Bloomsburg University Nursing Faculty Member Named Fellow by American Academy of Nursing

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania nursing department faculty member Kimberly Ann Olszewski has been named a 2020 Fellow by the American Academy of Nursing (Academy). 

Olszewski is one of 230 distinguished nurse leaders from around the globe, and one of just 10 individuals from Pennsylvania, to join the 2020 class. The inductees will be recognized for their significant contributions to health and health care at the Academy’s annual Transforming Health, Driving Policy Conference, taking place virtually Oct. 29-31. 

An associate professor of nursing, Olszewski holds the Breiner Family Endowed Professorship for Nursing at BU, a five-year presidential appointment she received in 2018. She serves as graduate program coordinator, and the nurse practitioner and doctorate in nursing practice program director. 

Olszewski is an American Nurses Credentialing Center board certified adult nurse practitioner and a Certified Occupational Health Nurse Specialist and Case Manager from the American Board of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN). In addition, she is director of client and provider services and Nurse Practitioner at DISA Global Solutions Inc. (formerly Mid-State Occupational Health Services Inc.). 

In 2007, she received Fellowship distinction from the AAOHN. Olszewski also serves on the AAOHN board of directors as president-elect and previously served as president of the Northeast Association of Occupational Health Nurses and the Pennsylvania Association of Occupational Health Nurses. She has presented at the local, state, regional and national levels of the association over the past 10 years on numerous topics, including DOT certification, marketing OHNs, fatigue management, healthy people 2020, social media integration, and diagnostic updates.

The Academy is currently comprised of more than 2,700 nursing leaders who are experts in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia who champion health and wellness, locally and globally. 

Through a competitive, rigorous application process, a committee of elected Fellows review hundreds of applications and select new Fellows based on their contributions to advance the public’s health. Induction into the Academy is a significant milestone in a nurse leader’s career in which their accomplishments are honored by their colleagues within the profession. The newest Fellows represent 39 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territory of Guam, as well as 13 countries.  

Retrieved from Bloomsburg University website 8.11.2020

Recent Publications, Presentations, and Awards

Publications
Jennifer Haney, assistant professor of EGGS, recently published a paper, "Science or Fiction: The Persistence of Disaster Myths in Hollywood Films" in the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters.

Debra Minzola, assistant professor of nursing, recently published a paper, "Damage Control Rususcitation of a Patient with Tramatic Aortic Rupture: A Case Report." in the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) Journal.  This work was a collaboration with the Geisinger Medical Center.

John M. Hranitz, professor of BAHS, recently published a paper, "Thermal tolerance varies with dim-light foraging and elevation in large carpenter bees (hymenoptera: Apidae: Xylocopini)" in Ecological Entomology.  Stephen Tapsak, undergraduate Biology and EGGS major, was also an author on the paper, along with collaborators in a 2019 Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, from the University of Kansas, the University of Texas, Pomoma College, University of Aegean, and the University of Central Oklahoma.  Funding by the National Science Foundation (DBI 1560389) to the host institution, University of Central Oklahoma, for 2016-2019.

Karl Kapp, professor of Instructional Technology, and co-authors recently published a paper, "Enhancing motivation in workplace training with casual games: a twelve month field study of retail employees" in Educational Technology Research and Development.

Pamela Smith, professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, recently published a paper, "Palliative Care in Dysphagia and Dementia" in Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups.


Adrian Van Rythoven, assistant professor of EGGS, and co-authors recently published a paper, "Ultramafic xenoliths from the 1.15 Ga Certac kimberlite, eastern Superior Craton" in The Canadian Mineralogist.


Sean Hartzell, instructor of BAHS, recently published a paper, "An amelanistic Spotted Salamander, Ambystoma maculatum (Caudata: Ambystomidae) from Eastern Pennsylvania" in Herpetology Notes.

John M. Hranitz, professor of BAHS, recently published a paper, "Effect of pan trap size on the diversity of sampled bees and abundance of bycatch" in Journal of Insect Conservation.  Cody Pavlick, a spring 2019 B.S. Biology graduate, was also an author on the paper.  The paper stems from research conducted on Lesvos Island Greece with collaborators in a Research Experiences for Undergraduates program from University of Kansas, The College of New Jersey, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Unidad para el Conocimiento (Guatemala), University of the Aegean (Greece), and University of Central Oklahoma. Funding by the National Science Foundation (DBI 1560389) to the host institution, University of Central Oklahoma, for 2016-2019.


