Features Category

Making an Impact

December 1, 2021

The pandemic affected all nursing professionals. Vanderbilt School of Nursing faculty pivoted to teach students in virtual settings, spearheaded clinical innovations such as expanded telehealth and nurse-on-call programs, studied pandemic responses and best practices, and provided leadership locally, regionally, nationally and globally. They also continued scholarly and research activities. The following pages represent select accomplishments by VUSN nurse scientists, educators and leaders in the academic and scientific arenas from the past year.

Signature Area: Responding to Recurring Health Issues

December 1, 2021

There are key differences between acute and chronic illnesses—one is associated with conditions that occur suddenly but eventually dissipate, while the other’s symptoms are long lasting and worsen over time. But together they make up one of the School of Nursing’s signature areas of research, with faculty united around the idea of improving the lives of patients through creative thinking and problem solving.

Have Vaccine, Will Travel

December 1, 2021

The knocking at the front door startled Melissa Williams* as she tried unsuccessfully to nap between jobs. Ever since the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 had taken Nashville into its grip, sleep had not come easily to the young single mother, who was worried about her children’s health as well as her own. So, when she opened the door to find representatives of Vanderbilt’s Mobile Vaccine Program on her porch, a feeling of relief washed over her.

Once a Nurse: Community of Nurses Continues in Retirement

November 30, 2021

At a retirement center nestled in the hills of Nashville, a cadre of Vanderbilt nurses have built a community within a community. No single career experience connects them—they’ve been war nurses, flight nurses, ER nurses and floor nurses, as well as teachers, researchers and administrators. Their relationships are woven through their vast web of experience, with their love of nursing at the hub. “Nurses always find each other,” says Charlotte Covington, BSN’69, MSN’89, associate professor of nursing, emerita.

Sidebar: NLN Jeffries Simulation Theory

November 26, 2021

Throughout Pamela Jeffries’ academic career, she has placed a strong priority on learning through innovative instruction. She was an early proponent of the use of health care simulations to model clinical events for nursing students. Simulations are an important part of a nursing student’s education, as they allow students to practice and improve their clinical…

Going the Distance

July 20, 2021

Last spring Associate Professor Ginny Moore, DNP, MSN’90, stood in her kitchen with empty paper towel tubes in hand, puzzling over the challenge in front of her. As director of the Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Specialty, she was trying to figure out the best way to build a makeshift model of a woman’s pelvis using…

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