Care to Change the World

Medicine and Nursing

noreply@blogger.com (deanmeleis) — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 19:48:00 +0000

IOM recently held a workshop on “Envisioning the Future of Health Professional Education,” which is part of the Global Forum on “Innovation in Health Professional Education,” which I co-chaired with Dr. Jordan Cohen up until recently. I was filled with rejoice and some concern. I rejoiced because the momentum started by the IOM “Future of Nursing” report and the Lancet Report on “Health professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world” continue to escalate. There were tangible examples given by participants (representing global interdisciplinarity and interprofessionalism) of innovative ideas and dialogues about changing curricula to reflect community partnerships, interprofessionalism and flipped classrooms, among other changes. One example is that presented by Dr. Francisco Campos (who is the former National Secretary of Labor and Education Management in Health of the Ministry of Health in Brazil) about the close linkages established between communities and schools of medicine and nursing which shaped curricula and graduates. In Sao Paulo and other parts of Brazil, additional examples involved the creation of joint curriculum and learning experiences for physicians and physician assistance, the inclusion of social determinants in health profession schools and joint programs to train faculty from medicine, nursing and dentistry to become leaders in interprofesional education. These examples were from the University of New Mexico, the University of Iowa and East Carolina University.

That being said, my enthusiasm and excitement about the apparent “working together, learning together and learning from each other” crashed with another presentation. This one was about developing a new model for medical education in which students learn to be navigators for patients. In order to train medical students for this role, they are taught to listen to patients’ life stories, probe for lived illness experiences and explanatory models and reflect on and analyze these stories so they may create and implement plans for patients’ lives. So here I ask my nursing colleagues, does this sound familiar? How fantastic that a medical school developed this model for truly engaging students in the lives of their patients and the empowerment of their patients! While this part of the innovation is to be lauded, where is the part about working with, and learning from the other distinguished schools within the same university? Nursing curricula has included advocacy for patients, uncovering life experiences, reflecting on meaning and exploratory frames of reference of patients and students who are taught how to and when to ask and interpret findings.

Nursing faulty in many institutions reach to, learn from and work with colleagues in numerous disciplines including medicine. Nursing students are expected to read and use knowledge from medical journals. It is time to expect the same form medical faculty. We should not have to create new untested models. Instead we should build on, improve and enhance existing ones.

To my medical faculty colleagues,

If you want to teach about patient centered care, reflective clinical judgement, patient advocacy, social determinants of health, building effective patient relations, check nursing literature and reach out to your nursing colleagues. They will be more than happy to partner and collaborate. They have been waiting for this!

Reflecting on the Joys of May at Penn

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Mon, 04 May 2015 16:42:00 +0000

Seeing the green trees sprouting, the early morning birds chirping and the pink cherry blossoms erupting are reminders that it is May in Philadelphia. May at Penn is magical! While the absolute highlight is seeing the Kimmel Center packed to the brim with families who have traveled from all over the world and from all corners of the U.S. to celebrate their daughters, sons, siblings, parents, partners and friends graduating with coveted undergraduate and graduate nursing degrees, there are many other events that make May Penn Nursing’s favorite time of year. Celebrating faculty who received awards from students, peers and administrators and reviewing their academic year’s extraordinary accomplishments with awe have always been a humbling experience for me. Then there is the end of the year gathering of our engaged, efficient and effective staff and celebrating them and their accomplishments. It is always heartwarming to celebrate the fruits of their partnerships with faculty and students which culminate in recruiting the best class, graduating award winning students, providing exemplary education, winning financial support for our scholarly mission, and bringing health, healing and smiles to our elderly at LIFE. The impact of the staff’s work is felt in every corner of our school. But “May Joys” do not end there! Seeing our University alums and their families on campus again, hearing their reflections about the Penn experience and listening to their life stories completes the circle for the joys of May.

Congratulating and celebrating students, faculty, staff, alumni and families, what “May” is about.

Ah, the Joys of May at Penn!

On my mind...

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 15:55:00 +0000

When I received the purple legacy book and the album from the May Gala, it made me reflect on my unending gratitude and of all who contributed my deanship. I continue to be deeply touched by all the words, love and generosity. I am humbled to have been the recipient of the warmth and friendship of alumni, the board of overseers, colleagues, students and mentees. I consider myself the luckiest person in the whole world and I continue to bask in the support that this Penn institution has given the School and me all through my deanship.

After the many intense collaborations and warm friendships I have forged, for numerous people, the question is, "What is she doing now?" Therefore, I decided to share a narrative of my first year post stepping up from the deanship. Here are some highlights of what I have been thinking about and doing:

Spreading the message about interprofessional education and supporting the development of action plans for transforming education in Portugal, Colombia, Thailand, Turkey, Germany, Mexico and South Africa.

Spreading the message about the vital role of partnerships and collaboration with other schools, organizations, boards of overseers and alumni locally and globally.

Listening, dialoguing and exploring indications of progress in women’s health. For example reviewing policies against harassment and violence, identifying best strategies implemented by different countries to increase access of women to reproductive health as well as girls’ access to education, and listening to women’s voices.

Examining progress in the education of nurses and in the policies that enhance their scope of practice.

Here is an important development. Mahmoud has been able to accompany me and has been almost equally engaged with colleagues and students in most of these countries.

Celebrating our 50^th wedding anniversary with our 5 grandchildren in Aruba.

Joining Mahmoud in Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea in Egypt to celebrate Christmas and the New Year.

Finally, as much as I am grateful for my wonderful send off by you, I am also very appreciative of your generosity and warmth in welcoming our new dean, Dr. Antonia M. Villarruel. You are a gift to her and she is an incredible gift to our school.

On becoming a former dean

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 19:41:00 +0000

I am always asked:

Do you miss being the dean? (Not really!)

How does it feel not being the dean? (I love being a former dean!)

What are you doing now that you are retired? (I am not retired yet! I am on a sabbatical leave.)

How is your book going? (I am not writing a book at this very moment!)

I was inspired by some publications related to stepping up to come up with what I miss and what I do not miss about being dean, and what I like and what I do not like about my new role as former dean. (Hansen, 2004 and Shipley, 2003) I must preface my lists, however, with how much I enjoyed my deanship and that I considered it an honor to have served for 12 ½ years as the dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. I also considered it a true privilege to have worked with an incredibly stellar group of faculty; to have hired some 43 new faculty whom I consider the future leaders of the School and the discipline as a whole; to have partnered with the most loyal and effective staff, as well as the most brilliant students, who are the future movers and shakers in health care. How could anyone leave this # 1 School of Nursing without missing a great deal? Yet, now that I am giving attention to other projects and initiatives that are near and dear to my scholarly heart, I consider being in the role of former dean as equally, if not more so, the best role that I have ever embarked on and adopted. So let me first start with what I miss about being the dean.

What I miss about being the dean?

