February 24, 2022

Thomas Lawson’s “Three Minute Thesis” presentation on delirium in stroke patients moves on to regional competition

The Graduate School at The Ohio State University named Thomas Lawson, a PhD candidate in the College of Nursing, as the winner this week of the 2021-22 university-wide Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition. As the winner, he will move forward to the regional competition of the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools. 

Lawson’s presentation entitled Delirium in Critically Ill Stroke Patients is the first ever presentation by a College of Nursing student to have been submitted to the university-wide.
  

The 3MT competition, originally developed by The University of Queensland, celebrates the exciting research conducted by Doctor of Philosophy students. The competition focuses on effectively explaining research in three minutes, in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.

“I am excited to have won this university-wide competition and to represent the graduate school in the upcoming regional competition,” said Lawson, who is mentored in his PhD program by Dr. Judith Tate. “The practice of crafting a message for different audiences is a useful skill which has been fostered throughout my time in the PhD program at Ohio State’s College of Nursing; it’s fantastic to be recognized in this way.”

Lawson will receive a $500 award from the Graduate School for his first-place finish. He also recently received a one-year, $5,000 Sigma Theta Tau International Small Grant Award and a one-year, $5,000 Graduate School Alumni Grant for a proposal on the same topic, Prevalence, Severity and Risk Factors of Delirium in Critically Ill Stroke Patients

November 11, 2021

First, meet Senior Master Sergeant Emika Miller (on the left in the photo above), an Air Force veteran and current Reservist pursing a PhD in nursing and investigating hospice underutilization in African American communities. 


Can you tell us about your background and what led you to pursue your PhD in nursing?

I was raised in Cleveland, Ohio and joined the military right out of high school. My mom and dad were both Army veterans and thought serving would be good for me. My mom had recruiters coming to the house and to school! I had an uncle that was in the Air Force and decided that was the branch I wanted to join. 

I served in active duty for 11 years. During my second deployment to Iraq, I worked in aeromedical transport and transported injured soldiers. I was completely fascinated by the flight nurses. I thought they were the bee’s knees and wanted to do what they were doing.

After running into scheduling issues trying to go to nursing school while on active duty, I separated to the Air Force Reserves in 2013, got my BSN and started working as a civilian nurse in various ICUs. 

I graduated from Ohio State with my master’s with a specialization in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care – I just really enjoy older people. In my current job, I do home health visits for seniors to identify gaps in care. The hardest part is staying on schedule. So many of them are so eager to talk and I love to hear what they have to say. 

Ultimately, my interest was in palliative care, though, and I decided to continue on to a PhD with a goal of improving access to quality palliative care for minorities. There’s so much miscommunication between providers, patients and families during end of life conversations that are filled with emotion. 


What similarities did you find in clinical nursing and military service?

Both of them require dedication and the willingness to serve. It’s about service to others. Interestingly, a lot of Reservists are in a medical or law enforcement fields. Sacrifice and service.


What sets the Ohio State College of Nursing’s PhD program apart from the rest? 

It’s Ohio State! But really, so much. 

Dr. Karen Moss is the reason I’m in this program. She’s absolutely amazing and my favorite person in the College of Nursing. She focuses on advanced care planning in minority patients and since I’m interested in end of life issues she’s a great mentor. 

I had no idea that all of the people would be so supportive. In undergraduate programs there’s a lot of competition. But not here. Not only are the faculty great, but I have the very best cohort. We have a WhatsApp chain. The program is tough. If I ever feel like giving up, I remember my great cohort. I couldn’t ever leave them!

Everyone is invested in helping you succeed. I’m a T32 fellow and the college really helped guide that process. I was actually deployed the first semester of my master’s degree and my professors were so understanding. It’s a great school for veterans. 


Anything else you’d like to share? 

It’s amazing how much your thinking about thinking is broadened in this program. How important it is to be clear and define what you’re talking or writing about. Not believing everything you see or read – actually digging into the research and taking the time to critically analyze things. It’s not something I expected. 

 

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Next, meet Major Shawnice Shankle (RET) (on the right in the photo above), an Air Force veteran pursuing a PhD in nursing and investigating long-term health outcomes for veterans. 

Can you tell us about your background and what led you to pursue your PhD in nursing? 

I grew up in Appalachian Ohio and joined the Army right out of high school. I was the class salutatorian and wanted to go to medical school, but had no money and no idea how to get there. No one in my family had ever gone to college. 

