PITT UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FALL 2014 SCHOOL OF NURSINGNurse MAGAZINE About the Cover: This issue explores two of the School of Nursing’s graduate programs: the master’s and Doctor of Nursing Practice degree programs. Readers will have a chance to meet school administrators and expert faculty members as well as to learn more about the areas of concentration within each degree program. Throughout 2014, the school has been celebrating the 75th anniversary of its founding in 1939. As part of the festivities, the school presented the faculty, staff, and students with a commemora- tive T-shirt. These members of the school from the Pittsburgh (left) and Johnstown (above) campuses are happy to gather together and show off their pride in being part of the Pitt nursing community! Inside PITT NURSE RISING TO LEADERSHIP: GRADUATE PROGRAMS AT THE SCHOOL OF NURSING Pitt Nursing Graduate Programs: Development . 18 Steps to Success . 2 School News . 19 The Master’s Program . 3 Nursing Continuing Education . 23 The Nurse Anesthesia Program . 10 Alumni News + Notes . 24 The Doctor of Nursing Practice Program . 12 NurseBeat . 26 DEAN'S MESSAGE In response, our Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and DNP programs In the last issue of Pitt have been transformed to produce Nurse, we documented sufficient numbers of appropriately qualified nursing professionals. the evolution of the We have added BSN-to-PhD and University of Pittsburgh BSN-to-DNP options to facilitate I early admission to graduate nursing School of Nursing in programs. Many of our advanced the context of society’s practice specializations have been tran- sitioned to the DNP level. Course work changing expectations covering health care policy, ethics, leadership, and research has been of nurses . For 75 expanded to provide graduates with the years, the school has systemwide perspective that is essential expanded its academic to guiding health care entities and implementing comprehensive change. offerings to ensure that graduates have The school’s faculty members possess the expertise and the clinical, research, the appropriate level of or administrative experience that is skills and knowledge to much sought after by students and their employers. Some have had function effectively in extensive careers in nursing administra- associations. Pitt nursing alumni hold the ever-changing health tion as chief nursing officers (CNOs) senior positions with multinational cor- of major hospitals or as nurse practi- porations, major research universities, care environment . tioner leaders of community clinics. government agencies, foundations, the Many bring their federally funded military, and research institutions. research and results into the classroom, exposing students to leading edge The health care industry needs nurses Program evaluation and revision have topics and research. Many faculty with greater research, leadership, man- not ended—indeed, there are current members have risen to positions of agement, and technological capabilities. national mandates to increase the leadership in national nursing associa- Here at Pitt, we prepare students to academic preparedness of nurses and tions, giving them a robust knowledge assume leadership roles and to take nurse leaders, driving even further of the issues facing the profession. advantage of the many expanded change. The Institute of Medicine’s Today, 98 percent of our full-time opportunities now available in nursing. The Future of Nursing report calls faculty members are prepared at the I invite you to learn more by reading for doubling the number of nurses doctoral (PhD or DNP) level. this issue of Pitt Nurse and by visiting with a doctorate by 2020 as well as our Web site at nursing.pitt.edu. for universities to “prepare and enable Graduates of the MSN and DNP nurses to lead change to advance programs have earned positions that health.” The American Association enable them to impact care on the of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) issued national and global stages by serving a 2005 charge to move the current level as leaders of major community-based Jacqueline Dunbar-Jacob, PhD, FAAN of preparation for advanced nursing health care systems, collegiate nursing Dean and Distinguished Service Professor practice to the Doctor of Nursing schools, health plans, National of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh Practice (DNP) level. Institutes of Health-hosted study School of Nursing sections, and national nursing PITT NURSE FALL 2014 1 THE Modern medicine and health care have undergone great transformation pitt with the introduction of new tech- nologies, drugs, devices, procedures, MASTER’S and tests that have revolutionized NURSING Mthe way people live, the treatment of diseases, and the methods of health care