Nursing Hall of Fame

On May 7, the Professional Nurse Committee at Altru Health System presented its annual Nursing Hall of Fame Award to Donna Devine, RN. Donna manages the fifth and sixth floors and the cardiopulmonary rehab unit of Altru Hospital.

A nurse at Altru Health System since 1977, Donna started as a nurse’s aid in orthopedics. Since, she has served many roles throughout Altru Health System including a float pool LPN, a cardiology RN on the fifth floor of the hospital and since 1999, her current role. During her time at Altru, she has been a mentor to her peers and has continually maintained the core values of being a quality nurse, providing one-of-a-kind patient care.

As a manager, Donna has pursued excellence in patient care. She has mentored, coached, challenged, and encouraged her staff to provide quality care to all patients. Caring for others is always at the forefront of everything that she does. Donna has also helped many people individually reach professional and personal goals. She infuses people with confidence, purpose, and the desire to go above and beyond in everything they do.

The Nursing Hall of Fame award is given annually to honor nurses who, over the course of their career, have exhibited extraordinary achievement in nursing at Altru. Donna is the seventeenth recipient of the award. The annual event is sponsored by Altru’s Professional Nurse Committee and is celebrated as part of National Nurses Week (May 3-9).

Grand Forks nursing conference

National nursing experts will be in Grand Forks May 18-20 to take part in the Midwest Nurse Educator’s Academy. The event is being held at the Alerus Center.

The conference, which brings together nurse educators from across the nation, aims to help educators develop faculty skills and provide education on the technology that is changing the face of nursing education — clinical simulation.

Clinical simulation is quickly becoming a key educational tool in nursing programs across the country. Health care has progressed to the point where prevention of disease and serious illness is the focus. Very few patients stay in hospitals for an extended period of time and, as a result, the clinical experiences available to nursing students present few opportunities for care.

Through the use of clinical simulation equipment, students have the opportunity to learn hands-on what it takes to work in an emergency situation, how to diagnose more effectively and ultimately to be better prepared for any critical situation they could face. These simulations help to make students more efficient in their approach to patient care.

All attendees will be given hands-on simulation opportunities and will learn how to incorporate this exciting new technology into their nursing curriculum. This will be a wonderful opportunity to connect with colleagues experiencing similar issues and to network with experts in the world of nursing academia.

Keynote speakers include Pamela Jeffries, associate dean for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, who ‘wrote the book’ on clinical simulation in nursing and Christine Keenan, education coordinator at Washington Hospital Center in Arlington, VA, who is nationally known for her work with simulation education.

Nearly 200 nurse educators from across the region have already registered for this stimulating conference. For further information or to register http://www.conted.und.edu/nurseeducator/

The conference is sponsored by the University of North Dakota College of Nursing, the North Dakota Nursing Education Consortium, Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Dakota Medical Foundation.

Celiac Support Group to meet

CROOKSTON — The Celiac Support Group will meet on May 18 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in Meeting Room 1 at RiverView Health. The Celiac Support Group meets on the third Monday of each month, September – May, and is hosted by Dr. Basit Baig, gastroenterologist and Mary Bratrud, LPN of the RiverView Specialty Clinic. For easiest access, attendees may park in the north parking lot and enter through the north RiverView Clinic entrance near the meeting rooms.

CPR course offered

CROOKTON — On May 15, RiverView Health in Crookston is offering a Instructor CPR Course as a part of its American Heart Association (AHA) Community Training Center. The course is being held from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. in the Classroom at RiverView. If you are interested in becoming a CPR Instructor, you must have a current Healthcare card. The cost of the class is $150.

Contracted Community Training Centers, or CTCs, and their sites are the only facilities permitted to offer AHA courses to the public and professionals through their affiliated instructors and programs. The American Heart Association is not responsible for any fees charged for this course.

For more information or to register for this class or information on other courses offered through the CTC, contact RiverView at (218) 281-9405 or (800) 743-6551 extension 405.

Nursing student awarded fellowship

The American Physiological Society, or APS, has awarded Christine Seames, nursing student at the UND, a 2009 Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

Fellowship winners spend the summer in the laboratory of an established scientist and APS member. Now in its 10th year, this program aims to excite and encourage students about careers in biomedical research. In 2009, 51 applicants vied for the 24 research positions.

Seames will be working in the laboratory of Dr. Cindy Anderson, interim associate dean of research and assistant professor at the UND College of Nursing, on Anderson’s research to study vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women from the rural, northern plains.

“Christine's application of scientific methods used in physiology to clinical problems identified in her professional nursing practice will provide a strong basis for her future pursuits as a nurse physiologist,” shares Anderson.

The research project involves biochemical analysis to determine relationships between maternal nutrient status and peri-natal outcomes. Christine will complete experiments on placental tissue to identify differences in nutrient transport in women with hypertension in pregnancy and those who had normal blood pressure. She has been involved in this project for one year, participating in recruitment and data collection. Now she will be involved in the analysis and interpretation of data.

"I've been working on this project with Anderson since the beginning”, shares Seames. “I am excited to be able to generate some data, analyze, and interpret it. It will be a great experience to be able to see the project come full-circle."

Tags: health, donna devine, celiac support group, features, cpr