National Ranking
The College of Nursing is ranked #22 in National Institutes of Health funding to colleges of nursing. $4,059,547 in new funding during 2022 moved the College from #28 in 2021 to #22 in 2022. We commend our hard-working and innovative scientists, their collaborators and team members, and the amazing Emma Eccles Jones Nursing Research Center staff who support them.
Certification
Dr. Sara Hart achieved certification as a VTS@Work® Facilitator! Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a research-based methodology for facilitating discussions about complex, ambiguous materials, and is designed to deepen attentiveness, curiosity, critical thinking, self-awareness, and mutual appreciation within a group. The VTS@Work® program teaches persons to connect research and theory with cutting-edge topics from organizational behavior, metacognition, leadership and team development, inclusion and equity, patient care and/or user experience, innovation, and more. VTS@Work® Co-Founders commended Dr. Hart for deeply engaged reflective listening. “We are especially impressed by how you adeptly maintained a psychologically safe space. You are particularly skilled at creating and holding that space with warmth yet without judgment, one of the most difficult challenges of applying these techniques and mindsets in the workplace. Bravo!”
Patient Commending Clinician
Dr. Sheila Deyette – “Dear Dr. D., You were the right therapist for me. I’d been in therapy many times over the years, but this time was different. Who could have imagined where I would have ended up had it not been for the work we did together? I am finally truly me. I finally am whom I was meant to be. It proves it’s never too late to become whole. Thank you so much for helping me free myself from my internal prison. Hugs. (age 76).
Professional Service
Dr. Gwen Latendresse and Dr. Jessica Ellis traveled to the University of New Mexico (UNM) campus in Albuquerque, NM, where they worked with a test writing consortium, Southwest Area Educators in Midwifery, to update the College’s mock board exam for midwifery students, and toured the UNM campus. Dr. Ellis also toured Dar A Luz, a community birth center where Dr. Kate Jones, a 2020 graduate from the College’s nurse-midwifery track, works.
Grant Award
The Merck Investigator Studies Program Review Committee (MISP-RC) awarded Dr. Deanna Kepka a $256,508.82 grant for her study titled Assessment of Adolescent and Young Adult Vaccine Confidence and Missed Opportunities for Vaccination in the Mountain West.
Presentations
Dr. Deanna Kepka was invited to deliver a presentation titled Successful Technology-based Rural Patient HPV Vaccination Reminder Intervention and Social Media Assessment of Strategies to Reduce HPV Vaccine Misinformation at EUROGIN 2023 in Bilbao, Spain.
Dr. Deanna Kepka presented an oral presentation titled Higher Levels of HPV Vaccine Hesitancy among Rural Hispanic Young Adults in the Western U.S. at EUROGIN 2023.
Dr. Deanna Kepka was invited to offer introductory remarks at the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Control & Population Sciences’ HPV Cancer Center Consortium, which aims to reconnect cancer centers, researchers, and practitioners in a collaborative environment; discuss increasing uptake of the HPV vaccine and reducing HPV-related cancers, and highlight local issues surrounding HPV vaccination.
Brian Jack, Dr. Andrea Wallace, and Peter Yellowlees are featured speakers at the AHRQ National Webinar Leveraging Digital Technologies to Address the Needs of Underserved Populations panel discussion on February 28, 2023. These experts will share findings from their research on reducing health disparities and improving the quality of care for diverse patients through innovative digital health interventions.
Publications
Brandt HM, Footman A, Adsul P, Ramanadhan S, Kepka D. Implementing interventions to start HPV vaccination at age 9: Using the evidence we have. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2023. Epub ahead of print. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2023.2180250.
Coronado GD, Petrik AF, Slaughter M, Kepka D, Naleway AL. Adolescents who have undergone human papillomavirus vaccination are more likely to get a COVID-19 vaccine. J Adolesc Health. 2023. Epub ahead of print. DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.12.022.
Staes C, Yusuf S, Hambly M, Phengphoo S, Guo J-W. Safety risks and workflow implications associated with nursing-related free-text communication orders. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2023; ocad018. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocad018
Warner ZC, Gilbert-Gard K, Reid B, Joseph W, Kepka D, Auguste P, Warner EL. Knowledge and awareness of colorectal cancer among a predominantly Indigenous Caribbean community. BMC Public Health. 2023;23:243. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-14810-5
Warner EL, Wilson AR, Rainbow JG, Ellington L, Kirchhoff AC. Employment of young adult cancer caregivers, other disease caregivers, and non-caregiving adults. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(14):7452. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147452
Wawrzynski S, Alderfer M, Waters AR, Linder L, Reblin M, Guo J-W, Litchman M, Cloyes K. Technology-mediated support among siblings of children with cancer. J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol. 2023. Epub ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1089/jayao.2022.0151
As a part of the American Association of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AAACN) Nurse-Sensitive Indicator Special Interest Group, Dr. Brenda Luther, Honor Martin, and DNP student Krissa Hendricks Nordblad published Leading the Way to Health Equity in AAACN ViewPoint.
Faculty Emeritus
Dr. Catherine Staes has been appointed Professor (Clinical) Emeritus in the College of Nursing, effective March 1, 2023.
Faculty Engagement
The system-level Intermountain Health Research & Evidence-Based Council invited Anna Alder and Dr. Rebekah Perkins to be members. The intent is to build academic-practice partnerships in order to align evidence-based practice, knowledge, and culture.
Dr. Lisa Taylor-Swanson has been selected as a University of Utah Intersectional Research Fellow. The Transformative Intersectional Collective (TRIC), a Mellon Foundation-funded initiative, housed in the University of Utah School for Cultural and Social Transformation provides Fellows with $2,500 in funding. Dr. Taylor-Swanson will continue working with a community advisory board (CAB) with established shared governance and contribution to menopause research. The CAB will meet twice to discuss intersectionality and what it means to their lived experiences of peri/menopause, and how intersectionality might be included in biomedical menopause research. All CAB members who choose to do so will analyze data and co-author deliverables.
In the Media
Dr. Deanna Kepka was featured on Talakoula 90.9FM KRCL radio, a public affairs show for Tongan and Pacific Islanders in Utah and worldwide. In a discussion with pharmacist Siu'ea Kupu from Tala Koula, Dr. Kepka spoke about human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer, and the importance of children receiving the HPV vaccine and adults being screened for cervical cancer.
Dr. Danna Kepka was featured in an article titled Teton County has 'room' to vaccinate more kids against cancer: HPV vaccine prevents cancer, particularly if it’s given before kids become sexually active by Billy Arnold in the Jackson Hole News & Guide. According to Dr. Kepka, “The most important demographic that should be getting this vaccine is our 9- to 12-year-olds.”
In her NBC Health News article titled The high cost of diabetes drugs has led to a flourishing black market, Kaitlin Sullivan described Dr. Michelle Litchman’s diabetes research about diabetes trading, and quoted Dr. Litchman, including, “People are priced out of being able to take care of themselves.”
Paula Span, New York Times reporter and New Old Age columnist, contacted Dr. Kathie Supiano, Director of Caring Connections about COVID-19 Grief Support Groups, and with participant permission, interviewed support group members about losing an older family member. In For Older Americans, the Pandemic Is Not Over, Paula quoted participant Vic Caretti who related the story of his 85 year-old father’s COVID death in the ICU.