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Graduating 140 Spartans into the Nursing Workforce
The spring 2013 graduating class of nursing students consisted of 140 degree candidates. On May 3-4 6,945 degree candidates from MSU participated in undergraduate convocation and advanced degree ceremonies - becoming Spartan Alumni.Our aim to deliver results to the IOM Future of Nursing Report and help increase the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80 percent by 2020 is realized three times per year. This spring, the College sent forth more than 80 new Spartans with baccalaureate degrees. Another recommendation of the IOM report is to prepare and enable nurses to lead change to advance health. This spring, the College sent forth 50 new Spartans with a MSN advance practice specialty degree.

In addition, two graduates were awarded the PhD in Nursing. They will be translating research and science into practice and joining the workforce in leadership roles as new nursing faculty.

MSUFCU Supports Three Scholarly Project Awards
Students in each MSN concentration completed an evidence based scholarly project related to their advanced practice specialty area. The top three projects were awarded $800 and recognized at the graduation luncheon.

MSU Faculty Conversations Features Henry Talley
The MSU College of Nursing is celebrating the five-year milestone of the MSN Nurse Anesthesia program, and 126 years of anesthesia being delivered by nurses. Henry Talley has been involved in both anesthesia and the Michigan Association of Nurse Anesthetists for years, and says becoming the founding director of MSU’s program was one of the best moves he’s ever made.

“We had been, up until about six years ago, one of the best-kept secrets in health care,” said the associate professor in MSU’s College of Nursing. “And now, the secret’s out.”

MSU, Komen Team Up to Treat Area Women
Underserved and underinsured women will have access to critical services for preventing, diagnosing and treating breast cancer, thanks to a $45,000 grant to Michigan State University from the Mid-Michigan Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The new grant marks four years of funding for the program, administered by the Department of Surgery in MSU’s College of Human Medicine. The effort focuses on women under 40 in Ingham, Eaton, Clinton, Shiawassee and Jackson counties.

NUR470: Community and Population Health
In a world of shrinking Public Health Nursing clinical placements, yet increasingly complex family and community health challenges, NUR470’s virtual reality simulation provides students an alternative to real life experiences. Students experience real life situations within the safety net of virtual reality and learn from their mistakes.

Students experience the virtual reality home visits as a clinical group of eight students. They make four virtual home visits as pairs to Spartan Health Island in Second Life using the Public Health Nurse avatars that they have created. They interact using the chat and voice tools with one or more of the family member’s avatars played by either a simulated patient or the clinical instructor.

barb and bill given standing together

Testing New Tools for Better Cancer Care
Researchers in Michigan State University’s College of Nursing will use two federal grants to explore tools for helping cancer patients navigate the often daunting instructions that come with new chemotherapy drugs. Cancer care has been transformed in recent years by chemotherapy in pill form that patients can take at home.

Given and her husband, Charles Given, MSU professor of family medicine, will lead a clinical trial to see if an automated phone call system can help patients take their pills properly. “Our hope is to come up with something that will make it easier for patients,” Given said.

Meanwhile, Sandra Spoelstra, assistant professor of nursing, will use a two-year, $350,000 grant – also from the NCI – to tackle the same problem with different technology. Her project will test the effectiveness of text messages reminding patients to take their chemo pills and requiring them to reply when they’ve done so.

Nursing Alumnae Among Top Women in Health Care
Two alumnae from MSU’s College of Nursing are among the top 25 women in the health care industry, according to a new ranking. Patricia Hemingway Hall and Shirley Weis – both of whom earned bachelor’s degrees from the college in 1975 – landed on the magazine Modern Healthcare’s list.

Front Cover of Magazine

College of Nursing Spring Magazine, 2013

MOVING FORWARD
Continuous Growth in Academics, Diversity and Research
The increased complexity of healthcare, higher education, and the profession of nursing impacts our work as educators, researchers and practitioners; challenging us to think in innovative ways.

One of the major themes of our spring magazine is partnerships. Almost all of our initiatives have a component of partnering with the community, other institutions and other disciplines.

Read about our partnership with the Lansing Public Schools to promote workforce diversity, partnership with community colleges to promote seamless RN to BSN education, a partnership with Sparrow Hospital to establish a Dedicated Education Unit, partnership with our donors and friends who contributed to the completion of our new nursing building, a research partnership with the College of Communication Arts & Sciences and the College of Engineering called the “Trifecta.” In addition, almost all of our nurse researchers are conducting community based research in schools, homes, WIC clinics, and primary care clinics. Read More.

Calendar of Events

06-04-2013 to 06-09-2013
Florence Nightingale in London

06-06-2013
2013 Reunion Days Alumni Dinner

06-12-2013
AO BSN Information Session

06-19-2013
AO BSN Information Session

08-01-2013
Student Scholarly Project Presentation Flyer

08-02-2013
College of Nursing Convocation & Pinning Ceremony: BSN (Spartan Stadium, Huntington Club 4th Floor,10:00 a.m.)

10-30-2013
2013 Conference on Pain

11-06-2013
2013 Case Management Conference

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Rebecca Lehto on Worry and Cognitive Function
After a lung cancer diagnosis, or a suspected diagnosis, nurses expect the majority of patients to have some psychological distress. However, worry and cognitive effectiveness are markers of potentially higher levels of distress. Worry and cognitive function are correlated in that patients have to actually inhibit their worries in order to concentrate on treatment-related information.

These worries can be a great distraction to a patient to acquire and understand information and function effectively. It is crucial for a nurse to have a sense of a patient's worry and cognitive function before they go into the operating room or begin a treatment regimen.

Gwen Wyatt on Complementary Therapies in Cancer Care
The latest research, Wyatt says, shows that 80% of patients with breast cancer use complementary therapies. This is a compelling fact and can be problematic if these therapies are being used without adequate safety and efficacy knowledge.

Though many complementary therapies do not have safety concerns, there is a need for evidence to support that. In the case of ingestible therapies such as herbs or botanicals, these can interfere with medical management or cause other symptoms.

Nurses Put Girls on a Path to Fitness and a Better Future
With the help of a $3.6 million federal grant, nursing researcher Lorraine Robbins is expanding a pilot program statewide to help middle school girls – particularly minority girls in urban, low socioeconomic settings – increase their physical activity.

The five-year Girls on the Move project, funded by the National Heart , Lung, and Blood Institute – focuses on individual and web-based counseling sessions with school nurses and an after-school physical activity club.