I served eight years in the Army as a medic. When it was time to go to school, I realized I didn’t really want to be a physician. I was interested in the caring side of nursing. Ultimately spent some time as an oncology nurse where I was able to support patients and families through really hard times. 

After getting my bachelor’s degree in nursing, I swapped branches and joined the Air Force where I served as a nurse. 

I retired from the Air Force in 2020 after serving for 24 years and moved back to Ohio to begin my PhD because I had questions that didn’t seem to have solid answers. Why was my body breaking down faster than that of my non-military friends? What long-term health outcomes are at play for women in the military? What about for military women from Appalachia? I decided it was time to go figure it out myself. 


What similarities did you find in clinical nursing and military service?

I’ve only ever been a nurse in the Air Force. I don’t have any civilian nursing experiences. My experience with nursing and the military are completely intertwined. What I loved about being a nurse in the military is that we sincerely believed in the team way of getting things done. Everyone is on the same team and committed to completing the mission – getting the patient well and back to their mission as fast as possible. 


What sets The Ohio State University College of Nursing’s PhD program apart from the rest? 

The quality of the education and the location appealed to me, but what’s blown me away are the people. 

My mentors and advisors, Dr. Sonia Duffy and Dr. Laureen Smith, as well as my wonderful professors have been amazing. Nurses can be a competitive group, but there’s none of that nonsense in the PhD program at the College of Nursing. I’ve never attended a school so dedicated to student success. They’re dedicated to you making it – willing to walk with you every step of the way and make time to support you. 

And my cohort! We’re like a little raft of ants all supporting each other on top of a big lake—we’re friends. Despite no two people having exactly the same research interests, we talk to and learn from each other as much as we do from our professors. 

The veterans support at Ohio State has been second to none. I’m funded through the VA’s
Veteran Readiness & Employment vocational rehabilitation program and Ohio State’s Military and Veterans Services Office has taken care of everything with the VA. I haven’t had to worry about anything. On top of that, Dr. Pickler has kept me abreast of several non-profit scholarships specific to veteran health. 


Anything else you’d like to share? 

Everyone says once you have a PhD, you’ll never think the same way again. The military is like that, too. And that’s a good thing. Being a veteran and becoming a nurse scientist are accomplishments for which I will always hold my head up high. 

March 18, 2021

 

Avery Anderson, a PhD student in the College of Nursing’s abstract, The Three-Step Theory of Suicide: Analysis and Evaluation, was accepted and published in the scientific journal, Advances in Nursing Science.

Anderson’s clinical background in psychiatric nursing with children and adolescents and having the privilege to work with transgender and gender non-conforming children (TGNC) inspired him to dive into the disproportionate rates of mental health challenges and suicide that these children face.

“When we were tasked with choosing a theory to analyze and evaluate in our philosophy course, I was ready to dive into the suicide theory literature,” said Anderson.

Anderson and his mentor, Mary Beth Happ, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA, Associate Dean of Research and Innovation and Distinguished Professor of Critical Care Research in the college collaborated on this manuscript. Anderson is excited to share this important information and have this piece published.

Looking ahead, he hopes to provide clarifying insight around mental health and suicide, particularly for children who identify as TGNC. He knows he has more reading and learning to do before conducting his own research, but he has a big goal set for his future.

“I would say this speaks to the preparation of the PhD program and Dr. Happ’s mentorship that spurred this paper’s development,” said Anderson. “My career goal is to develop a research program that contributes to combating the disproportionately high suicide outcomes for TGNC kids.”

December 12, 2017

RWJF announces the fifth and final cohort for innovative program

The Ohio State University College of Nursing is one of only 31 schools of nursing selected to receive a grant to increase the number of nurses holding PhDs. The selected schools comprise the fifth cohort of grantees of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Future of Nursing Scholars program, which will provide financial support, mentoring and leadership development to nurses who commit to earn their PhDs in three years. The College of Nursing will select two nursing students to receive this prestigious scholarship.

“Our fifth cohort of scholars will join an impressive group of nurse researchers who are already making significant contributions to the field," Julie Fairman, PhD, RN, FAAN, Future of Nursing Scholars programs co-director and Nightingale professor of nursing and chair of the department of biobehavioral health sciences at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, said. "This program is designed to empower nurse leaders to progress efficiently. The selected scholars will complete their PhDs in an expedited three-year time frame."

In its landmark nursing report, the Institute of Medicine recommended that the country double the number of nurses with doctorates. While enrollment in doctorate of nursing practice programs has increased exponentially, PhD enrollment has seen less growth. The Future of Nursing Scholars program was designed to increase PhD-prepared nurses. Doing so will ensure that more nurses are conducting vital research and will also help address the nurse faculty shortage.