• People, people, people - and the tons of relationships that come with the deanship

• My immediate leadership team, dean colleagues and VP’s and our joint problem

solving and policy forming sessions

• Advocating for faculty promotions

• Making strategic faculty awards and appointments

• Connecting faculty with exciting, new national and international opportunities

• Welcoming and bidding goodbye to students upon admission and graduation and seeing the Kimmel Center full of excited and happy faces at graduation

• Meeting with parents and hearing their experiences

• Fireside chats with students at my house

• Announcing celebratory faculty and student awards

• Dancing during celebrations where staff desperately tried to teach me line dancing - to no avail

• Welcoming international colleagues and telling them about our stellar faculty, bright students and effective staff

• Identifying systems and process issues and insuring we have sustainable action plans

• Interactions with many constituents – Board of Overseers, Alumni, Trustees, Communities, National Deans, etc.

• Successful fundraising for the School

• Hosting alumni events and gatherings

• Presenting State of the School Address with the pride attached to the accomplishments of our communities and seeing our auditorium full with campus leadership, colleagues, students and faculty

• Witnessing and being humbled by the generosity of our School supporters and friends

• My parking spot to which my car was programmed to get to

• Not having to carry my office key with me everywhere I go (the dean’s office was always open)

What I do not miss about being the dean?

• A grueling 24/7 structured and packed calendar without enough time for each appointment

• Having to say No to School community’s aspiring proposals due to budget, policies, time, etc.

• Continuous thinking and working on budget and fundraising with inability to meet all demands and all strategic goals

• Using plane and train rides for thinking time and for making to do lists

• Complaints from, and about, faculty, students and staff from faculty, students and staff

• Chicken and salmon meals, hence skipping many celebratory meals

• Due to time constraints, giving similar and slightly refreshed welcome and goodbye remarks throughout the years

• Having to close the School because of University decisions for snow days when important meetings, classes, etc. are planned

• Not being with family for important celebrations and not being with close friends due to scheduling issues

What I absolutely love about being a former dean?

• Having blocks of time to think, read, write, revisit, debate and challenge ideas, old and new

• Reflecting on my intense deanship role and career and processing the meaning and outcomes of strategic decisions

• Being invited to speak about transition theory, interprofessional education and women’s health, and witnessing global progress in each of these areas

• Reconnecting with my international colleagues, friends and family

• Having time to go to lectures and attend conferences and enjoy hallway serendipitous conversations and reconnecting with many old students and colleagues without having to rush conversations because of next urgent deanly appointments, deadlines or meetings

• Working in my spacious home office while watching kids playing in Fitler Square

• Decreasing the piles of files, articles and books (accumulated over several years) by sorting, reading and sending to the right people

• Accommodating my grandchildren’s schedules instead of vice versa

• Being considered the wise/experienced consultant, but not the implementer of strategies, ideas and actions

What I don’t like about being a former dean?

• Questions about what it is like being retired, when in actuality I am working and on sabbatical (Hansen, 2004)

• Not participating in School and University events by choice, hence missing dialogues, debates and people

References

Hansen, H. Reese. "Some Thoughts on Stepping Down after a Long Term of Deaning." University of Toledo Law Review. Vol 36 (2004): 69-72

Shipley, David E. "Resigning as Dean-Stepping down or Stepping Up." University of Toledo Law Review. Vol 35 (2003): 189-193

An Uncommon Journey

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 17:59:00 +0000

UPfront Magazine - Spring 2014

It is hard to believe that this is the twenty-fourth, and last, message that I am composing for UPfront magazine. I am writing this while a snowstorm is looming in Philadelphia, a reminder that in spite of such storms, I made the decision almost 13 years ago that I would leave my 34 year’s position at the University of California, San Francisco to come to lead the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. And leading I did, jointly with the best faculty, staff, students and alumni. And it all went so very quickly! But when we pause to look at what we have done together, what we have been able to accomplish, and where we have landed, our journey seems much longer than twelve years.

These past twelve years have been a journey informed by many traditions of excellence which were developed by my predecessors and upon whom we were able to build; Dean Claire Fagin who set the School on the map with a focus on research and practice; Dean Norma Lang who made a difference in connecting all that with health policy; and Interim Dean Neville Strumpf who moved the School’s strategic planning initiatives forward and integrated faculty governance. All my predecessors enhanced the School’s visibility and reputation and gave us the momentum and set the stage for an incredible twelve years of innovations that made us truly a leading school of nursing globally.

In the past twelve years we have been able to triple our endowment to $72.4 million, increase enrollment by 57 percent, renovate Fagin Hall, launch a new undergraduate curriculum, introduce graduate specialties, and develop several distinguished research centers. Our reach extends to local, regional, national and global populations and our efforts are making a difference in healthcare and in building research programs. As I reflect upon our success, I am thankful to our faculty and staff, whose accomplishments impact science, practice and policy. Their diverse interests, skills and outlooks enhance our collective scope of influence and positively affect healthcare. They are the researchers whose nationally and internationally recognized work helps to inform public health policy. They are the educators who mentor, teach and encourage students to find their voices and establish successful academic and professional careers. They are the thought leaders who look for ways to collaborate in order to develop new solutions that positively impact populations. These are the amazing, empowered and talented people who make Penn Nursing Science world-renowned.

In this issue of UPfront, we highlight how our School has positively influenced the world in four ways: by giving a voice to nursing, by enhancing inquiry and innovation, by promoting clinical judgment and by creating a culture of engagement. These tenets, developed by our faculty, student body and administration, continue to underpin our vision and strategic goals.

Forging into the Future: Innovations and Transitions

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 19:00:00 +0000

UPfront Magazine - Fall 2013

Transitions are well-known in nursing. As nurses, we care for people who move from illness to wellness or chronicity or from one stage of life to another. The healthcare system, too, will be going through a major transition as millions of Americans join the ranks of the newly insured and will be entitled to preventative and curative interventions. Increased reliance on technology in educational and healthcare systems will change the landscape. And, as millions of baby boomers age, necessitating a new emphasis on managing chronic conditions, nursing and healthcare will undergo more seismic shifts. In short, we are in the midst of many transitions.

Anticipating and recognizing these transitions, we at the School embarked on instituting many innovative changes in our educational and research programs. First, we made substantive changes in our undergraduate curriculum (now in its third year of implementation). Next we launched a new simulation laboratory integrating creative simulating experiences throughout the undergraduate and graduate programs. Our state-of-the-art Helene Fuld Pavilion for Innovative Learning prepares students for real-life nursing experiences using the most advanced simulation equipment and instruction to provide challenging but safe opportunities to review and assess their critical thinking skills, diagnostic instincts, and effectiveness.

In this issue of UPfront, we showcase many examples of innovations that advance research, practice, technology, and education – both nationally and globally – that have generated companies, patents, grants, awards, apps, and groundbreaking research.

Empower Nurses to Make a Difference

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 15:38:00 +0000

Someone is finally listening to the cries of rape in the military. And his name is President Obama.

