Nursing News: Honors, Awards and Accomplishments

Former Dean Kathleen Dracup Named a “Living Legend of Nursing”

The American Academy of Nursing (AAN) has named former School of Nursing Dean and Professor Emerita Kathleen Dracup a “Living Legend of Nursing.” Dracup, who is among four nurse leaders to earn the title this year, was selected for her work in cardiovascular nursing, which has included patient care, advocacy, teaching and an internationally respected program of research into chronic cardiac disease.

“Kathy Dracup embodies the ideals to which we all aspire,” says current Dean David Vlahov. “Not only is she a superb clinician and scientist, but her influence continues through the many educators and researchers she has mentored over the decades.”

Living Legends are selected for work that is “impressive, enduring, and historic,” said AAN President Diana Mason in making the announcement. Since its inception in 1994, 88 nurse leaders have received the honor, including UCSF’s Margretta Madden Styles in 1999, Shirley Chater in 2000, Susan Gortner in 2001, Ramona Mercer in 2003, Patricia Benner in 2011 and Anne Davis in 2012. Dracup and her fellow 2014 Living Legends will be honored at the AAN’s Transforming Health, Driving Policy conference in Washington, DC, in October.

Nurse Practitioner Alums on Dietary Supplements in JAMA Internal Medicine

Anna Strewler and Rebecca Conroy, recent graduates of the School of Nursing’s Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner program, published a perspective, “Approach to Overuse of Herbal and Dietary Supplements,” in the July 2014 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. Their article presents a case study in the overuse of dietary supplements in a geriatric patient and suggests management approaches for primary care providers, including careful review of supplements with patients and the use of shared decisionmaking to reduce potential harms. Helen Kao, MD, a clinician at UCSF’s Center for Geriatric Care and head of the UCSF Housecalls Program, was the third author.

Faculty Named Among Top Nurse Practitioner Program Professors

Two School of Nursing faculty, HS Clinical Professor of Family Health Care Nursing Pilar Bernal de Pheils and Bethany Phoenix, vice chair and HS clinical professor in the Department of Community Health Systems, have been named among the top nurse practitioner program professors in the US. NursePractitionerSchools.com, a website created by Internet publishing firm Sechel Ventures to provide information on nurse practitioner education, included de Pheils in its current list of 25 top nurse practitioner program professors and Phoenix in its list of 15 top psychiatric nursing professors. Listees were selected from among the country’s top-rated nurse practitioner programs based on a combination of factors including research publication and leadership positions.

JoAnne Saxe Wins Lifelong Learning in Interprofessional Education Award

JoAnne Saxe JoAnne Saxe, coordinator of the School of Nursing’s Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner master’s specialty, has received a $2,500 Lifelong Learning in Interprofessional Education Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing for her project “Interprofessional Continuous Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Curriculum: A Guide for Clinical Faculty and Mentors in Primary Care Settings.” The award recognizes Saxe and her fellow faculty – Co-Director Rebecca Shunk, MD, Maya Dulay, MD, and Bridget O'Brien, PhD – in the Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.

The award is one of four that will be announced at the October meeting of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative, and supports the development of projects that improve teaching of health care quality improvement and patient safety across health professions.

PhD Student Austin Nation Presents HIV Research at International Nursing Research Congress

Austin Nation Austin Nation, a fourth-year PhD student in the School of Nursing, presented his research on substance use among young, HIV-positive black men at Sigma Theta Tau International’s 25th International Nursing Research Congress, held in July in Hong Kong.

Nation’s poster described the experiences of HIV-positive black men in San Francisco between the ages of 18 and 29 who have sex with men. Nation found that several factors, including family experiences, relationship issues, the pressures of living in San Francisco and feelings of resignation about HIV infection, affected substance use among study participants.

Heather Leutwyler Wins Norbeck Award to Study Older Adults with Schizophrenia

Heather Leutwyler Heather Leutwyler, assistant professor in the Department of Physiological Nursing, has received the School of Nursing’s Jane Norbeck Junior Faculty Research Award for her proposal to investigate the effects of schizophrenia on mobility in older adults.

The award, named for former School of Nursing Dean Jane Norbeck, will support the development of the project. Leutwyler hopes to use the results to design an intervention to reduce symptoms and improve mobility in older adults with schizophrenia.