Mobile Health Clinic benefits community, students

The Washburn School of Nursing is not confined to Petro Allied Health Center.  In fact, students learn all around town.

The Mobile Health Clinic takes students to 37 different sites around town, giving free health check-ups and health education lessons to citizens at locations like the the Topeka Rescue Mission, the YWCA, and the YMCA.  The clinic goes about three or four times a week.

"Its mission is to provide educational experiences to students and to the provide health education and screening in a variety of settings," said Laura Sidlinger, the Mobile Health clinic coordinator.  "I think providing the services and health education is key."

Funding for the project was provided in part by the Sunflower Foundation: Health Care for Kansans, a Topeka-based philanthropic organization with the missions to serve as a catalyst for improving the health care of Kansans.

Within the School of Nursing, everyone from first semester students, to those about to graduate utilize the van.  

"We've had nothing but positive responses from the students," said Sidlinger.  "It helps them see their nursing skills being used beyond the clinical setting."

Sidlinger said if a patient comes in and the screening process indicates a possible health problem, they are immediately referred out to their personal physician or if they don't have one, they are given a recommendation.  

"It's just a great resource for Washburn and for the community," said Sidlinger.  "We are health education and screening."

School of Nursing to get space expansion

Some much needed space is on the treatment plan for the Washburn School of Nursing.
Whiting Field House, which is attached to Petro Allied Health Center, will add more offices for faculty, as well as a new state of the art simulation laboratory.
"Our nursing office isn't very big and there are offices all over campus," said Kirstin Harding, a junior in her second semester of nursing school. "I think it’s mostly going to benefit our faculty because they’ll have a lot more offices. I think there are a lot of new faculty who don't have offices at all. They're pretty crammed in there."
The new space for offices and classrooms has been funded by grants and donations.
The Whiting Field House renovations are also benefitting the Physical Education department and student athletes, as it will feature new strength and conditioning facilities.
Mary Allen, the Director of Students Services for the School of Nursing said that the new space had a tentative opening planned for the fall semester of 2009. She said the school will be receiving new furniture for the offices and rounding up faculty from offices located all over campus.
"We have been scrambling for space," said Allen.
Harding said she hopes eventually the school will have its own building.
"Our classes are so big, sometimes we have to move to Henderson [Learning Center]," Harding said. "It's not a big deal to walk across campus, but it would be nice for future students and recruitment to have a designated building just for the School of Nursing.
As a senior next year, Harding will benefit from the new simulation lab, in which student practice on dummies which simulate health problems like high blood pressure or seizures.
"It will be nice to practice in completely new facilities," Harding said. “It’s going to be a higher level simulator.”

Open house to be held for prospective students

Students interested in attending Washburn School of Nursing will have an excellent opportunity to learn more about the program on March 3. The school wil be hosting an open house in Petro Hall. Students and parents are welcome to attend, where they can meet teachers, and pick up borchures and information about the School of Nursing.

Research and Activity

I met with Mary Allen of the Washburn School of Nursing, in her office on Wednesday Feb. 11.  The meeting was interesting, but I don't feel like I got enough information.  

I emailed Patricia Joyce on the advice of a friend, and so later today I'm going to call her and set up an appointment for this week.

Contacts

Mary Allen
Director of student services, Washburn School of Nursing
670-1533

Kirstin Harding 231 9498 (student)

Laura Sidlinger Mobile Health Unit Director
670 2179

Caren Dick
Community Involvement
670-1447

Story Ideas

-men in the school of nursing
-school of allied health, what is it?
-new school of allied health grant to get non-traditional student
-how tough is EMT training?
-available scholarships for the school of nursing
-school of nursing flu shots clinic
-school of nursing and the community blood center
-the family core project
-what is the most popular specialty in the school of nursing?
-what is the least popular specialty?
-interview Washburn graduates who are working in the community
-the physical therapy program: how big is the school, how hard is it to get in?
-sports medicine: what exactly constitutes this major, what do people do when they graduate?
-Practicums: which are the most popular? how do students go about picking their specialties?
-Volunteer work: students have to do some work at community centers around town as a requirement. How does this benefit their education?
-The 2+2 plan. I don't know much about it and I'm sure others don't either.
-Nurses who are planning on going and doing interesting things with their education, like joining the peace corp or the military.
-The Rogerian Conceptual System, the Science of Unitary Human Beings, was selected as the organizing framework for the original nursing curriculum. How many other school use it across the nation? How do students benefit from the curriculum as opposed to others?
-The Nursing shortage, is it on the mend? Is the demand for nurses still extremely high? How does the job market look for graduating seniors?
-The new labs that will be available in the fall, what exactly will be new and different and how will this improve education?
-Nursing Electives: what are the most popular ones? What do students seem to be interested in?
-Interview some high school kids who are interested in Washburn school of nursing. Where else are they considering? Why are they interested in Washburn?
-profile extraordinary students in the school of nursing.
-profile extraordinary faculty in the school of nursing.

-Professional nursing leaders is a class in which students work on a project for change in their community that enhances healthcare education. They use posters and presentations.

-the exchange program with Northern Ireland.  Students have the opportunity to go to northern ireland to complete their psychiatric rotation.  

-students are also going to Finland and keep up with work online.  

-Master's program has about fifty students

-student nurses of Washburn SNOW--contact Barb Stevenson

-  Communty caring club host speakers and other events--contact Patricia Joyce.

-Students will be participating in Aperion and will display their seniors honors projects having to do with nursing

Full length stories:

Dr. Hornberger is stepping down from her position as the dean of the school of nursing. She plans to take sabattical during the fall and in the spring semester come back as a faculty member. The search committee has not yet started the process of starting to find her replacement. Why are they dragging their feet? Another possibility is to highlight the things that have changed since Dr. Hornberger came on as dean.

In the last five years or so, the enrollment has risen by 25% and acceptance into the school is much more competitive. What is the reason behind this trend? How has the school administration kept up with the additional work without hiring more staff?



Briefs:

Open house for prospective students will be held March 3rd.

What does the mobile health unit van do? Where do they go? How does it benefit the community?