Opening of Centre for Transformational Nursing and Health Research

Dr. Gail Tomblin-Murphy and Minister Leo Glavine

November 24, 2015 marked the opening of the CTNHR, the first nursing-led research center in Atlantic Canada.  Research focus will center upon population health, health workforce and health systems planning, health equity in marginalized populations, and knowledge translation.  read more...

Nursing Awards 2015

Christine Cassidy and Tim Disher

On November 26, 2015 students, faculty and donors were invited to a celebrate the many awards received by our students.  Of note are our two Killam Scholars – Christine Cassidy (PhD student) and Tim Disher (MN student), an honor for which they were nominated.  Among the many awards received, new awards presented this year included:

• Parkin Family Nurse Practitioner Scholarship, renewable scholarship awarded to Nurse Practitioner students who have shown ability, interest and commitment to work in underserved communities (awarded to Jacqueline van Wijlen and Kathleen Waugh)
• Anne Marie Hynes Scholarship in Nursing, a renewable scholarship awarded to an outstanding first-year student (awarded to Victoria Goulden)
• David R. Hall Scholarship in memory of Dr. Margaret Churchill, awarded to an outstanding first-year student from the Tri-counties enrolled in the Yarmouth site, School of Nursing (awarded to Brittany Holmes)
• Drs. Rajender and Asha Parkash Scholarship, awarded to an outstanding first-year student enrolled in the Yarmouth site, School of Nursing (awarded to Kennedy LeBlanc)

Research Collaboration in the Greater Atlantic Community

Faculty from the SON have been working with two communities in Prince Edward Island to uncover what makes communities healthy and what health services people need.

**Using available census data, faculty members Professor Norma Murphy, Dr. Andrea Chircop and Dr. Rosemary Herbert (UPEI School of Nursing) have produced a demographic portrait of the town of Montague, in Kings County, PEI, bringing into focus factors such as age distribution, level of education, employment and income, and housing, for example.  Identification of these social and economic determinants of health can help the town to think differently about what community health needs are beyond traditional health services.  Community focus groups, conducted in November 2015, elicited ideas on how to strengthen the population health within the town from participants.  Data analysis is underway.

**Tyne Valley, a small community in Prince County, PEI, recently contracted with a team from the School of Nursing to conduct needs-based health human resources planning for health.  The local community facility, Stewart Memorial Hospital, recently transitioned to the provision of long term care, significantly changing how local and surrounding community members access traditional health services within Tyne Valley.  Drs. Gail Tomblin Murphy, Kathleen MacMillan, Lori Weeks and Professor Norma Murphy will analyse available reports and census data and conduct focus groups with community members over the fall and winter to gain insights into community health status and needs for health services. Using a model for needs-based health human resources planning tested in varied countries and settings, the research project will apply information gained to develop community based recommendations for moving forward. 

SON Fall Events

** RN Prescribing Panel, October 22^nd, 2015

The SON was pleased to host a panel of colleagues from the United Kingdom this fall to present their experience of introducing prescribing authority for general class registered nurses.  Since 1998 RN’s in the UK have been able to prescribe medications; since 2005, they have been able to prescribe from the full NHS formulary.  The UK now has about 58,000 non-MD prescribers – most of whom are RN’s. Our panelists included Sue Axe, a Lecturer at the New Buckinghamshire University where she teaches the post graduate prescribing course; Sarah Jones, a primary care nurse who runs the minor illness clinic and cares for the 700 patients with diabetes in a busy practice just outside of Oxford; and Maureen McKay who was the practice manager when the practice began implementation.  Dr. Stephen Smith, a primary care MD in the Oxford practice sent a previously recorded presentation.  They each shared their insights and perceptions of how this change positively impacted the practice, team functioning and patient access to safe, quality care.  They also shared results of formal evaluation of RN prescribing after almost three decades of experience in the UK.  The Canadian Nurses Association released a framework for RN prescribing this year; several Canadian jurisdictions are moving forward with implementation.  Our thanks to the Department of Health and Wellness, Government of Nova Scotia and the College of Nurses of Nova Scotia for supporting the panel presentation.

**Virtual Scholar 2015-16

In 2012-13, the SON implemented a Virtual Visiting Professor role.  We have been delighted to host three VVP’s since then.  The VVP is on campus during the fall and winter terms for 3-4 days during which they provide one formal lecture and are available for consultation by faculty, students, and key partner organizations.  For the rest of their term, they are available virtually (email, Skype etc.) to contribute to advancing our scholarship.  This year, we are thrilled to have Dr. Brendan McCormack of Queen Margaret University in Scotland, as our VVP.  His research and scholarly work is directed to person-centeredness in health care and practice development related to achieving this goal.  Dr. McCormack is providing input to our new curriculum (to be launched in fall 2016) which has person-centeredness as a core concept.  He was on site at the end of October and will return in February, 2016.  Further information can be found at Learn more about Professor McCormack [PDF- 95 Kb]

**November Book Launch/Tour Event –Theresa Brown  RN PhD, NY Times Columnist and Author  

On November 1^st, we were thrilled to host a book launch for Theresa Brown, whose most recent book The shift: One nurse, twelve hours, four patients’ lives, was released this fall and hit the New York Times bestseller list for "Health".  Theresa pursued nursing as her second career, giving up her role as an English professor at Tufts University.  Her background in English literature provides a rich backdrop to her ability to tell the story of her experiences as a staff nurse in a busy haematology oncology unit in a way that is informative and compelling to a lay audience.  She is a frequent guest columnist for the New York Times. Her most recent column is a great example of her fine writing and ability to convey deeper meaning to everyday nurses’ work. 

You can purchase the book for yourself or for a friend at the Dalhousie University Book Store.

**For the Health of It – In November, undergraduate students participated in “For the Health of It”, a fundraising event sponsored by the Faculty of Health Professions.  Schools within FHP fundraise individually while creating and performing in educational and hilarious skits, engaging in healthy competition to best other schools.  More importantly, schools compete to raise the most funds for a selected local charity.  The School of Nursing’s FTHOI team, a sub-committee of the Dalhousie University Nursing Society, began fundraising and performance preparation in September.

This year’s charity, Katrin’s Karepackage, was founded by third year nursing student Maike van Niekerk, to aid cancer patients by covering travel costs to and from treatments.  Although originating in Newfoundland, the money raised from this year’s event will enable expansion, providing funds for cancer patients living 50km or more outside of Halifax. 

For more information on For the Health Of It, you can visit http://fthoi2015.yolasite.com

You can also visit http://www.katrinskarepackage.com/en/ for more information on Katrin’s Karepackage. 

The Dalhousie University Nursing Society is very active in student affairs of our school.  For more information about their activities, please visit our DUNS newsletter