 | April 2012 |  |
|
|
 |
|
| University Nursing Week focuses on diversity, ubiquity of nurses | | Posted Thursday, June 7, 2012 11:00 AM |
| | NEWS |
| Nurses make up the largest group of health care providers in Canada, and from May 5 to 13, the Faculty of Nursing joined their colleagues from around the nation in celebrating the profession for National Nursing Week.
The faculty recognized the remarkable diversity of nursing roles with a week-long program of events and speakers, including a researcher-in-residence who gave two lectures on community health intervention and research.
At a faculty breakfast on Monday to kick off the week’s activities, teaching awards were presented to three faculty members. The awards also recognize the importance of interprofessional education in the faculty.
This year the faculty hosted students for a day-long event from Seven Oakes School Division’s Wayfinders program. The day included time in the Simulation Centre and Skills Lab with a hands-on session, conducted by faculty member Bill Diehl-Jones, on scientific inquiry and the scientific process; faculty member Deb Fraser demonstrated and had students participate in the resuscitation of a newborn. Students also learned how to change a dressing and use a hoyer lift.
An afternoon panel, “A Day in the Life of a Nurse,” consisted of registered nurses who work in different practice areas, in this case, ICU, hospital and community health.
The week was promoted with university content in the Nursing Week insertion in the Winnipeg Free Press, as well a “Trailblazer” video that featured the work of Maureen Heaman, whose research is in the area of prenatal care. The research has helped to improve the health of mothers and their newborns both within the province and across the country by developing new interventions to change the way prenatal care is delivered and accessed. Heaman has also developed a reliable instrument to measure women’s perception of their pregnancy risk which has been used by other researchers. “It’s very exciting to know that our research has international applications,” she says.
Nancy Edwards was the 2012 Helen Glass Researcher-in-Residence and visited the faculty from May 7 to 10. A full professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Ottawa, with a cross-appointment to the department of epidemiology and community medicine. She was also appointed scientific director of the Institute of Public and Population Health, Canadian Institutes of Health Research in July 2008.
During her research career, she has led studies on a wide range of community health issues including tobacco use, falls among seniors, heart health, and maternal and child health. She has authored over 150 peer-reviewed and 120 technical publications and presented 350 conference papers. Her work in global health has spanned four continents where she has led both development-oriented and research-focused projects.
During her time at the U of M, Edwards gave two public lectures. The first, “What Makes Community Health Interventions Work?” was presented on May 8 at the Hotel Fort Garry. A behind-the-scenes look at what makes community health interventions work using examples of community health programs and research studies in Canada and internationally, Edwards queried common assumptions about how community health interventions work and discussed implications for researchers and program managers.
Her second lecture was presented on May 9 at Helen Glass Centre. In “A Health Equity Agenda for Multiple Intervention Research: Challenges and Opportunities,” Edwards tackled the issue of health inequities. Using examples from the field of community health, Edwards examined reasons for this failure, of community health research studies to consider either historical or dynamic contemporary influences on health inequities.
National Nursing Week is an annual event that coincides with International Nurses Day and Florence Nightingale’s birthday, both on May 12. |
| | | For more information, contact:
Mariianne Mays Wiebe
Editor, The Bulletin
Marketing Communications Office
bulletin@umanitoba.ca
Phone: (204) 474-8111
Fax: (204) 474-7631
|
|
|
|
|
