WHAT'S NEW

New Doctoral Degree Creates Opportunities for Clinical Nurses
The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) - the highest possible degree for nurses committed to clinical practice - is the latest academic program to be added to the timely array of JHUSON educational options.  Pending approval by the Maryland Higher Education Commission, the first DNP class will launch in January 2008 with subsequent classes beginning in September each year.

Hopkins Now Offers Nurse-Midwifery Program
The Women's Health Clinical Nurse Specialist/Nurse-Midwifery Track prepares students as women's health clinical nurse specialists and a certified nurse-midwives.  Graduates will receive a Master of Science in Nursing from JHUSON and a certificate of completion of the nurse - midwifery program from Shenandoah University.  Graduates are eligible to sit for the national certification exam given by the American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB).

Accreditation Site Visit Scheduled in 2008
The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing will undergo the accreditation process with the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) in Spring 2008. The site visit is scheduled for February 13-15.

CareFirst Creates New SON Scholarship Opportunity
In collaboration with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, JHUSON is offering the CareFirst Scholarship for the 2007-2008 academic year.  The scholarship awards $40,000 in tuition and living expenses to a student in the JHUSON Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Program who intends to become a nursing faculty member upon graduation. 

Faculty and Students Get Involved:

As part of his role as a critical care flight nurse, Dennis W. Jones, MS, RN (bottom row, right) attended an all day training in Groton, CT where he learned how to escape from a helicopter should it "ditch" into water. The training company, Survival Systems USA has built a large module which can be submerged into a 14 foot pool and inverted (just as a helicopter would). "In order to be certified, participants have to complete five evolutions. However, I participated in a sixth evolution which simulated escaping in the dark," says Jones. JHUSON graduate and fellow critical care flight nurse, Eric Leslie, RN, also participated in the training.

On July 13, Gayle Page, Dan Sheridan, Michelle Patch, Cheryl Dennison, Hayley Mark, Jason Farley, and Keisha Walker presented samples of their research to 11 staff members who work for Maryland members of the U.S. Congress.

Associate professor Cynda Rushton was one of 23 nationally and internationally known nurse scholars from across North America who gathered at the Creighton University Center for Health Policy and Ethics on April 25-27 for the seminar "Nursing and Health Care Ethics: A Legacy and a Vision." The seminar documented the contributions of the nurse ethicists in attendance and examined what future role their contributions might play in health care ethics.

This May, students Sarah Burney '08 and Chris Howell '08 collected 1,000 lbs of medical and nursing books, filled 17 M-bags, and shipped them to the Nurse Training Program at St. Albert's Mission Hospital in Centernary, Zimbabwe. 

Bringing four large duffel bags of medical supplies on their journey, Burney and Howell followed the books across the Atlantic this summer to work as volunteer nurses at St. Albert's.

As JHU Educational Perspective (EP) volunteers, SON students Caryll Campbell and Keira Wickliffe traveled to Tanzania in August to conduct health promotion teaching to secondary school students. The schools are located in districts with limited resources, so Campbell and Wickliffe collected donations of school supplies (notebooks, pencils, crayons, markers, erasers, rulers, books) and health supplies (toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, band-aids, gauze, vaseline, ace bandages, neosporin, and other first-aid supplies) for the Tanzanian students.

In Other News:

Sharon Earley Reeves, MAS, MScN, RN, a SON alumna (MSN '94) and past faculty member, has retired from her position as Chief Healthcare Executive and Nurse Executive for The Kennedy Krieger Institute after 20 years of dedicated service.  A woman of many achievements, Reeves acted as pediatric nurse specialist, educator, scholar, and humanitarian throughout her career at Kennedy Krieger.  She made significant contributions to managing the professional development of the Nursing staff, along with the planning, implementation, and evaluation of Pediatric Rehabilitation Care.

Dorothea Elizabeth Orem, a leader in nursing theory and research, died at her home in Savannah, GA this June at the age of 92.   A native of Baltimore, Orem began her work in 1949 and created the self-care deficit theory of nursing.  Her personal papers were deposited in 2005 with the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives, the official School of Nursing archival repository, and will be made available for research following an in-depth processing and organization.

In July, Dean Martha N. Hill, PhD, RN, FAAN, visited Beijing United Family Hospital.  Following her visit, Assistant Chief Nursing Officer Sharon Shuowen Hu (left) shared her photos with Hill and wrote "It was so wonderful to meet with you in Beijing. From our conversation we have learned a lot of Johns Hopkins."