Obama threw down the gauntlet on May 24 in a commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy: “Those who commit sexual assault are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that makes our military strong. That’s why we have to be determined to stop these crimes. Because they’ve got no place in the greatest military on Earth.”

Actually, I add, they have no place in any civil society. It’s about time to proactively act and implement all measures to deal with this problem for women and girls (and men and boys).

A study released by the Defense Department prior to President Obama’s speech estimated that reports of unwanted sexual contact in the military, from groping to rape, rose 37 percent in 2012, to about 26,000 cases from 19,000 the previous year.

In recent weeks, there has been a flood of troubling allegations and they come in many forms. Two members of military sexual-assault prevention units – one for the Air Force and one at the Army’s Fort Hood in Texas – have been accused of sexual assault. A sergeant at West Point was charged with secretly videotaping female cadets in the shower. And there have been many reports that superiors have advised sexually abused women to drop their charges.

President Obama’s commitment to end this abuse of women in the military has been echoed by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and resulted in a variety of legislative proposals from members of Congress designed to improve the Pentagon’s handling of sex crimes.

Legislation would create sexual assault nurse examiners

While there are many different ways to confront this crisis that are under discussion, one interesting approach affecting the nursing profession was proposed in May by Rep. Dan Lipinski (D- Ill.). Lipinski’s bill would require the armed services to provide professionally trained sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) to assist in investigations and provide specialized medical attention and care to victims. Lipinski said the SANE Deployment Act will “help give victims more confidence to come forward knowing their cases will be handled with greater professionalism and sensitivity.”

Under the bill, the nurse examiners would be available to collect evidence during the critical early stages of any sexual assault investigation and provide care for victims of sexual assault. The congressman said the position would be filled by a nurse who is qualified through education in sexual assault forensics and in how to best care for victims of sex crimes.

Nurses and other medical personnel are on the frontlines of this fight and in position to provide care and other assistance, but they clearly need the help and support of the military brass to do their jobs.

GAO finds nurses, doctors given inconsistent guidance on handling sexual assault cases

Unfortunately, the military leadership may not be moving fast enough to deal with this problem. Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report that found the Pentagon has not even established consistent guidelines for the treatment of injuries stemming from sexual assault.

“Military healthcare providers do not have a consistent understanding of their responsibilities in caring for sexual assault victims because the department has not established guidance for the treatment of injuries stemming from sexual assault – which requires that specific steps are taken while providing care to help ensure a victim’s right to confidentiality,” the GAO said.

As a result, the GAO said, the various military branches have their own protocols for handling sexual assault cases, and these rules sometimes conflict. The GAO reports that some bases did not give doctors or nurses directions on how to keep sexual assault cases confidential or in other instances had rules that interfered with their ability to do so. The report warned that without assurances of privacy, that “sexual assault victims who want to keep their cases confidential may be reluctant to seek medical care.”

The Pentagon surely has a great deal of work to do to put a stop to this growing problem of sexual assault against women. While there are many steps that must be taken to address this disturbing problem, nurses and other healthcare professionals must be given clear and consistent direction on how cases should be handled, the proper training and the full backing of leadership, from Washington on down to base commanders and those in charge of medical facilities.

Our job is to prevent assault, to make sure victims feels safe to report the assault and to help the victims heal. Our mission is to join the voices demanding change in the military. To do that we need to be empowered; put nurses in leadership positions to do what they do best, protect and enhance the well-being of people.

Violence Against Nurses

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 20:27:00 +0000

We are reading more about violence against women in different parts of the world and some are wondering whether there is an increase in violent incidences. However, I believe two of the reasons we are reading more about it are, women are responding to it more and the public is more aware of it.

Survey after survey has documented that nurses are frequently exposed to violence from patients, patients’ families and visitors that can take the form of intimidation, harassment, stalking, beatings, stabbings and shootings. Unfortunately this is not true about workplace violence against nurses.

These acts of violence however minor or major have major psychological effects on nurses who are trying to provide quality care and undermine their trust in an infrastructure that does not protect them. Recruitment and job retention of nurses suffer as a consequence. Job absenteeism has also been reported due to violent acts.

Violence in the workplace is wide-spread

One survey of 7,000 emergency room nurses taken from January 2010 to January 2011 found that 53.4 percent of nurses reported experiencing verbal abuse and 12.9 percent reported experiencing physical violence over a seven-day period.

The study by the Emergency Nurses Association found that a patient’s room was the most dangerous place for an emergency nurse. In most cases when there was an assault, the study said nurses did not file a formal report, but did notify someone.

In another report released in 2011, The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that in 2009, there were 2,050 assaults and violent acts reported by RNs requiring an average of 4 days away from work. Of the 2,050 non-fatal assaults and violent acts, 1,830 were inflicted with injuries by patients or residents; 80 were inflicted by visitors or people other than patients; 520 RNs were hit, kicked, or beaten; 130 RNs were squeezed, pinched or scratched requiring days away from work; and 30 RNs were bitten.

There is no federal standard for workplace protection against violence for nurses, although a number of a number of states have laws that require establishment of a comprehensive prevention program for healthcare employers, as well as increased penalties for those convicted of an act of violence against a nurse.

Make violence against nurses a high priority

Six years ago, the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice issued a report on violence in the nursing profession, and came up with a number of recommendations that are still relevant today, and need to be adopted at hospitals and other institutions across the country.

These recommendations include the establishment of clear standards for workplace safety; institutional support for a culture of open communication and reporting among nursing staff, faculty, health care personnel and students regarding violence in the workplace; management training in the workplace; and the availability of clearly defined support resources, such as legal and psychological services, to nurses in violent situations, or at risk of facing violent situations.

It is time that the issue of workplace violence against nurses be given a higher priority, and that health care managers take steps to better protect nurses in the workplace.

More Information

Rape Within the Ranks

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Former Marine Officer Ariana Klay (right) addresses rape
in the military in The Invisible War.

The eye-opening documentary The Invisible War exposes an ugly truth: Rape by colleagues is an occupational hazard for women in our armed forces. Statistics in The Invisible War assert that military women serving in Iraq or Afghanistan are more likely to be raped by fellow military personnel than to be killed in the line of fire.

Sexual assault is the most under-reported crime in the nation, so the precise number of cases within military ranks is uncertain. A 2011 report from the U.S. Department of Defense itself estimates 19,000 cases in fiscal year 2010 alone.

And men are far from immune. According to the Department of Defense, the percentage of male victims of sexual assault within the military increased from 8 percent in FY 2010 to 13 percent in FY 2011.

Further, victims of rape within the military report facing disbelief and threats of retribution.

Rape and PTSD

Rape, like war, is a trigger for post-traumatic stress disorder. A precursor to the identification of PTSD in rape victims known as “rape trauma syndrome” was first articulated in 1974 by Penn Nursing Professor Emerita Dr. Ann Burgess and sociologist Lynda Lytle Holmstrom. Today, the term “military sexual trauma” describes what too many of our service women and service men are facing.