The Future of Nursing Scholars program is a multi-funder initiative. In addition to RWJF, Johnson & Johnson, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Sharp HealthCare and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are supporting the Future of Nursing Scholars grants to schools of nursing this year. Ohio State is receiving its grant from RWJF. It will select scholars in April and those students will attend a boot camp with the Future of Nursing Scholars program this summer and their PhD studies this fall.

"It is an honor to have been selected for funding for the fifth cohort of scholars in the Future of Nursing Scholars program,” says Rita Pickler, PhD, The FloAnn Sours Easton Professor of Child and Adolescent Health and Director of the PhD and master's in nursing science program at the College of Nursing. "We are excited to be able to offer this funding to two of our new PhD students who will be admitted for autumn 2018. These scholars will have the opportunity to have their doctoral work financially supported while also receiving additional leadership development training through the RWJF as a supplement to our PhD curriculum. We expect our participating students will be even better prepared to transform healthcare through research while also educating and inspiring the next generation of nurses.”

“When this program concludes, we will have graduated more than 200 PhD prepared nurses," Susan Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, co-director of the program and RWJF's senior adviser for nursing, said. "RWJF is thrilled to see the program succeed so well, and we are very thankful for the other funders who have joined us in support of this work."

For more than 40 years, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve the health and healthcare of all Americans. It is striving to build a national culture of health that will enable all to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit rwjf.org.

Follow the Foundation on Twitter at rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at rwjf.org/facebook.

July 18, 2017

Two PhD candidates in the Ohio State College of Nursing have been awarded Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowships, also known as F31 grants, from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research (NIH/NINR).

Randi Bates, a certified nurse practitioner and PhD candidate, has been awarded an F31 grant for her study, “The influence of early life contexts on child self-regulation: A key to lifecourse wellness.” The study deals with identifying chronic or persistent stress in young children, “with contextual markers, behavior (self-regulation), or with a biomeasure (cortisol) in hair,” Bates said. During her PhD studies at Ohio State, Bates also earned her MS in nursing with a focus in family nurse practitioner. She is sponsored for this fellowship by Jodi Ford, PhD, RN, of the College of Nursing; Pamela Salsberry, PhD, RN, FAAN, of the College of Public Health; and Laura Justice, PhD, of the Crane Center for Early Childhood Education and Policy/College of Education and Human Ecology.

Marliese Nist, who holds a BS and MS in nursing from Ohio State, was awarded an F31 for her study, “Inflammatory Mediators of Stress Exposure and Neurodevelopment in Very Preterm Infants.” The objective of this study is to examine the indirect effect of stress exposure on neurodevelopment, mediated by inflammation, a potentially modifiable factor. “The goal is to provide evidence that can be used to improve the long-term outcomes of preterm infants,” Nist said. Nist's sponsors are Rita Pickler, PhD, RN, FAAN; Tondi Harrison PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN; and Deborah Steward, PhD, RN, all from the College of Nursing.

Another PhD candidate, Lisa Blair, received an F31 grant in August of 2016, making a total of three PhD Nursing students at Ohio State currently supported by F31 grants. Her sponsors are Cindy Anderson, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Rita Pickler, PhD, RN, FAAN, from the College of Nursing.

“Randi and Marliese are carrying on a strong tradition at the [Ohio State] College of Nursing in their successful bids to obtain this highly competitive and prestigious NIH award. As T32 Fellows, they have acquired quite a bit of research training; their new awards provide them further opportunity to develop advanced research skills and knowledge,” said Pickler, PhD Program Director. “These awards are quite an honor for our students and their sponsors as well as the college.”

The NIH awards F31 grants to provide predoctoral students with supervised research training in specified health and health-related areas leading toward the research degree. The NIH states that the purpose of the F31 award is “to enable promising predoctoral students to obtain individualized, mentored research training from outstanding faculty sponsors while conducting dissertation research in scientific health-related fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers.”

February 17, 2017

Multi-funder initiative aims to help reach Institute of Medicine goal to build next generation of PhD-prepared nursing leaders 

The Ohio State University College of Nursing is one of only 28 nursing schools nationwide to receive a grant to increase the number of nurses holding PhDs. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Future of Nursing Scholars program will provide financial support, mentoring and leadership development to nurses who commit to earn their PhDs in three years. The college will select two nursing students to receive this prestigious scholarship.

