Summer 2004
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New Dean Articulates Keys to Success
WHEN DR. LUCY N. Marion agreed to take on a major
leadership role at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1995, the chill in
the air wasn’t solely due to the climate.
Dr. Marion was brought on board to head the Department of Public Health, Mental Health and Administrative Nursing—three departments that had been merged into one. Faculty members were wary of the change. Turnover was rampant and major research funding was low. Morale was reeling.
Where to begin...
Dr. Marion didn’t have the luxury of feeling overwhelmed or pessimistic. There was work to be done, and lots of it. She did what comes naturally to her: She rolled up her sleeves.
Her first order of business was to assess the overall operation of the department. “It was pretty clear to me fairly soon that our resources weren’t targeted to our mission,” said Dr. Marion during a keynote speech at the March 11-12 “Bridging Practice Through Research” conference in Augusta sponsored by the Beta Omicron Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International and the MCG School of Nursing, attended by approximately 140 nurses and other health care professionals. “We got people to think more about what they can do rather than what they were doing.”
She assessed faculty strengths and made necessary adjustments. For instance, “our most able researchers were teaching up to three courses a semester, so we realigned responsibilities,” Dr. Marion said. “We changed the vision of our staff from doers to technical instructors. We started interacting and collaborating more with other departments and ratcheted up opportunities for continuing education. You can’t be a scholar if you’re not traveling. To get the big vision, you have to go out into the world, so that’s what we did.”
She also cultivated the faculty’s leadership skills even as she was cultivating her own. “I was in a leadership fellowship at the time, so everything I learned, I taught,” she said.
Another top priority was research. She helped hone the faculty’s grant-writing skills, then implemented a departmental peer review process so that grants were thoroughly vetted and critiqued before they ever reached the funding agency. Later, the college formalized the process for all faculty.
Dr. Marion also upgraded the department’s technology. ”When I got there, the faculty used too much of what I call ‘stubby-pencil methods,’” she said. “Everybody used different software. Nothing was centralized.” That changed quickly.
She capitalized on existing faculty and staff recognition programs locally, nationally and internationally to honor the good work being done and to encourage more of it by ensuring that excellence was acknowledged and appreciated.
The smallest details didn’t escape her notice. For instance, she created a comfortable and attractive break area that fostered communication and comradery. She stocked the room with bottled water--instantly hot or cold for tea, coffee or cocoa. “I can’t you how many people thanked me for making hot and cold water available,” Dr. Marion said. “It makes a difference when you’re happy where you are.”
A decade later, the department is humming with faculty achievements. The nursing school is the university’s third-largest recipient of National Institutes of Health funding. Dr. Marion’s department was the first to support teaching undergraduates in an academic nursing center. The department also developed the university’s first totally online course--in nursing informatics--and is developing the first practice doctorate in community health nursing with the help of federal funding. An online pharmacy course was developed and is now marketed to other programs.
The achievements reflect the hard work of many dedicated people, including an excellent dean, Dr. Marion said. Leadership, she noted, is the ability to recognize and reward that dedication by creating an environment in which it can thrive. Those management skills, she said, are vital in the nursing profession as a whole. “Nurses need to become better-prepared for management,” she said.
Nurses, she said, must capitalize on existing strengths and take them to a new level. “Nurses are well-known for connecting with communities,” Dr. Marion said. “We have a reputation as good partners. I think of nurses as high-knowledge technologists. We need to use our knowledge to move from theory-based research to translational research. It’s our synthesis of research, education and practice that is so exciting in our field.”
Nurses also must be willing to examine and re-examine conventional wisdom, continually improving the level of care. “We can no longer rely on a single major study and say, ‘This is the way it is.’ We have to bring information together and make a case for change when necessary.”
Nurses in academia must not only prepare future nurses for such vigilance and flexibility, but must incorporate these characteristics into their educations. “Our students no longer want one size fits all,” she said. “We have to individualize our teaching methods and measure our outcomes over and over again.”
Dr. Marion is anxious to incorporate her leadership techniques at the MCG School of Nursing when she comes on board in July as dean. All components are in place for great success, she noted. The key is the courage to act on good ideas. “When you get a good idea,” she said, “move on it. Don’t take baby steps. Leap over tall buildings in a single bound.”
Nursing Student Follows Family Legacy
ALAN INGLETT’S MOM always sensed that he would make a great nurse.
She should know. She graduated from the Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing and has worked for 25-plus years at University Hospital. Alan’s aunt, Van Inglett, also is an MCG graduate and was director of nursing at University before retiring.