Presentations
Daniel McCurry, assistant professor of Chemisty and Biochemistry, was scheduled to present at the ACS (American Chemical Society) 2020 National Meeting and Expo.  His presentation, "Modified surface-limited redox replacement for template-free nanodeposition" presented research conducted by BU undergraduate, Stepan Budkin.

Awards 
Pamela Cook and Rebecca Toothaker, assistant professors in nursing, received the 2020 Generating Evidence for Nursing Education Practice Award for their abstract "Student Perceptions of Just Culture in Nursing Education Programs: A Multi-Site Study" presented virtually as part of the 2020 Nursing Education Research Conference (NERC).  This prestigious award was in reference to a national research study in assessing a safe and just culture in nursing educational programs.  The results from this study are a call to action for nursing education to emphasize the tenets of just culture, error reporting, and quality improvement.

Student Nurses to Complete Clinicals Through New Computer Simulation Software

Bloomsburg University nursing students now have a new tool to assist them progress through their academic course work, despite not being onsite in a hospital for clinicals due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Computer simulation software was purchased to allow both undergraduate and graduate nursing students to complete courses they are taking and allow seniors to graduate on time. BU was able to use simulation only because the students were 54 to 61 percent completed with their face to face clinical and theory courses. The decision to go to simulation was not made lightly, and it is not meant as a complete substitute for nursing clinical training.

BU nursing faculty member Kim Olszewski, Breiner Family Endowed Professor of Nursing, suggested purchasing the software through funds provided by Ed and Julie Breiner. Nursing administration expedited the purchase.

“We are so grateful to the generosity of the Breiner family,” said Susan Fetterman, chair of BU’s Department of Nursing. “Without them, we would need to extend into the summer months for most of our students versus the few that are extended for clinical currently. They have our sincere thanks.”

“We are honored to be able to help with the purchase of this software,” said Julie Breiner. “Society is seeing now first-hand how valuable it is to have properly trained nurses. Since BU nursing students cannot complete the normal clinical process, this is the next best way to continue their education and give our highly trained faculty a way to educate them.”

Each of the software programs purchased will simulate different scenarios, according to Susan Fetterman, chair of BU’s Department of Nursing. “The programs are a computerized illustration of a patient. The student and virtual patient can both ask and answer questions regarding symptoms, location of the symptom, and the responses are evaluated as to what is the best response by the student and why,” said Fetterman. “It is a complicated system that allows the faculty to evaluate the student’s ability to take care of a patient with specific pathology. Most importantly, it allows the students to learn how to interact with patients as well as what symptoms to look for and understand for certain pathologies.”

For graduate students, one of the programs purchased, Shadow Health, will have a big impact.
“This program is an avatar that students interact with to do specific health assessments (digital clinical experiences),” said Olszewski.  “As the student speaks to the avatar to develop a patient history, and do the exam, it will record the dialogue and provide immediate feedback to the student. This program enables student nurses to do a head to toe exam with an avatar, and the program provides the learner with immediate feedback on how to improve their skills.”

Bloomsburg University is consistently ranked in the top 10 of nursing programs in the state by a variety of organizations. BU offers multiple quality nursing degree programs, including a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), and the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). Bloomsburg also offers RN to BSN and RN to BSN to MSN programs, which allow registered nurses to obtain the BSN and MSN online in a condensed timeframe.
~from bloomsburgu.tumblr.com

BU Opens New Nursing Simulation Lab

Shown with the pediatric mannequin are, from left, front: Janet Tomcavage, chief nursing executive, Geisinger Health; Susan Fetterman, acting chairperson, Department of Nursing;  Kimberly Olszewski, graduate program coordinator and Breiner Family Endowed Professor of Nursing. Back row: Robert Aronstam, Dean of the College of Science and Technology; Erik Evans, vice president for university advancement.

BU opened a new additional nursing simulation lab in McCormick Center for Human Services. Made possible through contributions from Geisinger Health System and the Bloomsburg University Foundation, the new lab features six patient care mannequins, valued at more than $100,000, including advanced pediatric and infant mannequins.