As nurses, we vowed to identify, treat, and conduct research on the specific health needs of our veterans and service members through Joining Forces, the national initiative launched by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden. Understanding and addressing the prevalence of rape perpetrated against members of our military by members of our military must be part of this mission.

What Nurses Can Do

I urge nurses to stress awareness of rape when caring for members of the armed forces and U.S. veterans. Nurses, who always have the opportunity to hear about patients’ lived experiences, are in the best position to uncover stories of trauma and stories of rape, even when their patients seem reluctant to reveal them.

We must intervene wherever and whenever we can through careful, sensitive health assessments, education, and research on military sexual trauma. It is a critical way for us to join forces with those harmed and betrayed during their service to our country.

When Sexual Violence Doesn’t Make Headlines

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 18:59:00 +0000

News of violence and injustice against women consumes the headlines every day. "Liberian women battle against ‘sex for grades’ at universities." "Delhi gang rape victim’s tragic death transforms her family’s life." Stories about ". . . the plague of violence against women."

Even amidst this steady stream of astonishing wrongs, I think about every woman and girl facing violence and injustice quietly and without notice. Too many remain invisible.

Global Health Starts With Women

This week, academic leaders from around the world are coming together for the 4th annual global health conference of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health. Nearly 1,400 members of the academic community (including some 500 students) from 751 institutions in 56 countries seek to identify a multi-sector, multi-disciplinary, interprofessional approach to improving global health.

An important aspect of the conversations is that any approach to global health must start with women and girls. Taking care of women is taking care of the family which is taking care of the community which is taking care of society.

In any dialogue about social welfare and development, there is global recognition of this centrality of women. The United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals aim to improve the lives of people around the world and ensure their basic human rights, particularly women’s issues, including poverty, education, maternal and infant mortality rates, and infections. The formation of UN Women and the appointment of Melanne Verveer as the U.S. ambassador for global women’s issues by President Barack Obama are indications of recognition of the vital role of healthy and educated women.

Progress and Need

But, as Ambassador Verveer wrote, “. . . we have indeed seen progress in protecting the human rights of women. . . . [but] there is no getting around the fact that progress is fragile in many places and barely measurable in others.”

Similarly, President Obama’s recent reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act is an important marker both of our progress and of the continuing, deeply rooted need for attention to the health of women and girls.

As we come together this week, my partners in the Consortium of Universities for Global Health will:

• Consider novel ways to make academic institutions transforming forces in global health, expanding our moral commitment to translate knowledge

• Assemble best practices from different parts of the world. Universities are not just exporters of innovation, we are importers too.

• Share a united vision of global health, one of equity and justice, the elimination of violence, the courage to tackle world problems, and truly measurable impact.

Those are headlines I would like to see.

Now Is the Time

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:24:00 +0000

We are living in a world with guns. As much as I would like to change that, as would so many of us, I need to focus on what I can change – and what you and I as members of the largest group of healthcare professionals in the nation can change. I have committed to the following, and I urge you to do the same.

Encourage and conduct research on gun violence.

In a pivotal move to decrease gun violence, President Obama directed the Centers for Disease Control and other scientific agencies to research its causes and prevention. The President’s directive lifts a de facto 17-year ban on federal research on gun violence research. “We don’t benefit from ignorance,” he said in releasing his plan “Now Is the Time”. “We don’t benefit from not knowing the science of this epidemic of violence.”

Dr. Therese Richmond, our leading researcher on violence, and other prominent researchers at Penn are positioned to work across disciplines to systematically build a science on lowering injury and death from gun violence.

Science can help keep people safe from injury and death by providing data and evidence for policy changes. We have a tremendously effective model in motor vehicle safety. When we learned that people were dying in car accidents, we did not get rid of all cars. Instead, with data and research findings, policies to enhance the safety of cars were implemented and continue to save lives. If we accomplished that with car crashes, we can accomplish that with gun violence. And nursing research must be front and center.

Change perceptions about gun violence.

Gun violence is a health issue and central to what we in nursing should care about. What happened in Newtown, CT, was tragic, and so is the gun violence that kills children and adults every day in every U.S. state. And, it is a hard truth, but when the victims of violence are brown and black, our society doesn’t pay as much attention, yet gun violence is the leading cause of death of African Americans ages 15 to 24.

Gun violence kills Americans in mass shootings that grab hearts and headlines, and gun violence kills Americans one by one every day on street corners and in homes. Four million Americans have been injured by guns in the past 30 years and approximately 30,000 die every year from guns. We cannot view the Newtown school shooting as an isolated event, nor should mass shootings be the only impetus toward action. Gun violence is a daily occurrence in the U.S., as sure as the rising and setting of the sun.

Become familiar with the facts.

Since we are not all experts in this area, what should we know and do? As nurses, we all should be conversant about the facts related to gun violence. Dr. Richmond is research director of the Firearm and Injury Center (FICAP) at Penn. FICAP has developed the fact sheet “10 Things Every Healthcare Professional Should Know about Firearm Injury.” It is evidence-based and a must-read for us all.

As President Obama said, “While we may not be able to prevent every senseless act of violence in this country, if there’s even one thing that we can do to reduce it, if even one life can be saved, we’ve got an obligation to try.”

When it comes to this socially complex, polarizing problem, the worst we can do is nothing. Nursing as a profession and nurses as individuals are committed to health and well-being, therefore a focus on enhancing the safety of people and eliminating all forms of violence, including gun violence, is part of our mission. Now is the time.

We as nurses care for people, families, and communities who trust us. We should employ that trust and data and facts to educate and to change perceptions about injury due to gun violence. We should act by engaging in research programs to reduce injury and death from gun violence. We have the courage to act, the expertise to conduct research, and the compassion and caring to change the world.

Innovative Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:05:00 +0000

Providing quality healthcare while maintaining or decreasing costs will depend on how technology is integrated in the fabric of the care given without losing the care and compassion needed for individualized care. This requires changes in educating nurses to embrace innovations in teaching and learning.

Therefore, I am proud to introduce the new Helene Fuld Pavilion for Innovative Learning, a unique educational center where technology meets the science of caring.

On the strategically renovated first floor of Fagin Hall, the Fuld Pavilion expands Penn Nursing’s simulation space to 7,000 square feet, equipped to best prepare students for evidence-based practices they will use as novice and expert nurses. The Fuld Pavilion features:

• Simulation rooms that are designed to reflect different care settings, including outpatient, hospital, and home care

• Interactive mannequins, diverse in age, gender, and race, and the capability for behavioral, live action, and high fidelity simulations

• Rooms outfitted with video systems to record students’ simulation experiences, maximizing opportunities for educational debriefing, evaluation, and reflection with faculty and fellow students

• The renovations include upgrades to the Brunner and general skills labs where students learn and practice nursing techniques in blood draws and patient monitoring.

