Health Care Leaders In Nursing To Meet At CWRU

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 08 Oct 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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When you think of an entrepreneur, a nurse usually isn't the first professional that comes to mind. But a panel of business-thinking graduates of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program at Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing (FPB) hopes to change that.

They will share their knowledge and experiences about nurse professionals starting businesses during a daylong conference, "Global Nursing Education: The Role of the Professional Doctorate."

The conference takes place Friday, October 16, from 8 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. in Thwing Student Center, 11111 Euclid Ave. on the Case Western Reserve University campus.

The graduates will present a panel discussion about how they have gone on to start new businesses in such healthcare niches as headhunting and job-placing spine experts in healthcare organizations across the country to preparing emergency room nurses with continuing education skills on treating trauma patients.

All share a common mentor: their former professor Joyce Fitzpatrick, FPB's Elizabeth Brooks Ford Professor of Nursing, Dean Emerita, and chair of the conference. After receiving her MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management, Fitzpatrick realized that there were many entrepreneurial possibilities for DNP graduates and began teaching entrepreneurial skills as part of the management course for students in the DNP program. She estimates that since beginning the course in 2000, more than a dozen of her students have started their own businesses.

Talking about professionals in nursing starting businesses will be:

-- Jean Aertker, Tampa Occupational Health Services, Tampa, Fla.

-- Theresa Compo, Farfalla Education, LLC, Marmora, N.J.

-- Dolores Fazzino, Prepare Me 4 Surgery and Carmel Valley First Assists, LLC, Encino, Cal.

-- Nicola Hawkinson, SpineSearch, LLC, Carle Place, N.Y.

-- Jeffrey S. Jones, Pinnacle Mental Health Associate, Inc., Mansfield, Ohio.

Nursing entrepreneurship is just one facet of the conference, which will bring 150 professional leaders in the field of nursing to campus to discuss trends in DNP education. Panelists throughout the day include educators, "intrapreneurs" or leaders within healthcare organizations, as well as nursing school graduates with a business bent.

The conference will be held at Case Western Reserve University, where the doctor of nursing practice program had its origins. In 1979. Dr. Rozella Schlotfeldt, FPB's dean at the time, envisioned a professional doctorate that was focused on applying new research-based practices in delivering healthcare.

Thirty years later, professional doctorates in nursing are becoming widely implemented throughout the U.S., says Fitzpatrick. "These DNP programs are gaining momentum, with 92 established programs and 102 new programs under consideration for implementation at other American universities," she adds.

According to Fitzpatrick, the idea is going global as education and healthcare leaders will meet later this year in London to discuss the expansion of DNP programs worldwide. Currently, professional doctoral programs in nursing have been set up in both the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.

FPB's Marvin E. and Ruth Durr Denekas Professor and current dean May L. Wykle, who has worked on establishing nursing programs around the world, will open the conference. Dr. Beverly Malone, CEO of the National League for Nursing, will deliver the keynote Schlotfeldt lecture that addresses global perspectives in nursing education.

Throughout the day, participants will also hear from two of the highest ranking government nurses: E. Michele Richardson, director of the Division of Nursing at the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services'Health Resources and Services Administration, and Dr. Irene Sandvold, chief of the Advanced Nurse Education Branch, also with the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Case Western Reserve University is among the nation's leading research institutions. Founded in 1826 and shaped by the unique merger of the Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University, Case Western Reserve is distinguished by its strengths in education, research, service, and experiential learning.

Source: Case Western Reserve University