School of Health Sciences Newsletter Winter 2020

My journey as the interim dean

Antwinett O. Lee

My journey as the interim dean, School of Health Sciences, began on July 1, 2020. I am excited to be on this journey and to serve the School of Health Sciences and Seattle Pacific University. During these times, God is calling us to deliver our peak performance, and my prayer is that every day we will strive for excellence and operate at our peak performance. Our creator is in a front-row seat watching our performance. Actions matter.

These words from philanthropist Camille Cosby summarize my thoughts: “We can’t all be great, but we can attach ourselves to great causes.” Being the interim dean is a great cause.

Here in the School of Heath Sciences we have a multitude of opportunities and great causes in our Health and Human Performance and Nursing programs. Grounded in our Christian faith and values, we offer students a pathway to careers that are purpose driven. 

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 (NIV) 

Why I teach at SPU

I am passionate about teaching and feel like it is a calling for me. As a teacher, my aspiration is to inspire students to get excited about learning and be curious about inquiry in all things. I encourage mastery of the material while teaching students how to grasp concepts as oppose to memorization. I want learners to be able to utilize critical thinking skills by questioning theoretical material and using their assessment skills to dissect information.

I believe in transformative lifelong learning that improves not only the learner’s life but also benefits others through the learner’s stewardship. Facilitating learning and placing the learner at the center are how I build my lesson plans. The question I ask myself before teaching a lesson is “what is most essential for the learner to grasp during class time, related to the lesson objectives?” For example, as a teacher sometimes we want to teach the “nice to know,” “need to know,” and “must know” all in one lesson or course. However, with limited time what is most essential is the “must know” material.

What I have learned through student feedback is that the students want to be heard and essentially, no matter what teaching modality I use someone is not going to be satisfied or feel like my teaching approach is effective.

Antwinett O. Lee, Interim Dean

Autumn Quarter 2020 Highlights

• The Dean’s Tea was held virtually for August-November birthdays.
• Inclusive Excellence quarterly meetings with students were launched Autumn Quarter 2020. These meetings will address racism as a public health issue, “isms,” social determinants of health, trauma-informed care, disabilities, and equity issues, via Zoom.
• Lunch and Learn sessions were launched. Topic for Autumn Quarter 2020 was “The Psychological Effect of COVID-19 on students.”
• The Lydia Green Nursing program received a stock gift to support Nursing programs valued at $23,608.
• We won a Virtual-Assessment Technology Institute (ATI) enrollment for one of our prelicensure nursing students.

SHS Team Praise

• We entered a cohort of 22 doctor of nursing practice (DNP) students in September 2020.
• Dale Canavan, Health and Human Performance (HHP) chair, presented at the Washington National Strength and Conditioning Associations conference on Nov. 21, 2020.
• Special shout out to all of our new faculty making it through their first Autumn Quarter in the Lydia Green Nursing program.
• Special shout out to Rebeca González, Lena Hristova, Julie Ann Harrington, and Antwinett O. Lee for making the Pinning Ceremony that took place on Friday, Nov. 20 a very special event.
• Katie Butte is chairing and leading the diversity readiness work for SHS.
• Monica Finifrock’s article on “Community Health and COVID” will be published in the December 2020 issue of the American Journal of Nursing (AJN).
• Carol McFarland introduced our first group of Quarter 1 students to clinical care at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA).
• The HRSA ASSET (Ambulatory Services Supported by Education and Training) grant has been very rewarding for our students. ASSET Fellowship student Daniel Buenaventura will be filmed by a NBC reporter on his journey throughout nursing school — very exciting!
• Donna Kang: To present at the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialist (NACNS) 2021 Annual Conference — Resurgence of the CNS in March 2021. Her topic is: “Body Fluid Exposure Management: Improving Provider Adherence to Clinical Practice Guidelines.”  

• Megan Mitchell is the first graduate from the DNP program. Her scholarly DNP Project will be published in the Journal of Correctional Health Care.
• Liz Perpetua published the 7th edition of the Cardiac Nursing textbook with Wolters Kluwer.