See the story on WBRE.

Also, the website Registered Nursing.org, a nursing advocacy organization, has ranked BU's nursing program ninth in the state. Nursing programs were assessed on several factors that represent how well a program supports students towards licensure and beyond.

Abroad experience forges path to nursing anthropology

 

Nursing and Anthropology major Ashley Moreno was attracted to the Global Health Field Course mainly because of its location.“I hope to work in Africa in my future career, so for my study abroad experience I wanted to initiate myself with an African culture,” Moreno said. “I loved the course in Rwanda, and I loved all the people. I also chose this course, because of the outlined objectives with infection prevention and control, as well as community involvement with mother and children about nutrition.”

“With my desired focus in nursing and anthropology as maternal and infant care, I was very interested to see how a different country monitored their childbirth practices in regard to infection prevention and control, as well as learn about the nutrition programs that were available for mothers and children.”Moreno was able to utilize both her knowledge in nursing and anthropology for this cultural experience.

“Being fully immersed in the Rwandan culture directly reflected my goals to integrate and communicate with cultures to help with health practices,” Moreno said. “Many issues arise when programs trying to assist cultures completely bypass the pre-existing ways of life and cultural practices, including those in health care.”

Additionally, Moreno said she enjoyed the step into health care abroad that directly related to her goals to practice internationally as a nurse.“Health care systems are structured differently across the globe, and I was excited to learn about the health care system in Rwanda,” Moreno said. “As a nurse anthropologist, my goal is to help lower infant mortality rates in developing countries. This experience in Rwanda gave me a first-hand look at the baseline of the health center structure, infection prevention and control, and how Rwanda is working towards accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals. I greatly enjoyed working with and learning directly from the Rwandan people and hope to be able to work with just as amazing people in the future.”

Among the many highlights, according to Moreno, one included the observations they conducted on infection prevention and control at a local Kigali health center.“Being able to walk around the health center, visit different sections, and ask questions to the nurses and practice health care providers allowed me to fully comprehend the functioning of their health care system,” Moreno said. “I think the best way to understand health care in another country is to observe or experience it in a local institution.”

“I was also absolutely amazed with the kindness of the people, especially the wonderful cooperative of women during the Azizi Life experience. During this amazing cultural immersion day, we lived the life of rural women in Rwanda by helping with the tasks of their typical day, eating a wonderful lunch of food from their personal garden, and making bracelets out of banana leaves. I was also able to participate in community service activities such as helping move dirt used to build a home in a community, collecting food donations and serving hot meals to hospital patients, and donating clothes to impoverished women in need taking shelter just outside a health center.”

“I also loved learning about the incredible culture and how the people have grown immensely from their past. This whole experience proved to be very humbling and is now helping me truly appreciate many things in life that should not be taken for granted.”

According to Moreno, this experience helped her work toward her goals of being an internationally traveling nurse by giving her a glimpse of the structure, services, availability, and struggles of health care in another country. “Like many other African countries, Rwanda’s health care system must accommodate their medicinal practices with a lack of resources, staff and supplies,” Moreno said. “As a nurse working in different parts of the world, I need to learn to adapt to the different environments of health care facilities and be able to practice nursing skills with what’s available.”
“I was grateful to see all the wonderful services that were offered at the Cor Unum health center such as HIV treatment and prevention, as well as nutrition, maternity, lab, wound care, and immunization services,” Moreno said. “I may need to learn and modify my idea of typical nursing practice while practicing abroad, but I definitely still want to work in many different countries and cultures throughout my career, specifically with mothers and infants. “

~from https://bloomsburgu.tumblr.com

Recent publication and presentations

Publications
Jennifer Haney, assistant professor of EGGS and John Bodenman, professor of EGGS, published a paper entitled, "Creating Markets for Recyclable Materials: The Case of Municipal Solid Waste in Haiti" in Middle States Geographer.

Rebecca Bourgault, assistant professor EGGS, published a paper entitled, "Determination of Primary Mineral Content and Calcium Sources in Forest Soils using Electron Probe Microanalysis Mapping and Cluster Analysis", in the Soil Science Society of America journal.  This work was a collaboration with scientists from USDA Forest Service, University of Vermont, University of Massachusetts and Stockton University.