Alan has always been interested in science and health care, so it seemed natural to his mother that he would carry on the family tradition. But it didn’t seem so natural to Alan. “Isn’t that a female job?” he remembers asking his mother.
He opted for a more traditional route and enlisted in the Air Force. After nine years in the service, his mother’s wisdom finally began to strike a chord. “I decided to finally do what I wanted to do and what I was called to do,” he says.
Alan enrolled in the MCG School of Nursing last fall, despite the fact that his life is a bit more complicated now than when his mother first made the suggestion. His wife, Libby, is also a nurse and they home-school their five children, ages 2 to 15.
“Sometimes it’s a bit tight money-wise, and the children don’t see quite as much of me as they’re used to, but we know it’s only temporary,” Alan says. “It’s a sacrifice worth making.”
He’s accustomed to studying amid the din of a busy household. “It doesn’t bother me a bit to have a movie on while I’m studying,” he says. “I study no matter what’s going on in the house. Chaos doesn’t bother me.”
Not that the schoolwork isn’t challenging, he emphasizes. “It’s harder than I imagined,” he says. “I didn’t have to study much in high school and college, but I got to MCG and, wow. I’m sweating some of this stuff. I find it very challenging, that’s for sure. But I’m really enjoying it.”
His experience in nursing school has also laid to rest his misconception about the field being “a female job.” “A lot of my male friends have gone to nursing school at MCG,” Alan says.
After graduating, he hopes to earn a master’s degree and work in critical-care nursing. “Critical care is very focused care,” he says. “You do everything for your patients, and that’s where a lot of the new technology is.”
He’s anxious to get started, and his enthusiasm hasn’t been lost on his family. “I think two of my children may go into nursing,” he says. “I think the reason so many members of my family have gone into nursing is because it’s a caring profession. It’s just what I was looking for.”
School of Nursing Alumni Honored
THE SCHOOL OF Nursing Alumni Association has presented 2004 Distinguished Alumni Awards to Jeannette Andrews and Dr. Gwen M. Felton.
Ms. Andrews, assistant professor of community nursing at MCG, earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from MCG in 1986 and a master’s degree in family nurse practitioner from Georgia Southern University. She is earning a Ph.D. in nursing from the University of South Carolina and joined the MCG faculty in 1998. She received the 2001 Mary Chew Lunn Memorial Nursing Leadership Award and the 2002 MCG Nurse Practitioner Faculty Award. Ms. Andrews received the Beta Omicron chapter of Sigma Theta Tau’s 2002 Excellence in Published Writing Award and 2002 Reflection of Nursing Spirit and Commitment Award.
Dr. Felton, professor and chair of family and community health nursing at the University of South Carolina, earned a bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina and a master’s degree in nursing from MCG in 1974. She received the 2003 USC Outstanding Graduate Program Teacher Award and was named the 2001 Outstanding Nurse Practitioner Researcher by the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau and a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
Alumna Honored for Study of HIV-Infected Mothers
DR. DONNA SHAMBLEY-EBRON, who earned a Ph.D. with distinction in
nursing from the Medical College of Georgia last fall, has been honored by the
Southern Nursing Research Society for her student research examining cultural
strengths of HIV-infected African-American mothers.
Dr. Shambley-Ebron, whose research was overseen by Dr. Joyceen Boyle and funded by the American Nursing Foundation, won first place in the Graduate Student Poster Session at the Southern Nursing Research Society for the research, “Self-Care and the Cultural Meanings of Mothering in African-American Women with HIV/AIDS.”
“I’m an African-American woman myself, so I already had a strong sense of the culture,” said Dr. Shambley-Ebron, now an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Cincinnati. “But for this project, I thoroughly immersed myself in the lives of the 10 women I was studying. In trying to determine their cultural strengths, I spent about a year doing interviews, observing them in their homes, churches and communities and analyzing data.”
The women all lived in the Southeast and had at least one HIV-infected child.
Dr. Shambley-Ebron found that the study participants exhibited similar coping strategies, which she attributes to the African-American culture. “I found that they utilized cultural strengths to deal with all the negativity they were faced with,” she said. For instance, all were strongly spiritual and many had close ties with their churches.
“The overarching cultural theme was creating a life of meaning,” she said.
The women also had meaningful relationships with other women, relying on them for support and returning the favor when needed.