Second ASSET cohort welcomed

Public Health-Seattle & King County (PHSKC) welcomed the second cohort of the Ambulatory Systems Supported by Education and Training (ASSET), Seattle Pacific University Fellowship Nursing students to its primary care clinics this Autumn Quarter 2020.

The ASSET grant is part of a four-year HRSA Grant — Nursing Education, Practice, Quality and Retention (NEPQR), which was awarded to PHSKC with SPU as the education partner on the grant. The purpose is to train current nurses in ambulatory care and to increase student nurses interest in ambulatory care. This partnership aims to build dedicated education units (DEUs) for undergraduate baccalaureate nurses who can serve medically underserved populations in ambulatory care.

The ASSET grant has afforded an opportunity for a robust academic practice partnership between SPU’s Lydia Green Nursing Program and PHSKC. The grant includes enhanced nursing curriculum as it relates to community health and ambulatory care in vulnerable populations as well as a supportive DEU within public health clinical practice settings where ASSET fellows apply skills they have learned. 

Under the mentorship of expert nurses and affiliate clinical instructors (ACIs), students apply their new understanding of harm reduction, trauma informed approaches to care, social justice, social determinants of health and health disparities to the nursing process and nursing interventions. The DEU model is unique in that it provides students with consistent, expert, reflective, and relationship-based mentorship throughout the course of the quarter. PHSKC’s practice settings provide rich learning opportunities in primary care clinics, mobile medical vans, and low barrier “Pathways” clinics for medication-assisted treatment along with glimpses of other public health outreach efforts via partnership organizations.

Nursing students in the second year of the program are selected through a competitive recruitment process for the ASSET Fellowship. They receive a stipend and additional learning seminars on topics specific to ambulatory care, trauma-informed care, social determinants of health, motivational interviewing, public health, community-based nursing, and skill building for serving vulnerable and marginalized populations.

SCCA fills the gap

With the prospect of only virtual simulation for clinical experiences in Autumn Quarter 2020 for first-quarter nursing students, an unexpected opportunity at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) filled the gap for direct care clinical learning.

SCCA’s main campus near Lake Union opened their doors (literally) to provide a timely experience for these new nursing students who were unable to be on site at long-term care facilities due to COVID-19 restrictions. In just a few short days, course faculty collaborated and coordinated a clinical rotation for students at SCCA over the course of four weeks. Students were assigned in small groups for a four-hour shift to staff the point-of-entry screening stations at SCCA under the supervision of SCCA staff and SPU clinical instructor. The bonus for each student was the 1:1 brief tour of SCCA, which, for many students, broadened their notion of where nurses can work and what nurses can do. Added bonus: meeting SPU nursing alumnae who work at SCCA!

To prepare for this unique clinical rotation, students attended a live Zoom orientation with Kathleen Shannon Dorcy (director of clinical research education and practice) and Briana Sanger (nursing staff development coordinator) for an introduction to SCCA, an overview of the screening process, and a mini-lecture on immunology. In addition, students were assigned to watch a SCCA webinar on communication and review handouts of the SCCA screening protocol. Clinical learning outcomes addressed concepts from students’ nursing courses: professional identity, communication, safety, mobility, and comfort. The relevance of personal protective equipment and hand hygiene has never been so significantly experienced! 

Following the assigned shift, students completed a clinical reflection to address learning outcomes and to provide opportunity to share particular insights gained from their experiences with patients/families. A clinical debrief with Kathleen and Briana revealed immense gratitude for this opportunity and, for many of the students, confirmed their decision to pursue nursing. Nearly all the students commented on their surprise at the positive disposition of the patients facing cancer. For several students, an interest in oncology nursing was ignited; for all, an awareness of the preciousness of life and health was intensified.

The support of the SCCA administration, especially from Kathleen Shannon Dorcy, was critical to the success of this pilot clinical rotation for beginning nursing students. The plan is to continue this partnership for clinical learning. Given the forecast for COVID-19, the need for screening will be with us!

