Notes onNIU School of Nursing

Northern Nursing

Quarterly Results Are In!!

NCLEX Success 1

NIU @ ISAPN 2

Alum Author 3

HESI Superstars 3

Skills Fair 4

Student Athletes 5

IACN 6

Staff & Faculty 7

The National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX) for aspiring nurses releases first-time pass rates each quarter. This rate often becomes the primary metric used to gauge the effectiveness of a nursing program to prepare their students for licensure. The 2016 third quarter results were recently released and NIU had one of their best quarters on record with a 97% first time pass rate.

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Combined with the rates from the first two quarters of 2016, the school’s cumulative NCLEX pass rate is now 92%. NIU has seen a steady climb in their NCLEX pass rates over the past few years due to the committed efforts of faculty, instructors, students, a robust student success program and the consistent use of the HESI, a predictive test administered to students throughout the program. See more on the school’s HESI superstars in this issue under the title “HESI Superstars” on Page 3.

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NIU at the ISAPN Midwest ConferenceThe Illinois Society for Advanced Practice Nurses (ISAPN) held their annual conference the weekend of October 6-8 in Lisle, IL. NIU attended in multiple capacities, with presenters, an organizational table and attendees. The keynote speaker was Carylyn Buppert (NP, JD) and the title of her presentation was Medicare/Medicaid Billing: What APN's Need to Know About Billing Errors and Fraud.

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Assistant Professor, Dr. Manju Daniel and Pam Taylor, Director of Graduate Studies, both presented posters at the conference. Pam Taylor was awarded first place in the poster contest out of 27 entries for her poster presentation of “Screening and Brief Intervention for Alcohol Abuse in the Primary Care Setting”. Pam is a doctoral student in the College of Health and Human Sciences PhD in Health Sciences program.

Sue Anderson, our Graduate Internship Coordinator, manned the NIU table at the ISAPN Midwest Conference

Dr. Manju Daniel with her poster at ISAPN

Pam Taylor with ISAPN Board members Mary Barton and Mary Webb

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Alum Transitions to AuthorHelen Osterman is a woman of many talents. Despite a strong artistic and creative streak as a child, her first goal was to become a nurse. She went on to a long, distinguished 45 year career as a nurse, earning her master’s degree from the NIU School of Nursing in 1981.

Retiring from nursing allowed her to pursue that artistic streak full-time. Helen is now an accomplished author and artist. Four of her paintings of historic Maxwell Street in Chicago can be found in the Chicago History Museum. She also just published her eleventh book, titled “Dipped in Danger”.

The main character of her mystery novels is Emma Winberry. The author said she had another dream to one day be a supernumerary in an opera, but she lives out that dream vicariously through Emma.

Find out more about Helen by visiting her website athttp://www.helenosterman.com/index.html

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NIU School of Nursing alum, retired nurse and author/artist, Helen Macie Osterman.

The latest induction to the 950 Club occurred on October 18. Fifty-one students achieved a score of 950 or higher on a HESI exam taken either at the end of the spring semester or earlier this fall semester. The HESI is a predictive test that lets a student (and the instructor) know how likely it is that a student will pass the NCLEX on the first attempt. Scoring above 950 is an exceptional score and these students received recognition for their accomplishment by being inducted into the Chair’s “950 Club”.

HESI Superstars

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5th Trackers Hold Skills FairOne of the best ways to learn something is to teach it. Each semester 5th Track students get a chance to do just that at a skills fair. Students prepare a short (10-15 minute) lesson about a particular skill and get a chance to present it to their peers. The purpose of the skills fair is to review skills specifically identified in the NCSBN test plan, but often not seen in the clinical experience. One student commented, “Skills fair was fun and informative. I enjoyed the opportunity to gain more exposure to concepts that may appear on NCLEX. Especially since I did not have the chance to see many of these procedures at clinical. I learned a lot and felt that all the groups did a wonderful job delivering comprehensive and informative presentations.”

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Topics for this semester’s Skills Fair

Peritoneal dialysis

Drains and suction

GU apparatus (sp catheters and continuous

bladder irrigation)

Ostomies

Phototherapy

Radiation therapy

Tracheostomy care

Temperature regulation (therapeutic

hypothermia)

Blood administration

Cardiac catheterization

Central lines

Conscious sedation

Epidural and intrathecal catheterization

Feeding tubes

Mental health safety check

Pulmonary hygiene

Traction/SCDs

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School of Nursing’s Student Athletes

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Let’s face it, nursing students are, in general, overachievers. That’s why they survive nursing school. The School of Nursing would like to acknowledge that all of our students juggle multiple demands – family, work, studies, etc, but in this issue we would like to recognize our student athletes who juggle many competing demands and also represent our university in their respective sports. Thanks also to the faculty and instructors who work with them to meet the demands of both their athletic commitments and the nursing program.

Courtney DowdellGymnastics

Kali KossakowskiSoftball

Joshua OrneFootball

Katherine PrenticeGymnastics

Carly PedersonTrack, Cross Country

Quinton RosserWrestling

Tara ThackerSoftball

Jacqueline WandtSoccer

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Rosemary (Rigney) Bergin

BonnieKoerner

Lenore(Bostian)Harris

Janet(Bailey-Murray)Mingo

Jill (Johnson) O’Brien

Mary (Fosnot) Carroll

Joan Richoz

IACN Meets at Loyola

This photo shown in last month’s newsletter incorrectly identified Jill (Johnson) O’Brien and Bonnie Koerner. Below a corrected photo with names is provided.

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The Illinois Association of Colleges of Nursing (IACN) recently held a meeting at Loyola University. Pictured here are IACN board members with our own Dr. Jan Strom, the new presiding president of IACN.

http://illinoiscollegesofnursing.org/

The IACN mission is to advance excellence in baccalaureate and graduate nursing education in service to the public.

For more information, go to

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Dr. Jeanette Rossetti was elected to the Illinois Association of Psychiatric Nurses of America (APNA) Board of Directors as a Member at Large.

Dr. Jeanette Rossetti

The School of Nursing welcomes your donations. Please go to niufoundation.org to donate online or contact Anthony D’Andrea at adandrea@niu.edu or (815) 753-1390.

Northern Illinois UniversitySchool of Nursing1240 Normal RoadDeKalb, IL 60115(815) 753-1231nursing@niu.edu

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Dr. Daniel presented at the National Association of Indian Nurses of America (NAINA) conference in Chicago, IL. Her poster presentation was titled Autonomy and Mental Illness.

Dr. Manju Daniel

Dr. Cathy Carlson

Dr. Carlson presented two posters at the American Society of Pain Management Nurses (ASPMN) conference in Louisville, KY. They were titled And They’re Off! The Race for Regulatory Guidance to Nurses for Mitigating Prescription Medication Abuse and Diversion and The Use of Opioids for Chronic Non-cancer Pain while Preventing Abuse and Diversion.

In MemoryIt is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the passing of a member of the Class of 1965. Mary Ann (Perry) Meldeenpassed away on October 9, 2016.