These state-of-the-art learning tools integrate theory, research, and practice to build essential competencies in our nursing students. Simulations offer challenging but safe opportunities to review and assess the effectiveness of our students’ developing competencies, diagnostic abilities, and organizational and decision-making choices.

As the only undergraduate BSN program in the Ivy League, Penn Nursing leads the way as a model in nursing education. The high-tech, high-touch Fuld Pavilion shapes our students’ experience with the knowledge, the tools, and the best practices to influence care and policy around the world.

ACT for Sandy Hook

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:39:00 +0000

“What can I do to help?” I understand and share the heartfelt desire to do something to heal our grieving society in the wake of the massacre of children and educators in Sandy Hook, and to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.

But, the unfortunate truth we know as nurses is that tragedy happens every day. It happens, as President Obama said, “in small towns and big cities all across America.”

What can nurses do to help? ACT. Advocacy, Clinical Judgment, and Transformation.

Advocacy: Our professional organizations must uniformly advocate for

· full-time school nurses, who are often the first to identify and work with troubled students

· fixing a mental health system that is uneven, complex, and ineffectively isolated from other areas of healthcare

· more federal funding devoted to research on mental health, violence prevention, and healthcare disparities.

Clinical Judgment: From wars abroad to violence on our on soil, nurses so very often are the first to recognize and respond to crises, to diagnose pain, to alleviate suffering, provide comfort to those who are grieving, and to decrease other risks. And, as nurses deliver more primary care, we will be in key positions to identify those who need mental healthcare and to help patients navigate the health system to get the care they need. Therefore, use your clinical judgment to join the national and global debates and dialogues about guns that cause violence, pain, suffering, and death.

Transformation: Our education and experiences give us insights that are important to share as our country considers real change. The Affordable Care Act places nurses front and center in the U.S. healthcare system. We can own our power and lead the charge for policy changes that will create a more stable, more healthful, more peaceful society. We must amplify our voices in the national conversation on the factors that lead to violence and how to prevent it.

I close with the words of President Obama: “If there is even one step we can take to save another child, or another parent, or another town, from the grief that has visited Tucson, and Aurora, and Oak Creek, and Newtown -- and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that -- then surely we have an obligation to try.”

ACT. Let that be our resolve in 2013.

For those who need immediate assistance with trauma, go to the following website www.apna.org/TraumaticEvents for help.

New Soul, New Voice

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:45:00 +0000

Vernice Ferguson: A consummate nurse and colleague

After much anticipation and excitement, my new grandchild has arrived (early, at 8 lbs. 3 oz.) and I cannot wait to see who this new person is and will become.

But even as we celebrate his arrival, we often find ourselves pausing to reflect on those who would share our happiness and understand it deeply. We think of those we have lost. Sadly comes the news that nursing has lost a great leader. Vernice Ferguson, a dear friend and nursing colleague, has passed away. In Vernice, we had a unique and strong voice representing nursing, as well as representing diversity and inclusiveness in nursing.

Vernice played a very important role in our School. She served for several years on our Board of Overseers and as a senior fellow, holding the Fagin Family Chair in Cultural Diversity from 1993 to 1997. She was a frequent visitor to our School where she mentored faculty and students and was a speaker at our commencement ceremony.

From 1980 to 1992 she was the assistant chief medical director for nursing programs in the Department of Veterans Affairs. In this position she was responsible for the largest organized nursing service in the world. Prior to this assignment, she was chief of nursing at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center.

Vernice was an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom, the second American nurse so honored. She received eight honorary doctorates and two fellowships -- one in physics, the other in alcohol studies -- and was named a “Living Legend” by the American Academy of Nursing. In 2008, Ms. Ferguson received the FREDDIE Lifetime Achievement Award, considered by many to be “the Oscar of health and medicine.”

In all of her roles, Vernice was the consummate nurse and colleague who was the voice and conscience for inclusion of diversity in every aspect of the nursing mission. She challenged us to envision and create a world that was more ethical and that valued diversity in all its forms and was behind many of our initiatives in diversity that made Penn Nursing a model for the University.

As she told young nurses at the 40th anniversary of the Breakthrough to Nursing Project: “Now you can continue to trailblaze. . . . Ask yourself: What will you bring to the table [as a nurse]? What will you do to help eliminate health disparities?”

I had the honor of knowing Vernice as a friend and colleague for nearly 20 years. I learned a great deal from her leadership and commitment to diversity. And, I have been very grateful for her generosity to our School.

We will all miss her voice. I hope my grandson will find a voice that is just as strong – but, for the sake of my son and daughter-in-law, just not at 3 a.m.! I hope he will defend diversity and inclusiveness and will be intolerant of any intolerance.

I have heard often that when one soul leaves the world, a new one arrives. Perhaps a new nurse leader will be in our midst!

In the Year 2022

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 17:10:00 +0000

What should the world look like for women in 2022? It should be safe and equitable. It should be free of the trafficking and exploitation of women, and violence against them. It should ensure that women are educated, empowered, and that their voices are heard and valued. My hope is that in 2022 all women – regardless of geography – can reach their full potential and capacity to be productive members of society.

Prioritizing the health and well-being of women took center stage at the 19th Congress of the International Council on Women’s Health Issues (ICOWHI) in November. Health leaders and thought leaders from around the world met in Bangkok, Thailand, to partner for “a brighter global future.” Those leaders included Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand. ICOWHI honored the Princess for her unwavering commitment to women’s rights with the Taylor and Francis Distinguished Award for Exemplary Work on Women’s Health.

Meeting the needs and rights of women by 2022 (which is what should be) will take much effort, systematic and deliberate planning, and strategic actions. This will take a cross-section of social sectors must embrace partnerships rooted in justice and equity.

There has been some progress toward these goals and powerful examples of best practices have resulted in outcomes that many thought leaders envisioned and articulated for many years. Seemingly small efforts have yielded big gains. In several countries, the new development of having separate toilets for boys and girls has reduced the rate of school drop-out among girls after the onset of puberty. Women in Nairobi, Kenya, in partnership with local businesses, developed “Adopt-a-Light Limited” to ensure working street lights so urban women can travel safely. An urban maternal and newborn health program called Manoshi brings skilled birth attendants to women living in the slums of Dhaka in Bangladesh.

These programs have successfully brought women’s issues to the forefront, raising the consciousness of leaders and enhancing women’s opportunities to influence politics and society.

Fast forward to 2022 - by continued work toward a future of equity, safety, well-being, and productivity we may be able to make that future happen sooner for women world-wide.

I Am Malala - And I Am Walking Again!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 13:51:00 +0000

Tomorrow is a day of importance for girls around the globe. It is the day of Malala and 32 million girls. Who are these girls? They are without education.

Since October, the world has rallied around a 15-year-old Pakistani girl named Malala Yousafzai who was shot in the head by the Taliban for going to school. She dared to advocate for access to education for girls in Taliban strongholds in Pakistan. Malala has started walking again and is continuing her recovery. The world is carrying on her fight.

The Office of the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education has declared November 10 a day of global action for Malala and girls around the world.

