Nursing School students and faculty have a number of things to smile about these days.
In the past week, the Nursing School has been inundated with awards for its faculty members, some garnering the nursing world's highest honors.
Nursing Professor Linda Aiken has been honored with three awards, one of which is the most prestigious in nursing. The Episteme Award from Sigma Theta Tau International -- the Honor Society of Nursing -- was awarded to Aiken "for her groundbreaking research, particularly in the area of nurse staffing issues," Sigma Theta Tau President Patricia Thompson said in a statement.
Funded by the Baxter International Foundation, the award provides a $15,000 research grant.
"Our research has demonstrated that organizational change in clinical healthcare settings improves patient outcomes and enhances the recruitment and retention of professional nurses," Aiken said.
The research grant "should raise the visibility and legitimacy of our research findings, which will aid in moving these findings into practice," Aiken said. The Episteme Award recognizes the beneficial effect a major breakthrough in nursing knowledge development has upon the public. Aiken will receive the award in November.
She has also been honored with the Friends of the National Institute for Nursing Research Pathfinder Award and the National Media Award from the American Academy of Nursing.
The first Penn Distance Learning pediatric oncology students at St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. will be graduating from Penn on Oct. 2.
The program was launched in 1995 and has had 27 graduates so far. As the first of its kind and a model for other nursing schools, the Distance Learning Program connects the Penn Nursing School with St. Jude's Hospital.
The program enables nurses with families -- who might have logistical difficulties going to school -- to have an opportunity to receive a Penn degree through interactive teaching. The second class of nine students has just begun at St. Jude's.
Director of Admissions Carol Ladden, Professor Janet Deatrick, who helped coordinate the program and Wendy Hobbie, who runs the program, will be traveling to Memphis for the graduation.
And to help look at the social, educational and cultural role of nursing in the United States, Associate Professor of Primary Care Nursing Ann O'Sullivan has been named an executive committee chairwoman at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The organization is devoted to examining the place of nursing in society.
O'Sullivan's committee focuses on providing programs concerning current public health issues with various views shared by national, state and local experts.
"We continue to study public health problems and bring together institutional, professional and municipal perspectives to find solutions," O'Sullivan said in a statement. Her research at Penn revolves around adolescent pregnancy and its prevention.
Additionally, the Lavinia Dock Award from the American Association for the History of Nursing has been given to Nursing Professor Karen Buhler-Wilkerson for her new book, No Place Like Home: A History of Nursing and Home Care in the United States.
And to wrap up a prestigious week at the Nursing School, Professor Deborah McGuire has received the Distinguished Nurse Alumni Award from the University of Illinois at the Chicago College of Nursing.
