Newsletter

• Col. Lucretia McClenney
  
• Dr. Erica Brown and Dr. Summer Cross
  
• Dr. Summer Cross and Dr. Jennifer Rogers
  
• Dr. Katy Garth
  
• Nolan Hayden
  
• Dr. Lauren Roberson
  

Mark your calendar

• Looking for Lunch?
  

Programs

• Simulation center grand opening
  

Congratulations to Col. Lucretia McClenney on being nominated as a Member of the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission, Department of Veterans Affairs. On March 9 the white house released a statement nominating Col. McClenney. Congratulations on this great honor! More about Col. McClenney’s nomination can be found here.

Col. McClenney is 30-year veteran and a staunch veterans advocate. She is also a 1972 Murray State University nursing graduate and a 2015 Murray State distinguished alumnus. In 2018 Col. McClenney established and endowed a scholarship at Murray State for nursing students with at least one parent from an underrepresented population and who has experience and background in a multicultural environment.

Pictured right is Col. Lucretia McClenney.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Erica Brown and Dr. Summer Cross on their recent abstract acceptance. Their poster, “Impact of an SBAR Tool on Communication in Labor and Delivery during Hand-Off Reports” was selected for presentation at the 2022 AWHONN Convention, to be held June 25-29 in Aurora, Colorado.

Pictured left to right are Dr. Erica Brown and Dr. Summer Cross.

Congratulations to Dr. Summer Cross and Dr. Jennifer Rogers on the recent acceptance of their article for publication. Their article, “Nursing Bridge to Success: Implementation of a Dedicated Nursing Student Retention Program” was accepted for publication by the Kentucky Nurse.

“In this article we discuss implementing our student success coaching program here in nursing at Murray State and some of the preliminary feedback we have received from students who have attended workshops and used the Success Coaching appointments,” said Dr. Cross.

Pictured right is Dr. Jennifer Rogers. Dr. Summer Cross is pictured in an earlier article.

Congratulations and thank you to Dr. Katy Garth for her work on obtaining grants to benefit students from the nurse anesthesia program. The Nurse Anesthetist Traineeship (NAT) Program has awarded the Murray State University School of Nursing and Health Professions (SONHP) $23,314 a year for three years. Money from the award goes directly to selected students to be used to offset the expense of their education. Four anesthesia students benefit from financial support through this program each year.

The traineeship program is established by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to support the number of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAS) providing anesthesia care. The intent is to increase access to care for rural and underserved populations. Students are selected through a competitive process based on the HRSA criteria.

Pictured right is Dr. Katy Garth.

On March 18 and 19 our senior anesthesia students attended the KyANA Spring 2022 Scientific Meeting and presented their DNP projects in the poster presentation showcase. Nolan Hayden received recognition for favorite poster/project. Selection for this honor was completed by online and in person voting. Hayden’s presentation, “Herbal Therapy and Anesthesia: Improving Provider Awareness” was selected as the overall top choice by both attendee groups.

Pictured right is Nolan Hayden with his poster.

Pictured below is the class of 2022 anesthesia students who attended the meeting.

Congratulations to Dr. Lauren Roberson on being accepted to teach at the Commonwealth Honors Academy (CHA) at Murray State University this summer. During the program Dr. Roberson will teach an elective course titled, “Food & Culture.”

“I am excited to get back into the kitchen, teaching the value of different perspectives and culture through food,” said Dr. Roberson. “Food brings people together, it’s something we all have in common. I look forward to sharing my passion for food and cooking with high school students.”

CHA provides an opportunity for high school students to earn six hours of college credit in humanities and fine arts as well as an elective during the three-week program. Students live on-campus and engage in numerous seminars and service-learning projects while at Murray State. The program will take place June 4 through June 25. More information about 2022 CHA can be found here.

Pictured right is Dr. Lauren Roberson.

Looking for a new venue for lunch? Check out the Oakley Dining Room in the Applied Science North building, room 204N. Lunch will be pick-up or delivery (limited to on-campus) starting at 11:30 am on Wednesday, March 16, March 30 and April 6. Ordering and payment online. Contact Lauren Roberson at lroberson7@murraystate.edu for more information and for delivery requests.

Each week students plan and prepare a different themed lunch.