“The Future of Nursing Scholars program is making an incredible impact in real time," said Julie Fairman, PhD, RN, FAAN, Future of Nursing Scholars program co-director, Nightingale professor of nursing and chair of the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. "These nurses will complete their PhDs in three years, a much quicker progression than is typically seen in nursing PhD programs.”

The Future of Nursing Scholars program is a multi-funder initiative. In addition to RWJF, Johnson & Johnson, Northwell Health, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Sharp HealthCare, Rush University Medical Center, Care Institute Group and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are supporting the Future of Nursing Scholars grants to nursing schools this year.

The Ohio State University College of Nursing is receiving its grant from RWJF. It will select two scholars this spring who will begin the Future of Nursing Scholars program this summer and their PhD studies this fall. 

"It is an honor to have been selected for funding for the fourth cohort of scholars in the Future of Nursing Scholars program,” said Rita Pickler, PhD, The FloAnn Sours Easton Professor of Child and Adolescent Health and director of the PhD and master of nursing science program at the Ohio State College of Nursing. "This was our first year to apply for the Future of Nursing Scholars program. The timing was right for us; we have a newly revised PhD curriculum that builds on our tradition of excellence and advances the preparation of future nurse scientists. We are excited that two of our new PhD students will have the opportunity to have their doctoral work financially supported, and will receive additional leadership development training at the same time through RWJF, via in-person and online activities as a supplement to our PhD curriculum. We expect that our participating students will be even better prepared to transform healthcare through research and the translation of evidence into practice and policy, while also educating and inspiring the next generation of nurses.”

In its landmark nursing report, the Institute of Medicine recommended that the country double the number of nurses with doctorates; doing so will prepare and enable nurses to lead change to advance health, promote nurse-led science and discovery and put more educators in place to prepare the next generation of nurses. The Future of Nursing Scholars program is intended to help address that recommendation.

“We were pleased to see that enrollment in doctorate of nursing practice programs has increased 160 percent from 2010 to 2014," said Susan Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, co-director of the program and RWJF senior adviser for nursing. "However, we want to ensure that we also have PhD-prepared nurse leaders in faculty and research roles. In the same time period, PhD enrollment has only increased by 14.6 percent. The nurses funded through the Future of Nursing Scholars program will make important contributions to the field and be well prepared to mentor other nurses.”

The 51 nurses supported in this round will join 109 scholars across the three previous cohorts. The program plans to add a fifth cohort which will bring the number of funded scholars to more than 200 nurses. 

For more than 40 years, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve the health and healthcare of all Americans. It is striving to build a national culture of health that will enable all to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at rwjf.org/facebook.

June 19, 2012

Jennifer Bauman, an incoming doctoral degree student at The Ohio State University College of Nursing, has received an esteemed Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Program grant award.

Launched in 2008, the Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Program at the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence addresses the nation’s dire shortage of nursing faculty by preparing nurses with doctoral degrees to step into this critical role. The largest program of its kind, this program now includes more than 200 students in nearly 85 schools across the United States.

Bauman has worked for three years as a staff and charge nurse on the medical/surgical progressive care unit at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, serving as a preceptor and co-chair of the education committee during the past two years. She completed a student nurse internship in the neurosurgical intensive care unit at the Mayo Clinic and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Luther College. She will begin her PhD studies at the college in August 2012. Her research interests include patient decision-making, treatment adherence and chronic disease management, especially related to diabetes and obesity.

“Jennifer is emblematic of the high caliber of incoming and current doctoral degree nursing students we have recruited at the college,” said Pamela Salsberry, PhD, director of the PhD program and professor at the College of Nursing. “Our graduates serve as scientists and scholars in the profession of nursing, with the expectation that they will transform healthcare organizations through their contributions.”

The new Jonas Nurse Leaders cohort includes 142 PhD and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) scholars representing all 50 states. The scholars will be funded through 2014 with $2 million from the Jonas Center, which the schools leveraged to raise an additional $1.5 million. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing will administer the program, bringing its vast experience and expertise in nursing leadership programs.

“We wanted the Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Program to dramatically change the landscape of nursing education and, ultimately, the future of nursing and healthcare,” said Donald B. Jonas, co-founder. “We feel we’ve made great strides towards the first goal and look forward to the impact these remarkable men and women will have on the healthcare of future generations.”

In addition to growing the ranks of nursing faculty (as graduates are expected to teach), Jonas scholars will also expand the number of advanced practice nurses who can serve as primary-care providers and healthcare leaders.

More information about the Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Program is available at jonasphilanthropies.org/jonas-scholars.