Vital Signs Newsletter - August 2020 - University of Mississippi Medical Center

Message from Dean Sanford

I am delighted to share the recent news from the school particularly as we celebrate the 2020 WHO designated Year of the Nurse and Midwife. We honor and recognize the contributions of so many as nurses serve our communities during this challenging season of COVID-19.

Norwood promoted to associate dean

Dr. Anne Norwood, professor of nursing, has been promoted to associate dean for practice and partnerships in the School of Nursing. Prior to serving as interim in the role for the past year, she was the director of the Acute/Primary Care Pediatric and Neonatal Nurse Practitioner tracks at the SON and taught in the graduate programs.

Dr. Mary Stewart, who began her nursing career as a staff nurse in 1991, has been selected a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Stewart selected American Academy of Nursing Fellow

The American Academy of Nursing selected Dr. Mary Stewart, director of the Ph.D. program at the School of Nursing, as one of its 2020 class of new fellows. Stewart is one of 230 distinguished nurse leaders from around the world to be selected. She is the only fellow from Mississippi in a class that represents 39 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territory of Guam and 13 other countries.

Alexandra Tzotzolas, a School of Nursing student, wears a face shield and maintains her distance from other classmates while she listens to the heart and lungs of a mannequin in the SON’s simulation lab. Students in all seven UMMC schools who venture onto campus this fall will have to adhere to specific safety guidelines.

Pandemic sparks classroom flexibility, staff creativity for fall semester

Monday, August 10, 2020

When COVID-19 reached the University of Mississippi Medical Center's academic halls last spring, each of the seven schools on campus quickly transitioned traditional classrooms to online learning opportunities. While the pandemic continues to ravage the state five months later, the Council of Deans has planned a hybrid approach to educating the state's future health care workforce this fall.

In this March 2019 photo, Gwen Dew, nurse, examines Albert Russell's throat at the school-based clinic at South Delta Middle School.

SON's school-based clinics expand behavioral health care

Monday, July 20, 2020

A new three-year grant is enabling the School of Nursing to continue its critical work in schools in Jackson and the Mississippi Delta, and is providing expanded behavioral health services with the addition of a full-time psychiatric nurse practitioner.

Anne Sinclair, a nurse in the pediatric emergency department, shows Oxford accelerated nursing student Logan Christian, right, how to apply proper PPE and how to perform a COVID-19 swab.

UMMC places Oxford SON students in Jackson amid pandemic

Monday, June 22, 2020

After the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to prevent accelerated nursing students in Oxford from completing their clinical requirements, school partners at UMMC worked to pair all 47 students with preceptors on the Jackson campus during June.

Deidra Morgan, currently in the fourth year of the D.N.P. program, is using the scholarship to support her project on asthma management in schools.

Nursing students benefit from Mississippi Board of Nursing scholarships

Monday, June 8, 2020

Since 2017, the Mississippi Board of Nursing’s Office of Nursing Workforce has disseminated more than $2.5 million in scholarship funds to nursing schools in the state. This year, the School of Nursing at UMMC has received the largest amount to date; as a result, 85 nursing students have been awarded scholarships.

Dorothy Aultman-Abrams, a student in the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program, uses the Cochrane database in her office.

SON's evidence-based practice group achieves international affiliation

Monday, June 1, 2020

The Mississippi Centre for Evidence-Based Practice in the School of Nursing is only the second nursing school-affiliated program in the United States to receive this prestigious designation with the Cochrane network.

Pam Farris, a longtime nurse manager of several areas in the bone marrow transplant program, will receive her Ph.D. after having pursued it for eight years and overcoming a host of health challenges.

#UMMCGrad2020: UMMC employee graduates with long-awaited degree

Monday, May 18, 2020

Pam Farris sticks to her commitments. Every day for 26 years, she's traveled back and forth from Brookhaven to work at the Medical Center. After eight years pursuing her Ph.D., she'll graduate from the School of Nursing.

Dr. Alan Jones, left, the Medical Center’s clinical response leader, and Dr. Jonathan Wilson, incident manager, are key leaders in UMMC's COVID-19 response.

Leading the charge: Jones, Wilson help steer COVID-19 command team

Monday, May 4, 2020

Long days, longer nights and exhaustive planning and policy-making describe the efforts of the Medical Center's Incident Command, a group well-versed in emergency response and infectious diseases medicine. Dr. Alan Jones and Dr. Jonathan Wilson are among those leading the charge in UMMC's COVID-19 battle.