News and Events

Congratulations Dr. Renae Schumann!
UT SON held a going away party for Dr. Renae Schumann  Friday, May 3rd. Dr. Schumann has been a faculty member at UT since 2000. She has accepted the position of Dean at Houston Baptist University. UT and Zeta Pi wish Dr. Schumann the best of luck in this next stage of her career. Although she is leaving UT we are told that she is not leaving Zeta Pi.

Projects Funded
Congratulations to Drs. Grimes and Wang on the funding of 3 new projects:

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded UTHSC-H a grant of $217,807 for the period of May 1, 2013 through October 31, 2014. Title of Project: State Regulations for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs), Physician/APRN Collaboration and Patient Outcomes in Primary Care. PI: Deanna Grimes, DrPH, RN, FAAN, School of Nursing. Co-investigators from Medical School: Eric Thomas, MD, Jason Etchegaray, PhD, and Madelene Ottosen, MSN, RN

The Isla Carroll Turner Foundation Trust awarded Nancy Bergstrom, PhD and the Center on Aging an award of $30,000 for the period of January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014. Projects funded in this award include: Harris County Long Term Care Ombudsman Program Return to Community, End of Life Preparations for Minority Populations, and Caregiver Education via Social Media.

A 2013 American Association of Diabetic Educators/Sigma Theta Tau Grant for $6,000 was awarded to Jing Wang, PhD. Title of Project: Implementing a Multiple Behavior Self-Monitoring Intervention with a Diabetes Education Program

New CE program- Spread the Word!
UT DNP students Pamela Alizadeh, Jennifer Karner and Kathleen Siders have written a CE program; it is posted on AANP’s website on inflammatory breast cancer as part of their DNP project. Since it is AANP, you need to be a member in order to access the CE program. You may access the CE program through the AANP website. Scroll down to the program titled *When Mastitis Kills: Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC). Participants will receive 1 CE credit from AANP, learn about a deadly disease which is frequently misdiagnosed, and help UT DNP students with a worthwhle project.

Research Day 2013
Zeta Pi sponsored the UTHSC School of Nursing’s annual Research Day on April 19, 2013. This project was coordinated by Dr. Nancy Bergstrom and the Center for Nursing Research, and featured posters and podium presentations from current School of Nursing students at the baccalaureate and graduate levels. Faculty served as coordinators of some projects and also presented their own research.
We had 55 attendees who viewed undergraduate and Master’s level posters on the first floor, attended podium presentations in Room 330, and viewed doctoral and faculty posters on the 3rd floor. Participants’ comments were positive and lots of great information was shared by presenters!
Zeta Pi sponsored breakfast and afternoon snacks, and through the generosity of an anonymous donor sponsored two monetary awards ($100 each) - Best Undergraduate Poster Award went to Stacy Carter and Ashley Harrison, who are Honor Students in the Undergraduate Nursing Program, and worked with Drs. Shannon Hamlin and Erica Yu. Their poster is entitled “Patients as Partners in the Radiology Department at Methodist Hospital: A Pioneering Approach to Assessing and Implementing Patient-Centered Communication”.
The second monetary award was given for Best Graduate Poster, and went to Linda Cole, a student in the Doctorate in Nursing Practice program. Her poster is entitled, “Creating an Integrative Medicine Program in Tertiary Hospitals”. Ms. Cole also received another award for best overall graduate abstract.
One final award was given for People’s Choice- the best poster or presentation as chosen by the attendees. This award was given to a group of Undergraduate Honor Students working with Dr. Jennifer Sanner. Stephen Crawford, Kevin Schultz and Ida D’Amour Solomon were recognized for their podium presentation entitled: “Genetic Research: Implications for Nursing Practice.
It was a very rewarding day and we are already looking forward to next year! (Pics)

Dr. Smith to Present in Prague
Dr. Claudia Smith, PhD, RN, NE-BC, will be presenting  two abstracts to the STTI Research Congress in Prague later this year.

Dr. Suzanne Prevost speaks at Zeta Pi chapter meeting
On December 5, 2012 Zeta Pi chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International was honored to host Dr. Suzanne Prevost, the current President of STTI. Dr. Prevost spoke to approximately 60 attendees at the School of Nursing about leadership and the role of STTI. Those present enjoyed cake and beverages, and attendees received 1.5 CEUs. Members found Dr. Prevost to be an engaging speaker, and she highlighted efforts being made by other STTI chapters around the world. A link to the Panopto narration of her talk can be found here.

