Dean Linda Cronenwett has been selected to receive the Dorothy

Sigma Theta Tau International presented Dean Linda Cronenwett with the Dorothy Garrigus Adams Award.
Garrigus Adams Award for Excellence in Fostering Professional Standards at the Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) Founders Award Celebration on the evening of Nov. 2 during the STTI convention in Indianapolis, Ind.
The Dorothy Garrigus Award is presented to a STTI member who demonstrates leadership in encouraging the use and promoting the growth of professional standards, expands the understanding of professional standards to increase the quality and quantity of practice, utilizes professional standards to advance nursing practice, participates in the evolution or interpretation of the standards of the profession and is involved in signficant areas of fostering professional standards.
Categories: Faculty · News · Nursing Education · Nursing Research
Tagged: Dean Linda Cronenwett, Dorothy Garrigus Adams Award, nursing professional standards, Sigma Theta Tau International
Faculty member and division chair Marilyn Oermann received the National League for Nursing

Faculty member and division chair Marilyn Oermann will receive an NLN award in September.
(NLN) Award for Excellence in Nursing Education Research. Her award will be presented during the awards banquet that will be held during the NLN Education Summit on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009.
Categories: Faculty · News · Nursing Research
Tagged: Marilyn Oermann, National League for Nursing, National League for Nursing Education Summit, Nursing Education, Nursing Research
Sigma Theta Tau International has honored the Quality & Safety Education

Dean Linda Cronenwett serves as the principal investigator for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded Quality & Safety Education for Nurses project.
for Nurses (QSEN) Project with two multi-media awards. Dean Linda Cronenwett is the principal investigator for this Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded study.
The project is the 2009 International Award recipient of the Information Technology Award for Knowledge Advancement. This award recognizes a portion of QSEN’s Web site (www.qsen.org), entitled, “Collaborative Web Site: Transforming Nursing Curricula to Improve Quality and Safety in Patient Care.” The second award, the Nursing Media Award for Other (Electronic, Art, Photography, etc.), will honor the QSEN entry “Transforming Nursing Curricula to Improve Quality and Safety in Patient Care.”
The QSEN team received these awards for the content and technology of the QSEN Web site and its role in transforming nursing curricula to improve quality and safety education for nurses.
Both awards will be presented on Nov. 1 during the Tribute Awards luncheon at the Sigma Theta Tau International’s 40th Biennial Convention which runs from Oct. 31-Nov. 4, 2009, in Indianapolis, Ind.
To view the QSEN Web site: www.qsen.org
Categories: Faculty · News · Nursing Education · Nursing Research
Tagged: Dean Linda Cronenwett, patient care safety, QSEN, quality and safety education for nurses, Sigma Theta Tau International
School of Nursing faculty member Tom Bush was unanimously selected by the senior residents in the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine to receive the Carolina Cup for Outstanding Resident Teaching. Each year, the family medicine residents vote for the faculty members who have most influenced their education throughout their training. One award is given to a faculty member within their department, and one is awarded to a faculty member outside the department. Bush received the award for faculty outside the department. It is the second time he has received this recognition.

Tom Bush received the Carolina Cup for Outstanding Resident Teaching for the second time this year.
Categories: Faculty · News · Nursing Education · Students
Tagged: Carolina Cup for Outstanding Resident Teaching, faculty education awards, family medicine, Tom Bush
Carol Durham will be inducted into the National League of Nursing Academy of Nursing Education in September 2009. Durham was recognized for her significant contributions to nursing education in the area of simulation. She has developed simulation experiences for a variety of learners, including undergraduate and nurse practitioner students, registered nurses and nursing assistants, as well as inter-professionals in medicine and pharmacy.
Recognizing the need to prepare other educators in simulation, Durham has taken the patient simulator out to AHEC nurses, training them in the use of simulation. She has also assisted faculty at various nursing schools nationwide in faculty development around simulation, teamwork and quality and safety.
In a current project, Durham is using simulation to educate nurses in long-term care settings in North Carolina. For the past two years, she was on a team of nine simulation experts from across the United States along with eight international simulation faculty who developed courses for the Simulation Innovation Resource Center (SIRC) sponsored by the National League of Nursing and Laerdal Medical. The SIRC is now widely used for faculty development in simulation.

Carol Durham, director of the Clinical Education & Resource Center, will be inducted in the National League of Nursing Academy of Nursing Education in September 2009
Categories: Faculty · News · Nursing Education · Nursing Research
Tagged: Carol Durham, National League of Nursing, National League of Nursing Academy of Nursing Education, simulation education, Simulation Innovation Resource Center
The N.C. Department of Health & Human Services, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services sent out a memo yesterday, June 17, to all local medical entities and directors, promoting the SON’s master’s and post-master’s degree psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program.
The letter highlights this program and its graduates as valuable contributors to the healthcare workforce who can accentuate and broaden the mental health services currently available to patients in the state.
According to SON faculty member Victoria Soltis-Jarrett, who coordinates the psych-mental health nurse practitioner program, the School will graduate 20 nurses with this degree this year. Over the next four years, she said she anticipates the program will produce a total of 100 graduates, all of whom are committed to meeting the mental health needs of North Carolina.
Local medical organizations or individuals interested in learning more about the program or its graduates should contact Soltis-Jarrett: (919) 843-8587 or vsoltis@email.unc.edu.
Categories: News · Nursing Education
Tagged: mental health needs, mental healthcare workforce, N.C. Department of Health & Human Services, North Carolina mental health crisis, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, Victoria Soltis-Jarrett
Jon Seskevich, BSN ‘87, has been working for more than two decades to help families with stress and pain management. He has also produced two spoken-word CDs, but few people are aware of his lyrical talents. While a student at the SON, Seskevich put his creative juices to work, wrote a rap about the School and performed it on campus. We’re lucky that someone caught it on video. It’s priceless, and it captures the spirit of being a Carolina Nurse!
Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUhD55eoa5M
Categories: Alumni · Students
Tagged: Carolina Nurse, Carolina nursing alumnus, Jon Seskevich, nurse rap, nursing creativity
Ask any nurse about how nurses are portrayed on TV and in movies, and they will likely outline several reasons why these depictions are inaccurate and negatively impact how the public perceives the profession. But, now, the cable channel Showtime is launching a new series, Nurse Jackie, where the main character (played by Edie Falco of Sopranos fame) is a strong, take-charge ED nurse who readily speaks her mind. She has her flaws — addiction to pain medication to relieve her bad back and bending some rules to help patients and their families — but she demonstrates a high level of skill and knowledge.
Is she the depiction of nursing that you have been waiting to see on TV? Watch the first episode here:
http://www.truthaboutnursing.org/news/2009/jun/08_jackie.html
Send us your comments — is Nurse Jackie a positive or negative addition to nursing?
Categories: News · Uncategorized
Tagged: media impressions of nursing, Nurse Jackie, nurses in entertainment, nurses on TV, television portrayals of nursing
We need your help! The School of Nursing Office of Advancement is looking for the best way to describe the School and what it provides for its students and healthcare, and we want to know what you think. Please take a few minutes to answer the questions below. Your answers don’t need to be lengthy. You can leave your comments here or e-mail them to whitney_howell@unc.edu.
We thank you in advance for your assistance!
- What does Carolina Nursing mean to you?
- When you think of the School and your education here, what one word pops to mind?
- What is the most important thing you learned here?
- What difference has the School made in your life?
- What is the one thing you always wanted people to know about the School?
- If you had to describe nursing in one phrase, what would it be?
Categories: Advancement · Alumni
Tagged: alumni survey, student survey, thoughts on nursing