimes for 10 years,” Martyn-Nemeth said. Martyn-Nemeth and her colleagues will conduct a 12-week, randomized clinical trial in 120 adults with diabetes. Participants will be tested before the study using a research-grade sleep watch and continuous glucose monitor that will measure sleep and glucose levels. One group will receive information about healthy sleep habits and phone counseling sessions, while the other group will receive general healthy living information. Both groups will be retested at two other times during the study, then 24 weeks after the study’s end to measure sustainability. “Our goal is to be able to develop strategies to improve sleep [that can be] integrated into clinical care,” Martyn-Nemeth said.
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UIC Nursing AROUND THE STATE
Lewis and Clark Community College
QUAD CITIES, PEORIA, ROCKFORD, SPRINGFIELD, URBANA
Building paths for BSNs Students at three Illinois community colleges—Carl Sandburg in Galesburg, Lewis and Clark in Godfrey and Black Hawk in Moline—will have an easier time earning their BSN at UIC Nursing thanks to agreements signed this year with the University of Illinois board of trustees. The agreements create a dual-admissions pathway, allowing students to earn an associate degree in nursing (ADN) from a partner community college, while at the same time enrolling in identified courses that are part of UIC’s online RN to BSN degree completion program. “Because it’s fully online, our BSN-completion program is easily accessible from anywhere,” said Kate Tredway, MS ’97, RN, the program's director. “We’re really looking forward to welcoming new students who will join our program because of these two agreements.” Upon successful completion of their college’s ADN program, students will continue their progress in the UIC online RN to BSN program as degree-seeking students. UIC will confer the bachelor’s degree in nursing after graduation requirements are met.
URBANA
Providing evidencebased training A new award will allow Krista Jones, DNP ’11, MS ’07, RN, PHNA-BC, clinical associate professor and director of UIC Nursing’s Urbana campus, to bring evidence-based training modules to acute and ambulatory care nurses at three Illinois hospitals: Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, UI Health in Chicago, and Graham Hospital in Canton. “The research we’ve done demonstrates that evidence-based practice is not being applied in all settings,” says Jones, who will work on the project with a team of nurses and librarians. “We’re attempting to provide nurses across all settings with evidence-based practice competencies to impact practice decisions and to ultimately improve patient care.” The award, from the National Library of Medicine Greater Midwest Region, builds on phases one and two of the project, which began in 2014 and targeted public health nurses. In this third phase, outreach will continue for public health nurses, while content for acute and ambulatory care nurses will be added, including free continuing education units for both.
VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 37
UIC Nursing AROUND THE STATE QUAD CITIES
First Kustes scholarship recipient chosen The first ever recipient of the endowed Lynn E. Kustes Nursing Scholarship Fund is Adiba Sirojeva, a Quad Cities adult-gerontology DNP student. "I am proud to receive the Lynn Kustes scholarship,” Sirojeva says. “This generous financial support helped me to pay for books and tuition this semester. " Kustes was in the inaugural Quad Cities graduating class in 1982 and was awarded the 2017 Quad Cities Director’s Legacy Award for her work promoting the program, including serving as chair of the campus's alumni board for more than 25 years. Her husband, John, established the scholarship in her memory.
SPRINGFIELD
Student success program launches Thanks to an anonymous, $1.5 million gift to the Springfield Campus, a Student Success Program formally launched in fall 2020, offering on-site and online tutoring by faculty, graduate assistants, and top-performing fellow students. Recent alumni are recruited to mentor current students. Additionally, the campus expanded its “boot camp” for incoming students from two days to three. The experience prepares students for the unique rigor and pace of nursing school and gives them concrete strategies to overcome the challenges. It also introduces them to the sophisticated facilities in which they’ll learn, including a tour of Memorial Medical Center. Not least of all, the Student Success Program will also underwrite the cost of NCLEX review materials and courses for graduating seniors.
PEORIA
DNP project helps improve mammogram rates Abigail Hardesty, DNP ’20, helped a clinic in central Illinois that serves people with HIV/AIDS improve its mammogram screening rates. As her DNP project, Hardesty, who was then a student in the family nurse practitioner program, helped the clinic implement a system that would track patients eligible for mammograms and remind them when they were due for screenings with letters and telephone calls. Only about 29% of eligible patients completed mammogram screenings prior to implementing Hardesty’s plan, and since implementation, the clinic has seen a 15% increase in completed mammograms. “By working with the team at this clinic, the project was able to focus on an immediate need that they had, and [the program is] designed to be sustainable over time,” Hardesty says, adding that clinicians do plan to continue the program.
