Two worlds of nursing excellence converged this week at All Children's
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| (L-R) Tina Spagnola, Hella Ewing, Martha Hill, Jenine Rabin, Lisa McGuire, M.L. Farrell and James Kelley visit the ACH Simulation Lab which utilizes life-like mannequins to replicate a variety of medical scenarios. |
Hospital, with a visit by Dean Martha Hill and Associated Dean James Kelley of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore.
And an exciting new world of future collaboration emerged from two days of talks and touring.
The purpose of the trip was to give the JHSON leaders a first-hand look at what makes nursing so special at All Children's, identify areas for mutually beneficial joint efforts, and further develop the nursing relationship between ACH and Johns Hopkins.
One of the cornerstone events took place Wednesday morning with a breakfast meeting that featured Deans Hill and Kelley, along with All Children's Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Hella Ewing and a dozen ACH nursing directors. The session allowed Dean Hill to provide interesting background about the development of the School of Nursing program through the years, and discuss potential ways nurses at both locations will be enriched by shared initiatives and opportunities.
"I'm delighted to be here," Dean Hill said after the meeting. "I think it's very important to meet people, see the context in which they are learning and practicing - and be able to have free and open dialogue to identify opportunities and begin to explore how we could work more collaboratively together."
Among the ideas discussed for creating an academic and clinical partnership: a chance for ACH nurses to take online JHSON masters-level courses, such as one in leadership; to contribute as a guest member of the JHSON faculty - either with Web-based classes or perhaps three-month campus stays; and for Hopkins nurses to gain valuable hands-on experience working at All Children's.
Finding more clinical sites for JHSON is a priority and All Children's can become an important resource for the school.
"I can just see points of collaboration popping up, and I think it's important not to let distance be seen as a barrier," Dean Hill added. "Because with telecommunications now and with online education and Skype and other things, once you get to know people, you can then become very focused and practical about how to make these collaborations work."
"It's wonderful to have a children's hospital," she continued. "We have the one in Baltimore. But we can do more to meet the needs of the students, as well as the patients and the families."
ACH's nursing leader, Ewing, was equally excited by what transpired - and what lies ahead.
"The biggest thing is the flowing of ideas to build nursing research here," she said. "When I look at the total picture, we're still in the infancy stage on this. Now we have a wonderful resource that is very supportive and wants to see us succeed. So I really see this collaboration growing research and nursing for us, but also crossing over to improving patient care at All Children's Hospital." |