Sean Hartzell, instructor of BAHS, published a paper entitled, "A salamander survey of the Turkey Hill Oxbow, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, with comparison to historic records from an institutional collection" in Bios.

Mehdi Razzaghi, professor of MADS, published a paper entitled, "Bayesian Model Averaging for Benchmark Dose Analysisin Developmental Toxicology", in Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences.  This work was a collaboration with the University of Bahrain.

Michael Shepard, professor of EGGS, published a paper, "The bidirectional and directional hemispheric reflectance of Apollo 11 and 16 soils: Laboratory and diviner measurements" in Icarus. This work was a collaboration with researchers at the University of California, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Arizona.

Diane Barrett, associate professor of MADS, published a paper, "Cloud Based Evidence Acquisitions in Digital Forensic Education", in the Proceedings of the EDSIG Conference.  This paper was also selected to receive a Distinguished Paper Award.

Karl Kapp, professor of Instructional Technology, published a book entitled, "Microlearning: Short and Sweet" with a MSIT graduate Robyn Defelice.

Pamela Cook and Rebecca Toothaker, assistant professors of Nursing, recently published a paper, "Nursing Students' Perceptions of Just Culture in Nursing Programs" in Nurse Educator. This was a fourteen school multi-site study.

Kyle Beyer, assistant professor of Exercise Science, had an abstract published in the Mid Atlantic Regional Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine conference proceedings entitled, "Positional Difference in Linear Momentum During Vertical Jump in Division II College Football Players".  This work was completed by multiple exercise science graduate students.

Mindi Miller, professor of Nursing, contributed to a book chapter published in The Specialty Practice of Rehabilitation Nursing: A Core Curriculum. The book contains 25 chapters of content and was compiled and reviewed by 66 experts in the field.

Presentations
Kelly Dauber, assistant professor of Exercise Science, recently gave a talk entitled, "Ace the Face to Face: Communicating with Generation Z" at the Social and Emotional Learning in Health and Physical Education Conference in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Kim Olszewski, associate professor of nursing, recently gave a podium presentations at the American Association of Occupational Health Professional National Conference, the National Safety Council 2019 Congress & Expo, and the Florida State Occupational Health Nurse State Conference.

Nursing Students Volunteer

It was a long time coming for these Bloomsburg University nursing majors. “I found this event to be extremely helpful as a learning experience and for my future career,” said Lillian Betteridge, a nursing major. “It was the first off-campus interpersonal opportunity we as sophomores ever had.”

Betteridge was among a group of fellow nursing students representing BU’s Center for Healthy Aging at the recent Apple Harvest Festival in Espy, where they conducted over 200 blood pressure screenings. It was their first true nursing experience outside of the classroom. “Going off campus and actually helping and participating in a community event was very exciting,” Betteridge said. “I think events like this are important for BU students to get involved in, because they are beneficial for not only us as but for people in the community we can help.” In addition to the real-world experience, the nursing students said an added bonus was getting the chance to help the community. “The community is one of BU’s biggest supporters!” said Breanna Weaver, a nursing major. “Many people in the community have a lack of access to healthcare needs or many have healthcare disparities. Students can help these individuals, while they also help us by allowing us to have more interpersonal interactions.”

Nursing is all about the relationship you create with patients, students say. They agreed the nursing field is always changing and evolving. Giving back is something that drives them to stick with this career path. “The real deciding factor for me choosing nursing was when my grandfather was sick with cancer,” Betteridge said. “Seeing and hearing about the relationship he had with his nurses and how well they cared for him, really made me want to take this career path so that I could impact people’s lives the way they did his.”

 — Rachel Raccio, mass communications major
 ~ from https://bloomsburgu.tumblr.com/

Recent publications and presentations

Publications
Rebecca Toothaker, assistant professor in Nursing, recently had a paper entitled, "Development and Validation of the Just Culture Assessment Tool for Nursing Education" published in Nurse Educator.  This work was a collaboration with individuals from Texas Christian University, The College of New Jersey, Oakland Community College, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Kate Beishline, assistant professor of BAHS, recently had a paper entitled, "Elevated telomere dysfunction in cells containing the African-centric Pro47Ser cancer-risk variant of TP53" published in Oncotarget. This work was a collaboration with individuals from The Wistar Institute and the Childrens Hospital of Phildelphia.

