Nursing

Nursing graduates excel

• NCLEX pass rates for the baccalaureate nursing program were 100% and 97.1% for the first two quarters of 2012.  The national certification pass rates for the MSN Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) and the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) programs were 100% for 2012.  All these outcomes surpass state and national benchmarks.
• Graduates of the Adult Health CNS program had a 100% year pass rate on the Adult Health CNS national certification examination.
• Online students in the CNS program reside in 14 states in the U.S.

FNP Program to celebrate anniversary

The Family Nurse Practitioner Program will celebrate 15 years of education in Spring 2013, and planning is under way to honor the occasion.  Please contact Associate Professor of Nursing Pat Rouen at rouenpa@udmercy.edu or 313-993-1739 to help plan the event.

MSON names program leaders

Four new chairs were appointed in the McAuley School of Nursing: Assistant Professor of Nursing Renee McCune, Second Degree Option Program; Associate Professor of Nursing Mary White, RN-BSN Program; Associate Professor of Nursing Linda Thiel, O.P., RN-BSN, Grand Rapids; and Assistant Professor of Nursing Suzanne Keep, BSN traditional program, Grand Rapids.

DNP receives accreditation

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) received full accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Education (CCNE). The DNP program met all benchmarks for accreditation excellence for its initial accreditation. The program will graduate its first cohort classes in December 2012 and May 2013.

RN-BSN Program expands partnerships

The McAuley School of Nursing has established partnerships with health systems for on-site delivery of nursing education at 11 different locations. The RN-BSN program’s new hybrid cohort model provides students with both live and synchronous online learning experiences. The curriculum is grounded in principles of Magnet, leadership, safety and quality, and is specifically designed to meet the learning and professional needs of licensed registered nurses.

The newly revised RN-BSN degree program will offer five new cohorts in winter 2013, in addition to the two cohorts that began in fall 2012. The program continues to receive high praise from CHP’s clinical community partners. 

A formal partnership with the VA system (Veterans Administration Nursing Academy) has been extended for another year.  This was a selective process and the MSON was one of only two nursing programs in the state selected to continue in this model. The College is known for partnering with the community to address educational needs, as demonstrated by the partnership with Aquinas College and Saint Mary’s Health Care for a pre-licensure nursing program on the western side of the state.  In addition, the RN-BSN program is offered in Grand Rapids and Muskegon.

Nursing faculty sponsor international student

Student nurse Diko from South Sudan

UDM’s McAuley School of Nursing faculty is sponsoring a nursing student in South Sudan through Mercy Beyond Borders (MBB). Founded in 2008 by Sr. Marilyn Lacey, RSM, MBB seeks to educate young women living in extreme poverty. South Sudan is the world’s newest country. Years of civil war, fraught with atrocities against citizens, caused many to flee to surrounding countries where they lived in refugee camps. The faculty-sponsored student nurse, Diko, is one of the survivors of that strife.

Diko grew up in Alere Refugee Camp in northern Uganda, just below the border with South Sudan, and completed elementary and high school in the refugee camp. Born in 1990, she loves listening to the radio, engaging in debates, and playing volleyball.  She speaks English, Kuku and Mahdi, and aspires to become a nurse.  Her parents have since repatriated back into South Sudan now that the war is over, but being subsistence farmers, they do not have the wherewithal to send Diko on to college.  To assist in this initiative, please contact Sr. Judy Mouch, RSM, associate professor of Nursing, at mouchj1@udmercy.edu or 313-993-1677.

Recent graduates share research

NE/CNS alumnae Susan Schedler ’12 presented a poster at the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialist on her healthcare systems program project, “Patient Safety Video and Teachback Method,” and Vicky Keys ’12 published, "When Tragedy is Our Own" in the Journal of Christian Nursing.  