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SPRINGFIELD
New program brings guaranteed admissions Incoming freshman at the University of Illinois Springfield will be able to nab a guaranteed spot in the UIC Nursing program under a new program, called the UIS-UIC Guaranteed Professional Program Admissions. A student interested in pursuing a BSN can apply to the program as a freshman. If accepted, the student would be guaranteed admission to the UIC College of Nursing BSN program on the Springfield campus when he or she achieves junior-level standing. “We’re elated to provide talented freshmen the security of knowing they have a spot in our program,” says Dean Terri Weaver. “I hope that will make the UIS-UIC program the first choice of every high school senior in central and southern Illinois who wants to become a nurse.”
UIC Nursing AROUND THE STATE
SPRINGFIELD
ROCKFORD
Market value
Prenatal worries on the rise
Each week in fall 2020, Springfield BSN seniors went to the Illinois Products Farmers’ Market on the Illinois State Fairgrounds to check the blood pressure of shoppers and present health education posters. And at least one notable market-goer sat for a health assessment. Pictured here are students (left to right) Brandon Paradies, Ben Nguyen, Olivia McLaughlin and Amoni Loiseau, taking the blood pressure of Illinois Director of Agriculture Jerry Costello.
URBANA
Thorlton shares expertise at National Academies event Clinical associate professor Janet Thorlton, PhD, RN, CNE, spoke at a two-day workshop held by the Health and Medicine Division (previously the Institute of Medicine) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on Jan. 29 and 30, 2020, in Washington, D.C. Thorlton, an Urbana campus faculty member, shared her expertise on the potential risks associated with the use of caffeine—and more specifically, energy drinks—during pregnancy and lactation. The workshop, developed by an ad hoc planning committee of the National Academies, focused on exploring the state of the science related to nutrition during pregnancy and lactation.
Kelly Rosenberger, DNP ’12, CNM, WHNP-BC, FAANP, director of UIC College of Nursing-Rockford Campus, says she has been referring more of her midwifery patients to counseling resources as they express feelings of stress, fear and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is emphasizing the continued importance of prenatal care, acknowledging that, “more than seven months after the beginning of the pandemic, the data and information is limited about the impact of COVID-19 during pregnancy.” Rosenberger practices at UI Health L.P. Johnson Family Health Center, which recently became part of the UI Health-based Mile Square Health Center system.
“More than seven months after the beginning of the pandemic, the data and information is limited about the impact of COVID-19 during pregnancy.”
VITAL SIGNS FALL 2020 | 39
LookingBack
Editor’s note: If you recognize any of the other nurses in this photo, please reach out to Deborah Ziff Soriano at dsoriano@uic.edu.
Celebrating 50 In the late 1960s, then-dean Mary Kelly Mullane (center) broke ground on the new UIC College of Nursing building at 845 S. Damen Ave., which officially opened its doors to students in 1970. Fifty years later, the college is still proudly based at that location, although it has undergone some substantial upgrades since then, including the grand opening of the 15,000-square-foot M. Christine Schwartz Experiential Learning & Simulation Laboratory last year. Also, the college has expanded beyond Chicago to open campuses in Peoria (1972), Urbana (1972), Quad Cities (1980), Rockford (1991) and Springfield (2015).
Old-school simulation update: After running this photo in the 2019 edition of Vital Signs, we received a flood of tips identifying the student. We tracked down Candice Carrigan Tucker, BSN ’73, who confirmed that she is the student pictured. She believes this was taken in a skills lab during her first semester of nursing school in the fall of 1971. Tucker got her master’s degree in organizational development and has spent most of her career in Tucson, Arizona, working in hospital education and administration. She still resides there today.
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College of Nursing
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Let UIC Nursing be part of your professional development Follow us on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/school/ uic-college-of-nursing. Be sure to choose UIC College of Nursing as your alma mater in your profile. Join us for On Duty, our new webinar series featuring faculty and alumni experts. On Nov. 19, Rebecca Singer, DNP ’18, RN, will present “Humanitarian response to a global pandemic.” Register at go.uic.edu/NursingAlumEvents. Enroll in our Alumni Mentor Program (AMP) when enrollment re-opens in spring 2021. Keep an eye on your email for details in the Alumni & Friends Newsletter. And keep us posted on your news by visiting go.uic.edu/NursingAlumUpdate.