Autumn Quarter 2020 Snapshots

Interim Dean, School of Health Sciences: Antwinett O. Lee

Health and Human Performance (HHP) Program

Chair: Dale Canavan

Manager, Budget and Business Operations: Julie Ann Harrington

Administrative Assistant: Rebeca González

3-Regular Faculty

1. Katie Butte
2. Dale Canavan (HHP Chair)
3. Jarret Mentink

6-Adjunct Faculty

70-Students

Graduate Nursing Program

Associate Dean for Graduate Nursing Programs: Christine Hoyle

Assistant Dean, Strategic and Community Partnerships: Carol McFarland

Graduate Programs Manager: Katie Bennett

Clinical Learning Lab Director: Emily Kelly 

Clinical Placement Coordinator: Maddie Richardson

Sciences Librarian: Carrie Fry

Manager, Budget and Business Operations: Julie Ann Harrington

3-Regular Faculty

1. Marie Holt (new)
2. Christine Hoyle: Associate Dean, Graduate Programs
3. Bethany Rolfe Witham

14-Adjunct faculty

69-Students (40 full-time and 29 part-time)

Undergraduate Nursing Program

Administrative Assistant: Rebeca González 

Clinical Learning Lab Director: Emily Kelly

Clinical Placement Coordinator: Maddie Richardson

Sciences Librarian: Carrie Fry

Manager, Budget and Business Operations: Julie Ann Harrington

11-Regular faculty

1. Vicki Aaberg (SHS Status Chair)
2. Ebony Blackmon-Humphrey (new)
3. Erika Busz (new .75 regular faculty, formerly adjunct)
4. Erla Champ-Gibson (new)
5. Cindy Dong (new)
6. Desiree Hoffman (on maternity leave)
7. Lena Hristova (Interim Associate Dean, Undergraduate Nursing and UNC Chair)
8. Carol McFarland (Assistant Dean, Strategic and Community Partnerships)
9. Heidi Monroe (Curriculum Chair)
10. Bomin Shim
11. Chanam Shin (new)

26-Adjunct faculty

161-Students

~32 students/cohort

SHS regular faculty and staff (17 faculty and 5 staff)

64% White

22% Asian

9% Latina

5% Black

88% Female

12% Male

UG Autumn graduating cohort 1120 (33 students)

49% White

30% Asian

15% Other

6% Black

Note: (9% Hispanic origin)

82% Female

18% Male

2020-21 Academic Year Snapshots of Rolling Admissions for Undergraduate Nursing

Fall 2020

~161 students

Winter 2021

~161 students

Spring 2021

~192 students

2020 Pinning ceremony
 

Did you miss the most recent pinning ceremony for the Class of 2020? Here’s a link to the November 20 event.

Year of the Nurse and the Midwife

The World Health Organization has designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. Watch videos and read more about it here.

Professor Emerita of Nursing Lilyan Snow

Professor Emerita of Nursing Lilyan Snow passed away on Nov. 29, 2020. She served in the School of Health Sciences for 14 years before retiring in 1998.

This brief bio on Lilyan appeared in the spring 1998 issue of Response magazine upon her retirement. “Lilyan Snow came to Seattle Pacific to teach community health nursing in 1984. She has been the curriculum development expert for the School of Health Sciences, and has served as co-director of the graduate nursing program and chair of the Nursing Graduate Studies Committee. The former faculty chair also participated in the Japanese and Taiwanese nursing exchange programs. In addition to her work at SPU, Snow was a volunteer for Shanti, an organization that provides support for people affected by AIDS. After retirement, Snow plans to spend time with her husband, Donald, and family. She traveled to England for the SPU C.S. Lewis Study Tour this summer, and will continue her studies of theology and work as a coordinator of volunteers at her church.”

She and Donald were active in the emeriti faculty group. Her colleague, Professor Emerita of Nursing Ruby England, said, “She was such a bright light, critical thinker, poet, and friend. She brought wisdom, optimism, smiles, and kindness to our faculty.”

Memorial services will be scheduled at a later date.