The International Council of Nurses, where I have the distinct honor of serving as Global Ambassador for the Girl Child, has long been dedicated to the Girl Child Education Fund, supporting orphaned daughters of nurses in developing countries in getting back to school. Education should not be a privilege. It is a right.

In honor of Malala and every child who deserves the right to an education, please join me in the I Am Malala initiative at http://educationenvoy.org/

Elevating the Girl Child

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 19:43:00 +0000

Lynn Sommers in Greece

As personified by the courageous efforts of Pakistan's girl heroine, 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, described so powerfully by former First Lady Laura Bush, the importance of education for girl children cannot be underestimated. As important as growing their intellect is the matter of their health. Girl children without access to education -- any children without access to education -- are very often children without access to healthcare.

I have the privilege of serving as the International Council of Nurses Global Ambassador for the Girl Child and working with nurses to identify and lead creative and compassionate strategies to improve the health of girl children.

Here at Penn Nursing, the majority of our research faculty focus on the health of under-represented populations, with women and girls prominent among them. At our Center for Global Women's Health, faculty and fellows just returned from Chalkidiki in rural Northern Greece where they worked with the isolated Roma community in a small women's health clinic. In addition to assisting with screening for orphaned or trafficked children, Lynn Sommers, Maureen George, Kathleen Brown, and Ellen Volpe are providing education and training to community health workers in areas of critical importance to the local population.

Asthma is at a frightening high in Northern Greece, largely because of liberal pesticide use in this olive-growing region, plus a high rate of smoking. The U.S. State Department awarded funding to Dr. George, an expert in asthma prevention and management, for the Greece Health Promotion Project. The support enabled her to assist with training of 50 community health workers (including nurses, speech therapists, physical therapists, primary care physicians, rescue workers, teachers, and even teenagers and lay community members) on smoking cessation and asthma self-management at the Ormylia Foundation and the Panagia Philanthropini Center. The team is working with Brother Charles Anthony, director of the Ormylia Foundation Clinic in Northern Greece, and Penn Nursing's community partner on this project and on cervical cancer screening, asthma, smoking cessation, blood pressure screening, child development, and HPV vaccinations to prevent cervical cancer.

The Greece Health Promotion Team also is collaborating with a respected epidemiologist to create a database for child health screening for homeless children who are seen in the clinic. Before returning to Philadelphia, the team met with community leaders and high school students to discuss next steps: In May, they will again visit Northern Greece to provide further training for cervical cancer screening, smoking cessation, and first aid.

As this project gains momentum, it is helping the women and families of tomorrow by investing in girl children today. And, as the United Nations recognizes the first Day of the Girl Child, I encourage all of us who have the power of healthcare at our fingertips to consider creative ways to give girl children voice, hope, and health.

Welcoming Our Visitors

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 20:18:00 +0000

Whenever we have the pleasure of hosting visiting professors here at Penn Nursing, the benefits are exponential. This academic year, we have the distinct honor of welcoming three contemporary giants in nursing scholarship: Dr. Kathleen Dracup, Dr. Mary Elizabeth Mancini, and Dr. Susan Reverby.

Dr. Kathleen Dracup, dean emerita of the UCSF School of Nursing, shares her vast experience in scholarly and interprofessional initiatives. Her professional career spans four decades of leadership in nursing and cardiovascular nurse science. She is internationally recognized for her research in the care of patients with heart disease and its effects on spouses and other family members. I am proud to say that I mentored Kathy and that she, in turn, mentored Penn Nursing's Barbara Riegel, an expert in heart failure and self-care.

Dr. Mary Elizabeth Mancini brings her significant expertise to our new simulation center. She is professor, associate dean and chair for undergraduate nursing programs at the University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing. She holds the Baylor Health Care System Professorship for Healthcare Research. Prior to joining academe, Dr. Mancini was senior vice president for nursing administration and chief nursing officer at Parkland Health and Hospital System.

Dr. Susan Reverby will bring to Penn Nursing her prodigious insights on women’s and gender issues as they relate to health policy. The Marion Butler McLean Professor in the History of Ideas and professor of women's and gender studies at Wellesley College, Dr. Reverby is an historian of American women, medicine, public health, and nursing. Her research on an immoral government medical study in Guatemala between 1946 and 1948 where men and women were given syphilis led to a U.S. government response from the Secretaries of the Departments of State and Health and Human Services and an apology from President Obama to President Colom of Guatemala.

That the visits of these accomplished scholars come on the heels of a new report from the Institute of Medicine on “Continuously Learning Healthcare in America” is fortuitous. The report, developed with Dr. Mary Naylor of Penn Nursing as part of the IOM study committee, details ways to achieve more cost-effective quality care by harnessing existing knowledge and technologies. As our visitors lead seminars, give lectures, and meet with our students and faculty, we all have the opportunity to continuously learn. The benefits pay forward in educational innovations, research initiatives, and more effective patient care.

Proof of the Power of Nursing

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:26:00 +0000

Right now, the Penn community is asking the question: How do we know that what we know is true? It is the year of proof.

With this University-wide theme, we welcomed our students and faculty to the new academic year.

On Thursday, October 18, we will honor proof in action. Dr. Terri Lipman, an expert in children with diabetes and endocrine disorders, will receive the inaugural Norma M. Lang Distinguished Award for Scholarly Practice and Policy. The award recognizes Dr. Lang, dean emerita, who had a pioneering role in demonstrating the importance of proof in nursing. Of the impact of nursing, she famously said: “If we cannot name it, we cannot control it, finance it, research it, teach it, or put it into public policy.”

Dr. Lang is an architect of healthcare quality and informatics. This field revolutionized healthcare by developing standardized terminology, classifications, quality assurance, and outcome measures for the work of nurses. The application of informatics to nursing yields a structure for information, clinical decision support, and measurement that reinforces the innumerable contributions nurses make every day to patients, families, and communities. Dr. Lang’s innovative work in quality and informatics has transformed nursing practice and healthcare around the world.

Dr. Lipman, the Miriam Stirl Endowed Term Professor for Nutrition, is internationally recognized for her research and for applying evidence-based practice to children’s health. She maintains the Philadelphia Pediatric Diabetes Registry, part of a consortium of 150 centers in 70 countries and the only one in the U.S. The registry has demonstrated a high incidence of Type 1 diabetes in African American and Latino children.

Dr. Lipman addresses that disparity through community-based participatory research with Sayre High School and the Bernett Johnson Sayre Health Center in West Philadelphia to assess and improve physical activity through dance. Supported by Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships, the “Dance for Health” program aims to increase children’s activity through dance classes and to lower their risk for obesity, a key factor in Type 2 diabetes.

Clearly, the innovation and leadership of Dr. Lipman and Dr. Lang are proof of the power of nursing science. What are your experiences and stories of this proof?