Article Posted
A new article describing Dr. Dorothy Otto's visit to a rural Tanzanian clinic  has been posted.

Zeta Pi now on Facebook and LinkedIn
Check out our new Facebook page: Zeta Pi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International/UTHSC  and don't forget Zeta Pi's new LinkedIn page: Zeta Pi Chapter- UTHSC Houston.

Mentoring
Zeta Pi chapter Vice President Gerardo Rivera has posted chapter Leadership Mentoring Program documents, for chapter leaders and their mentees who are interested in working together as partners to accomplish leadership goals through mentorship. These documents may be downloaded from our documents page.

Accolades

Jing Wang Receives Diabetes Educators/Sigma Theta Tau Grant
Jing Wang was recently notified that she is the 2013 American Association of Diabetes Educators/Sigma Theta Tau grant recipient for her project entitled: Implementing a Multiple Behavior Self-Monitoring Intervention within a Diabetes Education Program, May 1, 2013 – April 30, 2014.
Congratulations to Jing for her wonderful work. We are all very proud and we believe this success is a predictor of many more good things.

School of Nursing professors Recognized
Three professors from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Nursing are among 25 professors selected by StateStats.org for proven excellence in research, teaching and service. StateStats.org, a non-profit venture with the mission of advancing education through the use of technology and informational tools, compiled a list of the “Top 25 Nursing Professors in Texas” describing the educators as deserving of special recognition. The three professors are Susan D. Ruppert, Ph.D., professor of clinical nursing and track director of the adult/gerontology primary care nurse practitioner program, Pamela Hodges, Ph.D., assistant professor of clinical nursing; and Kristen Starnes-Ott, Ph.D., assistant professor of clinical nursing and track director of nurse anesthesia. All three faculty are from the department of acute & continuing care.

Ruppert is a certified family nurse practitioner and adult nurse practitioner who was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN). She is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP) and of the American College of Critical Care medicine (FCCM); she holds a Ph.D. from Texas Woman’s University.

Hodges was a finalist for the 2012 NURSE.com Nursing Excellence Award in Education & Mentorship. She also won UTHealth’s School of Nursing’s 2011 McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award in 2011. Hodges earned her doctorate from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Earlier this year, Starnes-Ott was honored as one of the “20 Outstanding Nurses of 2012” by the Texas Nurses Association (TNA) District 9 Foundation. She is also a 2010 New York Life Doctoral Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Foundation. Starnes-Ott earned her doctorate from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

The complete list of top nursing faculty may be found here.

Zeta Pi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau receives award  for efforts to strengthen nursing programs around the globe.
Zeta Pi, along with other chapters in Region 6, has been partnering with nursing schools in India to improve their nursing programs through teaching and financial support. Recently, an International Council Nurses (ICN) Mobile Library was donated for the use of nursing students and faculty at the Rebekah Ann Naylor School of Nursing (RANSON) in Bangalore, India. The Library, housed in a weather-proof, portable container, holds approximately 90 nursing and health publications including books, manuals and fact sheets. This valuable resource was donated along with computer equipment to augment the school’s internet access. Zeta Pi and Region 6 chapters have also partnered, since 1999, to purchase nurses’ uniforms for each RANSON graduating class. Previously, RANSON, along with the National School of Nursing and Grace Children’s Hospital in Haiti, received portions of $11,000 in sponsorship donations collected in November 2010, during the International Year of the Nurse Consortium.

Presentations and Publications

  
     Dr. Smith                Ms. Grami

Dr. Claudia Smith, PhD, RN, NE-BC, will be presenting two abstracts to the STTI Research Congress in Prague later this year. The first abstract , "Evaluating the Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Delirium Prevention Bundle in Hospitalized Critically Ill Patients", was written by Dr. Smith and Ms. Petra Grami, BSN, RN, NE-BC, CVNRN II. The second abstract , "A Pilot Study Testing Intrinsic Strength Factors as Predictors of Depression in the Houston Hispanic population with Cardiovascular Disease" was written by Dr. Smith and Aaron Bayles, MSN, RN.

Leyden, K. N. L., & Hanneman, S. K. (In press). Validity of the Modified Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale for use in sedated, mechanically ventilated swine. Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science

Congratulations to Stacy Drake and co-author, for her publication in Journal of Forensic Sciences, entitled “Essential Medicolegal Death Investigation Services: Standardization of a Survey Instrument Based on the Essential Public Health Services.” The article was published July 2011, vol 56, No 4, 1034-1040. We a proud of Stacy for accomplishments.