But their most notable characteristic, Dr. Shambley-Ebron said, was their fierce commitment to their children. “Most adhered to their medication regime, and they made sure their children took their medication,” she said. “They really wanted to be around to take care of their children, and that was their motivation to take care of themselves.”
Their relationships with men were more conflicted. All 10 women in the study were infected with HIV from men they loved. Some still had relationships with the men during the study; others had lost them to death or estrangement. “They often had disabling relationships with men early in their lives,” she said, “but I don’t think they had a problem with men in general.” One of the women had a new man in her life at the time of the study—“a man who was very supportive of her even though she was very ill and has since passed away,” Dr. Shambley-Ebron said. “He took care of her every need and now cares for her children.”
Dr. Shambley-Ebron hopes that a better understanding of the culture will help health care professionals optimize the care of HIV-infected African-American women. “The women understood when their doctors or nurses would talk to them about the importance of things like exercise and good nutrition,” she said, “but their health care providers didn’t recognize or understand the importance of things like spirituality in their lives—things that really fit into their reality. There is a network, a heritage and a history of strength in this community. Women pull from those cultural strengths. It helps them cope during times of adversity.”
Dr. Shambley-Ebron is expanding on her research by delving into the culture of African-American girls. She hopes these young women can draw on a rich heritage of strong cultural values. “If young women can reach back and learn those cultural strengths, then perhaps as they get older, they can draw on that strength as their ancestors did,” she said. “That kind of strength leads to wise choices and good decisions—the most important components of primary preventive health care.”
Dr. Nugent Named Leadership Fellow
DR. KATHERINE NUGENT, interim dean of the Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing and professor of nursing science and graduate studies, has been named a fellow of a national leadership program.
The 2004 Leadership for Academic Nursing Program of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing enhances leadership capabilities of academic administrators in nursing programs. The yearlong program will provide a focused assessment experience, a range of content and case studies related to successful leadership and the opportunity to develop long-term partnerships with mentors and peers.
“This program will address challenges faced by academic administrators leading academic nursing organizations,” said Dr. Nugent. “I’m very pleased and honored to have the opportunity to participate.”
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing represents America’s baccalaureate and high-degree nursing education programs.
Dr. Turner Named CSRA Nurse of the Year
DR. SAUNDRA L. TURNER, interim chair of advanced practice nursing at
the Medical College of Georgia, has received the 2004 CSRA Nurse of the Year
Award.
The award was presented by the Georgia Nurses Association, the state’s largest professional nursing association for registered nurses in all practice settings.
Dr. Turner, who also is a family nurse practitioner and assistant professor of family medicine at MCG, volunteers her primary-care services one afternoon a week at the Dearing Community Health Clinic in Dearing, Ga., a rural community approximately 30 miles from Augusta.
“I’m very struck by the relationship between Dr. Turner and her patients,” said Sharon Roberts, a registered nurse who is earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing from MCG and assisting Dr. Turner as part of her clinical training. “They trust her and know her on a first-name basis.”
In addition to providing checkups and making referrals when necessary, Dr. Turner talks to her patients about healthy lifestyles, encouraging them to be their own best health advocates.
“I can’t imagine a more caring, ambitious and hardworking individual,” said Wendy Jackson, a student of Dr. Turner’s. “Dr. Turner is an asset to the community and works hard to extend her spirit of volunteerism into many areas in Georgia.”
Dr. Turner received the 2004 Leadership in Health Award from Health Students Taking Action Together. She is a member of the Georgia Nurses Association and twice served on its Executive Committee. She earned a bachelor’s degree from American University, a master’s degree in nursing from the Catholic University of America, a doctorate in education from the University of Georgia and a post-master’s certificate in family nurse practitioner from Georgia Southern University.
2004-05 School of Nursing Alumni Association Officers
- Clara Lytch, Evans, Ga.--President
- April Porterfield, Evans, Ga.--Vice President
- Phillip McHugh, Evans, Ga.--Treasurer
- LaDonna Walker, Augusta, Ga.--Secretary
- Orrin Aske, Augusta, Ga.--Immediate Past President
- Kathy Anderson, Augusta, Ga.
- Saul Josman, Augusta, Ga.
- Mary Speir, Augusta, Ga.
- Pamela Lyles-Young, Martinez, Ga.
- Robbie Gardner, Augusta, Ga.
- April Hill Turner, Augusta, Ga.
- Lucy Marion, Ex Officio--Dean, MCG School of Nursing
- Elizabeth Meehan, Ex Officio--Director of Development, MCG School of Nursing