Nurses: Answering America’s Biggest Question

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 17:03:00 +0000

In the New York Times and other national media, America’s looming shortage of doctors predicted under the Affordable Care Act is front-page news. But the question of how to fill an anticipated gap between growing patient needs and the number of healthcare providers has long had an apparent answer: Advanced practice nurses. As established in the Future of Nursing report from the Institute of Medicine, nurses can and should meet the increasing demand for safe, high-quality, patient-centered, and equitable healthcare services under healthcare reform. It is effective and more cost-efficient to grow the population of advanced practice nurses (APRNs) for primary care roles than physicians, with APRNs achieving the same health outcomes.

Penn Nursing, in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Health System, will set the course to increase the number of APRNs – and therefore the base of primary care providers – in the United States. With great pride and excitement, Ralph Muller, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and I have announced the Graduate Nurse Demonstration project.

The Graduate Nurse Demonstration, supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is a national program to educate more APRNs -- nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, and nurse midwives -- who can meet the increasing healthcare demands and needs of the U.S. populations.
Five hospitals are partnering with accredited schools of nursing and non-hospital community-based care settings as clinical sites for APRN education. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the largest clinical site for Penn Nursing, is among the hospitals selected. The leaders for this ground-breaking demonstration project are Dr. Linda Aiken, who directs the Penn Nursing Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, and Dr. Victoria Rich, chief nurse executive of the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, in collaboration with many others from schools of nursing and healthcare systems in Pennsylvania.

In the past, the cost of clinical training has limited the ability of hospitals and other healthcare providers to accept more APRN students for clinical training. In the Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration, CMS will provide the partner hospitals with payments of up to $50 million annually over four years to cover the clinical training and preceptorship of APRNs as part of the demonstration. Payments to the participating hospitals will be linked directly to the number of additional APRNs the hospitals and their partners are able to train as a result of their participation in the demonstration.

The significance of receiving this major support is multifold:

First, and foremost, the project is based on research by our School of Nursing investigators.
Second, we are proud that the successful request for funding was led by our own Dr. Aiken and her colleagues in Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and by Dr. Rich, a Penn Nursing alumna who is our school’s assistant dean of clinical practice.
Third, this demonstration project, if successful, sets the stage for support from CMS for graduate nursing education in the future.
Fourth, the production of this monumental proposal was supported by both Penn Nursing and Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine.
Fifth, the proposed project was made possible through the collaboration of many schools of nursing in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Deans and Directors Association.

We are proud of all the collaborations that led to the success and funding of this pioneering demonstration project, we are grateful to have the support, and we are looking forward to fully supporting the implementation of this important initiative.

And now the work begins.

Confronting the Human Costs of Alzheimer's

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Countless numbers of us have experienced the devastation of Alzheimer’s disease. As I did with my own mother, we have watched with increasing frustration as someone we love slips away day by day without comprehension, control, or comfort, and we have often felt powerless to help. Hope has been in short supply.

But it was with a tremendous feeling of hope that Dean Larry Jameson and I welcomed a group of some 50 Alzheimer’s disease luminaries to the University of Pennsylvania in June for the Marian S. Ware Alzheimer Program Invitational Summit, co-hosted by Penn Nursing, Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, and The Campaign to End Alzheimer’s Disease by 2020. The conference, dedicated to the state of the science of Alzheimer’s disease, was sponsored by the Marian S. Ware 2006 CWG Charitable Lead Annuity Trust with support from Penn Nursing alumna and Overseer Carol Elizabeth Ware. In Penn’s historic Houston Hall, experts from academia, industry, and the care and philanthropic communities came together to map out a strategy to implement the “National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease,” which was released this spring by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Conference leaders will produce a paper with specific recommendations for the plan.

The take-home message from the meeting was one of urgency to envision and implement both long-term solutions in the form of new treatments and prevention measures as well as more supportive and holistic care options for patients and caregivers. With Dr. Jason Karlawish of Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, Dr. Mary Naylor, the Marian S. Ware Professor of Gerontology and director of the NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health at Penn Nursing, led the conference. Dr. Naylor’s work in transitional care holds great potential for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and their families. She and others who participated in a work-group on clinical care and health services research continually reminded their colleagues to keep in mind the human costs of the disease and the needs of patients and families from the time of initial recognition that something is wrong, through the inexorable decline in cognition and physical function, and finally to the end of life.

This conference represents a watershed moment in worldwide efforts to confront what eminent Alzheimer’s researcher Dr. John Trojanowski called the “silver tsunami” of aging in our global society. Working together, across disciplines, institutions, and geographical boundaries, we will indeed find solutions to the challenges we face throughout the full care-to-cure spectrum.

Mapping the Future of Nursing

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 18:20:00 +0000

We recently marked a historic day for nursing. The meeting “Partnering to Transform Healthcare in Pennsylvania,” part of a national effort, brought together more than 200 nurses and nursing students here at Penn earlier this month to discuss an action plan for the future of healthcare in the state. It is clear that nurses in Pennsylvania have great potential – and responsibility -- to make much-needed changes to the healthcare system.

To this end, the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, a co-leader of the Pennsylvania Action Coalition, joined a 50-state campaign to advance the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s 2010 Future of Nursing report. Leading the campaign are the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the Center to Champion Nursing in America, and the AARP Foundation.

Chaired by Julie Fairman, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Nightingale Professor at Penn Nursing, the steering committee of the Pennsylvania Action Coalition is developing a mission statement and strategic plan -- or “map” – to meet the IOM’s recommendations in Pennsylvania.

Time is of the essence. Pennsylvania ranks fourth in the nation among states with a population aged 65 and older, after Florida, West Virginia, and Maine, according to the 2010 Census, with similarly high rates of diabetes, hypertension, and asthma. The demand for healthcare providers of course is growing in tandem.
To meet the increasing healthcare needs of the U.S. population, the IOM report recommended:

• Increasing the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80 percent by 2020
• Doubling the number of nurses with a doctoral degree by 2020
• Developing nurse leaders to advance health
• Building an infrastructure for the collection and analysis of interprofessional healthcare workforce data to ensure equitable distribution of resources.
Advancing the education of nurses is particularly important. The national average for nurses with a bachelor’s degree is about 50 percent, and in Pennsylvania it is about 41 percent. Susan Hassmiller, senior adviser for nursing with RWJF, spoke not about a so-called “nursing shortage,” but about a faculty shortage. Estimates show that some 3,000 eligible nursing students are turned away every year by education programs in Pennsylvania for insufficient numbers of faculty to teach them.
As she pointed out, having more highly educated healthcare professionals will lead to safer and more effective care, and having more nurse practitioners and midwives in practice would help create a more cost-effective system.

The Pennsylvania Action Coalition will next establish regional coalitions co-led by a nurse and a non-nurse partner. This is where the real work will take place. When you are called to participate, I urge you to join.

You have a role in ensuring more equitable care, state-by-state, in a country in increasing need of it.