Shaheen Awan, professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, recently had a paper entitled, "Spectral/Cepstral Analyses of Phonatio in Parkinson's Disease before and after Voice Treatment: A Preliminary Study" published in Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica.  This work was a collaboration with individuals from  the University of Jeddah, the University of Louisiana, and the University of Memphis.

Sean Hartzell, adjunct faculty of BAHS, recently had three papers published;  "Observation of a Cambarus bartonii bartonii (Common Crayfish) Overwintering in a Terrestrial Winter Microhabitat" published in Northeastern Naturalist; "Sexual Dichromatism of Dorsal Stripes in "Red-back" Morph Individuals in a Population of Eastern Red-vacked Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus)" published in Herpetological Review; and "Observation of a Cambarus bartonii bartonii (Common Crayfish) Overwintering in a Terrestrial Winter Microhabitat" in Northeastern Naturalist.

Kevin Ferland, professor of mathematical and digital sciences, published a paper, "Maximal Crossword Grids", in the Journal of Computational Mathematics and Computational Computing.  This was joint work with Robert Pratt of the SAS Institute.  It determines the maximum number of clues possible in a square crossword puzzle grid of any size.

Debra Stayer and Elizabeth Culver, assistant professors of nursing, published a paper, "Case Report of Nursing Care for a Pregnant Woman with Cystic Fibrosis", in the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing.  This work was a collaboration with Geisinger Medical Center.

Abby Hare-Harris, assistant professor of BAHS, published a paper, "Within-task variability on standardized language tests predicts autism spectrum disorder: a pilot study of the Response Dispersion index" in the Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders.  This was a collaboration with Geisinger Medical Center, Bucknell University, and Rutgers University.

Reza Noubary, professor of MADS, published a book, Reflections on Contemporary Life, An Outsiders Perspective.  The book recounts the life of a boy who through hardships, learns a great deal about the dynamic aspects of life and the changes that take place accordingly.

Chris Lynd, associate professor of MADS, published a paper entitled,  "Sequences Generated by Powers of the k^th-order Fibonacci Recurrence Relation", in The American Mathematical Monthly.  BU undergraduate James Sharpe was also an author on this publication.

Barry Minemyer, assistant professor of MADS, published a paper entitled, "Filling triangulated surfaces" in Geometriae Dedicata. This work was in collaboration with the Ohio State University. 

Rebecca Toothaker and Pamela Cook, assistant professors in Nursing, recently had a paper entitled, "Measuring Nursing Students' Perception of Just Culture within Nursing Programs: A Multisite Study", accepted for future publication in the January 2020 edition of Nurse Educator.  This work was a collaboration  across 18 schools nationwide with 20 nurse educators from the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Academic Taskforce.

Presentations

Peggy Shipley, assistant professor of nursing, presented a poster entitled, "Compassionate Love: A Concept Analysis" at the Beta Sigma Research Day at the Pennsylvania State University.

Julie Ambrose, instructor of BAS-TL, participated in a panel discussion "Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn" at the 2nd Annual Pennsylvania Leadership Studies Conference.
   
James Rommens, instructor of BAS-TL gave a talk entitled,"How a Lean Six Sigma Mindset can Help Project Managment", at the Project Management Institute Keystone Chapter Professional Speaker and Networking Event Series.

Chris Lynd, associate professor of MADS, presented a talk entitled, "The class of sequences of nested radicals" at the American Mathematical Society (AMS) regional conference at the University of Connecticut. The talk included published research from two BU undergraduates, James Sharpe and Devin Lesher.

Barry Minemyer, assistant professor of MADS, gave a Colloquium talk at Juniata College entitled "The geometry of n-dimensional triangles via edge lengths". He also gave a talk, entitled, "Warped product metrics on complex hyperbolic manifolds" at the 53rd Annual Spring Topology and Dynamical Systems Conference at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Conference Scholarship
Daniel McCurry, assistant professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, received a Research Corporation for Science Advancement scholarship to attend the American Chemical Society (ACS) New Faculty Workshop in Savannah Georgia.