• March 16 – Nossa Familia – managed by Haley Silva Mario
• March 30 – Eat Like a Centenarian – managed by Kathryn Buchanan
• April 6 – American Backyard Barbecue – managed by Kathy Cobb

Pictured left to right are Kathy Cobb’s mushroom beef burgers; and Kathryn Buchanan’s zesty lemon rice, and falafel patties from scratch.

Murray State University, in collaboration with Murray-Calloway County Hospital (MCCH), were excited to have an official ribbon cutting on March 10 for the new simulation center within the education department of the MCCH campus. The simulation center will be utilized by several programs within the School of Nursing and Health Professions at Murray State, as well as MCCH employees, to enhance a wide variety of hands on training and learning experiences.

“It’s a wonderful collaboration,” said Jerry Penner, CEO of MCCH. “The direct correlation between what the university does and what we do could potentially attract even more and more people here. With getting young students involved (through Purchase AHEC), if it piques their interest, if we get one student because these things piqued their interest, that’s a win.”

Students and others are able to utilize several interactive mannikins at the simulation center including a mannikin with removable limbs who can be used to simulate injuries such as amputations and other traumas. One of the female mannikins can simulate pregnancy and even give birth, aiding in training in the field of labor and delivery.

“Nursing simulation has been around a while,” said Dr. Dina Byers, dean of the School of Nursing and Health Professions (SONHP). “We just didn’t have the space here in Mason Hall to put the simulation center in. We’ve had some low-fidelity simulation mannequins here, but nothing like what we have now. As a profession, nursing is moving to a competency-based education. We can give exams all day long, but to actually have a patient scenario where the student is expected to make a decision and have a positive outcome with the patient lets us know, as instructors, that they’re ready to practice. This type of environment gives us the opportunity to make sure that they know what they’re doing.”

“If they run into a problem that they might need some remediation on, we can create the situation and they can do it under safe conditions because they can’t kill the mannequin,” said Carol Perlow, MCCH education director. “Lots of other departments can use it also. It’s got a lot of potential; we’re just skimming the surface right now.”

The simulation lab and mannikins will be used to enhance ongoing education for current hospital employees. Later on, these resources will be used for Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) presentations given to seniors in high school who are interested in going into the nursing field, a profession that is expected to see a shortfall in coming years.

“I was in Frankfort last week and the issue we were talking about with other nursing programs across the state was (in Kentucky) we’re projected to be short 25,000 nurses over the next five years,” said Dr. Robert L Jackson, president of Murray State University. “So, Murray State has a responsibility, Murray-Calloway County Hospital has a responsibility. All of the universities in Kentucky have a responsibility. We’ve got a lot of work to do. So, this will be a piece of that puzzle. … The average age of a nurse working in a facility is 51. There’s a retirement coming, too, to backfill, and that’s probably causing the 25,000 potential vacancies.”

Constructions of the simulation center and the purchase of the mannikins and other resources was made possible through a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Delta Healthcare Services grant totaling almost one million dollars. Robi Fauser Fink, business-cooperative field director for the USDA assisted Dr. Dina Byers, dean of the School of Nursing and Health Profession (SONHP), Dr. Dana Todd, director of the BSN program, and Dr. Tonia Mailow, associate professor in nursing in making this grant available. Efforts for the project have been in the works since 2018.

A video of the grand opening can be viewed here.

Original quotes obtained from the Murray Ledger & Times. You can read their article here.

Pictured immediately below, left to right, are Robi Fauser Fink, USDA business-cooperative field director; Jeff Eye, VP of patient care services at MCCH; Dr. Robert L Jackson, president of Murray State University; Dr. Dina Byers, dean of SONHP; Dr. Dana Todd, BSN program director; Steve Owens, chair of the MCCH board of trustees; Dr. Tonia Mailow, associate professor in nursing; Carlos Lopez, simulation operations specialist; Sherry Robinson, clinical simulation coordinator; Nancy C. Galvagni, president of the Kentucky Hospital Association; Jerry Penner, CEO of MCCH; and Lori Callahan, clinical education coordinator at MCCH

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Pictured far below, left to right, are a closeup of the mannikin; the computer with software used to monitor the mannikins; and Carlos Lopez and Sherry Robinson demonstrating how to use the mannikin and software.

Our school offers many different health careers that offer you the opportunity to influence the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.

Website: http://www.murraystate.edu/sonhp
Location: 120 Mason Hall, Murray, KY 42071
Phone: 270-809-2193
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MSU-School-of-Nursing-Health-Professions-100228168258965
Twitter: @MsuSonhp