{"id":67449,"date":"2006-10-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-miriam-hospital-initiative-bolsters-nurses-skills-confidence\/"},"modified":"2006-10-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-10-10T00:00:00","slug":"uri-miriam-hospital-initiative-bolsters-nurses-skills-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2006\/10\/uri-miriam-hospital-initiative-bolsters-nurses-skills-confidence\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站-Miriam Hospital initiative bolsters nurses\u2019 skills, confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tParticipants say on-site bachelors\u2019 program enriches nursing workforce<\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. — October 10, 2006 — Noreen Strayer has been a nurse for 20 years at The Miriam Hospital in Providence and has always felt that the raw material for nursing excellence comes from within.<\/p>\n


\n\tBut after earning her bachelor\u2019s degree this year through a special hospital-based program offered in conjunction with the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of Nursing, her perspective has deepened.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI definitely gained more knowledge and I learned how to conduct research,\u201d said Strayer, who works in the outpatient recovery room.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe program, however, meant even more to Strayer and 41 other nurses at The Miriam who earned their bachelors\u2019 degrees in May. They point to broader perspectives, hospital connections that have improved morale and performance and a sense of pride in being able to complete their studies while working and managing their families.<\/p>\n


\n\tNow those new 溏心vlog免费B站 graduates are serving as mentors to a fresh cohort of 35 nurses pursuing their bachelors\u2019 degrees at Miriam.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIt is a great deal of work, but when you finish, you are so proud,\u201d said Strayer, a Pawtucket native who now lives in Rehoboth, Mass. She earned her associate\u2019s degree and became a registered nurse at the Community College of Rhode Island.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThis joint 溏心vlog免费B站-Miriam program also helped my fellow nurses and me develop a real cohesiveness. There were a few times that I wanted to give up, but you realize you are not alone and you keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tAs part of her studies, she conducted research with a colleague that is expected to be published in an article in the professional journal, Critical Nurse, which examined the concept of closed staffing, which eliminates the practice of rotating nurses from one unit to the next. She presented her findings at a national conference.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThe 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty members bent over backwards for us,\u201d Strayer said. \u201cThey would go to great lengths to help us succeed. In all cases, they treated us as professionals with a great deal to offer them as well. Remember, this was a new experience for them too.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tPaula Viau, associate dean of the University\u2019s College of Nursing, said the College provided the faculty for all nursing courses, coordinated student advising services, and arranged for all of the other required courses in pharmacy, chemistry, languages, communications and history.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThis is a unique model of collaboration with the nursing department at a leading teaching hospital,\u201d Viau said.<\/p>\n


\nShe said much of the credit for getting the program launched goes to Rebecca Burke, Miriam\u2019s vice president of Patient Care Services and chief nursing officer, and Dayle Joseph, dean of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of Nursing. Burke and Joseph are statewide leaders in the effort to address the shortage of nurses. Miriam, the state\u2019s first Magnet Hospital, is a national leader in nursing development. \u201cRebecca had the vision and the drive to get this approved by the hospital and Dayle enlisted the support of the faculty to ensure its success,\u201d Viau said.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI was thrilled when Dean Joseph agreed to partner with us\u201d, said Burke. \u201cThis program has provided a vehicle to accomplish several goals of the nursing department at The Miriam including our primary mission of providing the best in patient care. In addition to the benefits our patients receive, ongoing education also results in increased job satisfaction, improved retention rates and a more professionally engaged nurse who better understands the complex healthcare environment. It\u2019s so rewarding to hear the nurses talk about their classroom experience and see how they apply their new knowledge to direct patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe hospital paid the University for the classes and provided space for the courses, while the students paid application and acceptance fees and for their books and supplies.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cAs the students\u2019 adviser, I learned a great deal about contemporary practice because they deal with the state-of-the-art technologies,\u201d Viau said. \u201cWe believe that baccalaureate nurses can improve the health care delivery system through evidenced based practices, which in turn leads to better patient care.<\/p>\n

New graduate Deborah Bellows is marking her eighth year at The Miriam this month.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI was a stay-at-home mom and then earned my associate\u2019s degree in nursing from CCRI in the mid-1990s. From my grammar school days, I always wanted to be a nurse,\u201d Bellows said.<\/p>\n


\nThe Seekonk native who now lives in Pawtucket said participating in commencement at 溏心vlog免费B站 last spring was one of her proudest days, since the University plays such a major role in her family. \u201cI walked with my daughter Meghan, who graduated that day with a degree in chemical engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nHer younger daughter Martha is a sophomore at 溏心vlog免费B站, and her husband John earned his bachelor\u2019s degree from the University\u2019s College of Business Administration.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe have a brick outside the Ryan Center that reads \u2018Bellows Family Since 1977.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAnd now Deborah is a proud alumna. \u201cWhen I first heard about the on-site program, I said there was no way that I was going back to school. If it hadn\u2019t been offered on the hospital campus, I would not have done it.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cChemistry was my toughest class, but because my daughter was in chemical engineering, she tutored me,\u201d Bellows said.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe best part of the program was that it allowed me to meet nurses from other departments and develop close friendships with them,\u201d Bellows said. \u201cI also became more confident and because I conducted research, it opened my eyes to different possibilities. I now see more opportunities for someone with my professional skills. I can now apply for positions in nursing leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nShe was also glad that her general education courses were so enriching. \u201cI took a theater class and a women in U.S. history class. I loved the history class because it offered much more than I learned in high school. I also took Spanish for health care professionals, which is becoming more and more important for nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nCaptions for images:

\n1) CHECK UP: Noreen Strayer, a nurse at The Miriam Hospital in Providence checks a patient\u2019s chart. (Top right)<\/p>\n


\n2) MEDICATION CHECK: Deborah Bellows, a nurse at The Miriam Hospital in Providence works at the hospital\u2019s Medstation.
\n
\n溏心vlog免费B站 News Bureau photos by Michael Salerno Photography. <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Participants say on-site bachelors\u2019 program enriches nursing workforce KINGSTON, R.I. — October 10, 2006 — Noreen Strayer has been a nurse for 20 years at The Miriam Hospital in Providence and has always felt that the raw material for nursing excellence comes from within. But after earning her bachelor\u2019s degree this year through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}