delivery. Health care has been PROGRAM evolving at a breakneck pace since the 1940s. Antibiotics, vaccines, the identification of DNA, and organ transplantation became realities. Medical care, which had taken place THE graduate in the home, shifted to hospitals and specialty care settings. Today, people have unprecedented access to health PROGRAMS care in this country as well as to more NURSE ANESTHESIA effective surgeries, therapies, and artifi- cial limbs and organs. Not surprisingly, nursing education and practice have STEPS advanced as well. PROGRAM Since the School of Nursing was founded in 1939, the responsibilities of nurses have grown exponentially. to Today, nurses are leaders in patient care, research, policy making, and system management. The school has THE Success spearheaded the preparation of nurses for these enhanced roles by offering academically and clinically rigorous programs at the graduate level: DOCTOR OF NURSING master’s (1940s), PhD (1950s), and DNP (2006). Pitt nursing faculty members bring to the classroom their own significant clinical experiences and PRACTICE PROGRAM knowledge based on state-of-the-art research. Students can take advantage of diverse practical learning opportuni- ties at facilities ranging from a Level I trauma center to nonprofit community clinics in underserved neighborhoods. Alumni have taken the extensive skills and knowledge they acquired at Pitt into hospitals, clinics, health care sys- tems, and government agencies around the world. The school was seventh in U.S. News & World Report’s 2011 ranking of the country’s best graduate nursing programs. 2 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF NURSING THE MASTER’S PROGRAM Master’s education is critical to producing nurses who can engage in higher-level practice and leader- ship, seamlesslyTHE move into further graduate study, and meet the growing Mexpectations of patients and facilities. It builds on the baccalaureate degree, NURSEpreparing ANESTHESIA students to contribute to advanced nursing practice in a specialized role. Students gain mastery-levelPROGRAM knowledge from nursing and other disciplines as A PERFECT TRANSLATION well as the ability to evaluate and use evidence-based research in care Linda Dudjak, PhD (above), doesn’t The opportunity to care for oncology settings. Course work addresses hesitate when asked to talk about patients has been a shaping force, interprofessionalism, leadership, what attracted her to nursing. personally as well as professionally. ethics, informatics, communication, “Probably at the heart of it was the Her early experiences were in medical- and managementTHE so that graduates opportunity to blend my intrigue with surgical units in the days when can work within and direct health medicine and science with my passion oncology units were not prevalent in care systems and institutions. L for making a difference in people’s community hospitals. Even then, she lives,” she says. One of the ways that DOCTORMaster’s-level OF education NURSING in nursing recognized the chronic nature of a Dudjak is clearly making a difference is designed to build competencies cancer diagnosis and saw that there is by sharing her acknowledged in either direct or indirect patient was a huge opportunity for nurses to expertise in health care leadership. care roles. It features increasing influence patients and families through She has been in her current position PRACTICElevels of supervised PRpracticalOGRAM teaching and compassionate care as as an associate professor in the School experiences to allow students to well as through helping them to coor- of Nursing’s Department of Acute/ put to use what they have learned dinate services and navigate the health Tertiary Care responsible for the in the classroom. Graduates have care system. “I felt most rewarded MSN administration and leadership mastery of higher-level thinking and when I cared for patients with that concentration since 2008 and the a comprehensive understanding of diagnosis,” she says. “Those patient DNP administration concentration systems-level care and management. experiences have taught me so much since May 2014. To that role, she At Pitt, the School of Nursing offers about life. They are the things that brings a breadth of experience gleaned the majors described in the following keep me grounded.” from opportunities as a clinical nurse sections (please note that some of specialist in radiation oncology; One of the highlights of Dudjak’s career these concentrations are offered in director of inpatient services at the was in the late 1980s, when she was the online environment in addition to University of Pittsburgh Cancer a member of the team that developed on the Pittsburgh campus). Institute; program administrator at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer UPMC Presbyterian; and