A Global Woman's Story

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:30:00 +0000

“It is time to tell the new story.” Those resonant words from Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International, opened our new Center for Global Women’s Health on Friday. The Center’s inaugural symposium offered a thoughtful prologue to the body of global research in women’s health scholarship, education, and practice that Center faculty and scholars will produce.

The Center’s first chapter is enriched by an extraordinary gift for our School, a generous endowment fund for visiting global scholars.

The benevolent donors of this endowment, Ambassador Martin Silverstein (a member of our School of Nursing Board of Overseers) and his wife Mrs. Audrey Silverstein (a lawyer and member of our Nurse Anesthesia Board) named the endowment for a mother called Dr. Soad Hussein Hassan.

This woman was born in a small village in Egypt called Abu al Akhdar to a mother who was a farmer who never went to school and a father who worked on the Egyptian railroad. She went to a diploma nursing school and became a popular school nurse first and a successful midwife later.
Through sheer persistence and commitment to her beloved nursing profession, she managed to get a World Health Organization scholarship to attend Syracuse University, leaving her family and not seeing her children for two years, to study for a B.S. in nursing, becoming one of the first people in the Middle East to receive this degree.

Knowing that she wanted a future in educating nurses, first in diploma schools, then in university programs, and realizing a bachelor’s degree would not be enough, she got herself admitted to the school of public health in her native Egypt and was the first nurse to receive an MPH. She went on to establish schools of nursing in her country as well as others such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. But she continued to dream about studying for a PhD and got herself admitted against all odds to another university in her country and completed a PhD in education at the age of 56.
Being the first nurse in her country to be admitted and to receive a PhD from a university in her own country -- others received PhDs ahead of her from U.S. universities – the defense of her dissertation was a major happening and was televised.

This woman, nurse, dean, global educator, and mother met in her life many of the obstacles many women encounter: poverty, harassment, discrimination, and marginalization. She was beautiful and hence accused of using her beauty to get what she wanted. Because she was a diploma-school graduate, she was marginalized by the young new college graduates. Because she was a nurse, she was devalued by her colleagues in other, more established colleges at the university. And because she started from very modest beginnings and was ambitious, men thought she was easy prey and chased her.

Her integrity, her aspirations, and her hard work paid off: She became the modern Nightingale of the Middle East. She retired at the age of 76 after opening and running eight schools of nursing in that region of the world. At least four of these were schools with BS, MS, and PhD programs. She mentored hundreds of nurses and was a revered leader. Her story is the story of many women and many nurses in the world. She epitomized inner strength, resourcefulness, vision, strategic thinking, commitment to excellence, and love for the discipline of nursing. She also epitomized the suffering and triumphs of women who come from modest backgrounds in the developed or developing world.

Another wonderful part of this story is that this woman, in whose name the endowment is given, is my mother!

She miraculously received a PhD without ever going to high school, was married for more than 50 years, raised two daughters, and died a few days short of her 88th birthday after experiencing Alzheimer’s disease for 10 years. Toward the end of her life, hearing me read to her from one of the 10 books she wrote about nursing, brought a smile and a glimpse of recognition.

Global women’s health is a story that connects the past with the future. We have much yet to tell.

History in the Making

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:32:00 +0000

When any one of our alumni shines, our entire School shares in the glow. As we open Alumni Weekend, news from several of our graduates gives us even more reason to celebrate. At a time when the voices of nurses are becoming even more important – and I believe more powerful -- than ever, Penn Nursing graduates take the lead in education, health, and science. Here are just three distinguished examples.

Divina Grossman, GRN’89, has been named chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Dr. Grossman has served as Florida International University’s founding vice president for engagement, developing partnerships at local, state, national, and global levels. In this role, she also led a university-wide effort to coordinate and expand internship opportunities for students. Dr. Grossman, an expert in biological rhythms and fever management, chairs the health disparities task force of the American Academy of Nursing. Her reputation as an energetic and outgoing leader is a hallmark of our Penn Nursing alumni.

Eileen Sullivan-Marx, HUP’72, Nu’76, Gr’95, has been named dean of the College of Nursing at New York University. At Penn Nursing, Dr. Sullivan-Marx has been a professor of scholarly practice, associate dean for practice and community affairs and Shearer Endowed Term Chair for Healthy Community Practices in the Penn School of Nursing. Her leadership has been extraordinary, overseeing Penn Nursing’s practice and community mission through oversight of our School’s Program of All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly (PACE), our Living Independently For Elders (LIFE) program, our Healthy in Philadelphia Initiative, our Penn Nursing Consultation Service, our Penn Council of Nurses, and our Center for Professional Development. Of course we will miss Dr. Sullivan-Marx, but her national leadership is a reflection on her HUP and Penn Nursing education and on the excellence of our School.

And our newest graduates already are shooting stars. As he joins the ranks of our alumni on Monday, James Calderwood, Nu’12, W’12, has been selected as a U.S. Congressional intern. His work as a student demonstrates that he does indeed care to change the world. Mr. Calderwood was a medical assistant at DoCare International, which serves in remote areas of the world, and a team leader with the Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative in West Philadelphia. As an intern focusing on health policy, he will make his alma mater proud. We have great expectations for all our 2012 alumni!
This is a most exciting weekend when we welcome back our graduates for Alumni Weekend and draw our 125th anniversary commemoration to a close. We look forward to hearing more about the accomplishments of our alumni as Penn Nursing continues to make history. Update us on your achievements anytime at www.nursing.upenn.edu/alumni. Hurrah for the Red and the Blue!

And the Winners Are...

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:28:00 +0000

When the University of Pennsylvania chose the “Year of Games: Body and Mind” as the theme for this academic year, we said “Game on!” I am proud to say that Penn Nursing took the Year of Games farther than we ever anticipated. We developed the Game Solutions for Healthcare competition. The goal: To use technological innovation, games, and entrepreneurship as conduits to better health. Ten interdisciplinary teams of students, faculty, and staff took their ideas from promise to prototype.

We just announced the winners of our inaugural Game Solutions for Healthcare competition. They are:

FIRST PLACE MyDiaText, a text message goal reminder system for children aged 10-14 recently diagnosed with Type I diabetes.

SECOND PLACE Trigger Buster, a mobile educational health game to help children and their families learn about asthma.

THIRD PLACE Healthy Cities: Healthy Women, an educational, interactive, solution-based game designed to raise awareness of urban women’s health issues.

SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD Mission Reintegration, a discussion-starter game for military personnel on aspects of reintegration, interpersonal relationships, symptom recognition and management.

I am so proud of our winners, and all our teams. They have re-conceptualized game-playing as a path to health education, awareness, and treatment. These innovations could put nurses in the position of being entrepreneurs: That is value added to nursing science and nursing care.

The champion behind all these games is Dr. Nancy Hanrahan, the Penn Nursing associate professor who guided, mentored, inspired, and challenged the school community to develop so many promising games. For any new initiative, we need a champion, and Nancy has been ours.

So, what is our post-game plan? We will take the summer to consider next steps, how we are going to “level up.”

Check back in September for the next round!