Boosting its commitment to underrepresented nursing leaders, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing has secured a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for its innovative leadership program, Academy for Diverse Emerging Nurse Leaders. The academy is a groundbreaking, five-day immersive fellowship specially designed to train nurses from backgrounds that are underrepresented in nursing leadership…

Erin Miller, MSN’19, was honored with Vanderbilt’s 2023 Early Career Professional Achievement Award during Reunion and Homecoming weekend Nov. 2-5. The award is given by the Vanderbilt University Alumni Association and recognizes alumni age 40 and under for their significant record of career achievement and promise for professional success. Both a certified pediatric nurse practitioner and a pediatric sexual assault nurse examiner, Miller was one of the first graduates from VUSN’s pilot VEP-SANE program. Today, her expertise as a pediatric SANE, child advocate and health care leader is recognized in more than 1,000 completed sexual assault exams and court testimony in more than 100 cases.

Clinicians need to have a better understanding of the potential impact of patients’ anxiety sensitivity, or “fear of fear,” according to an article published in American Journal of Critical Care. When a patient has anxiety sensitivity, they misinterpret nonthreatening symptoms as threatening, assessing the potential meaning across physical, social or cognitive domains. These “what if” thoughts may trigger a spiral effect, stimulating the nervous system and resulting in stronger sensations and further catastrophic misinterpretations.

The number of dedicated nurses entering the profession will increase, thanks to a $1.25 million pledge from the Conway-Welch Family Foundation to establish the Conway-Welch Second Degree in Nursing Scholarship at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. This milestone gift, which will be awarded to a student enrolling in Vanderbilt’s new Master of Nursing program, was made in honor of Colleen Conway-Welch, the former dean of the school who died five years ago from pancreatic cancer.