Physician Assistant

PA graduates excel

100% of the 2012 UDM Physician Assistant graduates passed the Physician Assistant National Certification Exam (PANCE), reflecting the program’s continued high level of excellence. The PA program first time pass rates on the national certification exam in 2009, 2010, and 2011 were 97%, 100% and 97%, respectively.

PA Updates

The Physician Assistant program was successfully reaccredited by the Accreditation Review Commission, and Amy Dereczyk, assistant professor of PA, was appointed chair of the PA program.

The PA Program held an alumni reception, Friday, Oct 12 at the Michigan Academy of Physician Assistant's Fall Conference with alumni participants from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s attending.  Current PA students were also present for this networking opportunity.

The PA Program is developing an alumni advisory board.  An announcement was sent to the PA alumni email list in early October.  For more information or to serve on the board, contact PA Program Chair Amy Dereczyk at dereczal@udmercy.edu.

Nurse Anesthesia

NA graduates excel

The Nurse Anesthesia program’s first time pass rate on the national certification exam was 93.2% (mean) over the last five years. The national average is 89.7%.

Senior Seminar, Nov. 17

The NA program will host the Senior Seminar, Nov. 17 at the Motor City Casino Hotel in Detroit. This is a 5-hour continuing education event for Nurse Anesthetists in the community. The honored guests include Ashish Sinha M.D., Ph.D. from Drexel University, who will speak on “Morbid Obesity and Bariatric Anesthesia,” and Karen Crawforth, CRNA, Ph.D., who will speak on “CSI Detroit—Using Evidence to Improve Practice.” Alumni are invited to register for the event on the Senior Seminar page.

Students represent program  

NA students have represented UDM with distinction this year. More than half of the Nurse Anesthesia class of 2011 (11 of 20) participated in volunteer overseas medical missions. Doni Flinn represented the NA Program at the AANA College Bowl in San Francisco in August.  UDM seniors Mike Silvestri and Michelle St John spoke on Obstetric Anesthesia at the fall meeting of the Michigan Association of Nurse Anesthetists in Grand Rapids in September. Darin Tharp, Isioma Orihu and Melissa Konopka were chosen to speak at Senior Seminar in November. These student presentations indicate the quality of their scholarship and presentation skills.

Health Services Administration

Curriculum update

The undergraduate HSA program has been revised to include two new courses: Health Care Emergency Management and Health Services Organization Management. In the future students will take two courses, Health in the Community along with Health Promotion and Risk Reduction to provide a more comprehensive foundation for their careers in health services administration. The number of major courses and credit hours for graduation remain the same.

Chinese students share insights on Chinese healthcare

A cohort of nine students from Renmin University in China are now in their second year in the Master of Health Services Administration program. Along with learning about the U.S. health system, the students shared insights about the Chinese healthcare system with faculty and students in the HSA program.

Students participate in case competition

Three HSA students, Masha Funmilayo, Breanne Dandridge and Tiffany Dobbins, participated in the National Association of Health Services (NAHSE) 2012 Everett V. Fox Case Competition in October. NAHSE is a "non-profit association of black health care executives founded in 1968 for the purpose of promoting the advancement and development of black health care executives, and elevating the quality of health care services rendered to minority and underserved communities."

MHSA students (from left) Tiffany Dobbins, Breanne Dandridge and Masha Funmilayo represented UDM at the National Association of Health Services (NAHSE) 2012 Everett V. Fox Case Competition in October.

Competing against 19 other college teams, the students had three weeks to formulate a plan that a health system could utilize to deliver health care services to about 10,000 "dual eligible" beneficiaries in the northwest Ohio. Although the UDM team did not win the competition, the students reported that the experience was both academically rewarding and inspiring.

Job shadowing to occur in February

Approximately 10 UDM HSA graduate students will once again participate in the annual Job Shadow event sponsored by the Midwest Healthcare Executives and Associates, the local chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives, in February 2013. The event gives graduate students an opportunity to spend a day with a health care executive and observe the many activities that are part of this professional’s duties.