December 2008

Sigma Theta Tau International

Beta Sigma Chapter Newsletter
School of Nursing The Pennsylvania State University Fall 2008

BETA SIGMA CHAPTER President’s Message cont.

2008-2009 OFFICERS & COMMITTEE CHAIRS Beta Sigma contributed funding to assist six
Suzanne Kuhn President students to participate in the education
Sharon Lacue President-Elect abroad program to Ecuador with the Penn State
Carol Smith Vice President Children's Heart Team, Nancy Kashlak and Dean
Kathryn Wilt Recording Secretary Milone-Nuzzo. We look forward to hearing about
Joann Cooper Treasurer their trip and the travel abroad experience at a future
Pamela Spigelmyer Governance Committee Co-Chair Beta Sigma meeting!
Susan Ososkie Governance Committee Co-Chair
Melinda Steis Governance Committee Beta Sigma also partially funded an outreach
Andrea Yevchak Governance Committee initiative with Easter Seals. Maureen Jones, Chair of
Michelle Bichko Leadership Succession Chair the Membership Involvement committee and several
Tara Baney Leadership Succession Committee
nursing students organized a Halloween party at
TBD Leadership Succession Committee
Maureen Jones Membership Involvement Chair
Easter Seals. Thanks, Maureen!
Several members had the opportunity to attend the
Melinda Steis Chapter Historian
Nikki Hill Chapter Student Intern
Sigma Theta Tau Leadership Academy in
Indianapolis, Indiana in September. The Academy
offered a great opportunity to hear national
President’s Message speakers, attend workshops and network with Sigma
members from the US and around the world.
Suzanne Kuhn,
PhD, CNE, RN All members are encouraged to take an active role in
Beta Sigma. We welcome suggestions for
Greetings to all Beta Sigma members programming and help with service projects that will
and a special welcome to our newly reach a wide audience and best meet member’s
inducted members. This is my first article as the Beta interests.
Sigma president and I am pleased to be able to report
on a number of events and activities that have taken The Sigma newsletter is sent to all Sigma members
place this Fall. twice a year. We hope that members will contribute
to this effort by submitting information of interest to
The annual Induction Ceremony was held on Saturday Amy Pupo at apl18@psu.edu.
November 1st at the Nittany lion Inn. Beta Sigma
membership was increased with the induction of 48 new Best,
members while more than 50 guests joined the Suzanne
celebration. Karen Morin, RN, DSN, President Elect of
Sigma Theta Tau International was the guest speaker UPCOMING EVENTS
for the ceremony. Dr Morin provided an inspiring
presentation titled “Making the Most of Membership” and School of Nursing 45th Anniversary
her attendance helped to make the ceremony a special Penn State School of Nursing will celebrate its 45th
event. Dr. Paula Milone-Nuzzo, RN, PhD, FAAN, Anniversary with a two day event on April 24-25,
FHHC, Dean of the School of Nursing delivered 2009. Beta Sigma will be working in conjunction
greetings from the SON. Special thanks to everyone with the School of Nursing to plan the professional
who helped to make this a special day for the students, conference, reception and ribbon cutting of the new
community leaders, and families who attended. Simulation Lab. More information can be found at
www.hhdev.psu.edu/nurs
 MEMBER’S
CORNER
Linda Lochbaum
RN, BSN, MSN, CNS,
WOCN Certified
Linda Lochbaum may be known as the “recently retired”
Wound Care Nursing Specialist at Mount Nittany
Medical Center in State College, but she continues to
work and contribute to the profession of nursing.
Linda’s four decade career includes many memorable
experiences from her roles as a staff nurse, nursing
educator, and staff development professional. A long
time Sigma Theta Tau member (she was inducted
during her undergrad days at Ohio State University),
Linda now works part time at the medical center in her
prior role, as well as providing input to the American
Nurses Association’s National Database of Nursing
Quality Indicators (NDNQI) study on the Prevalence and
Incidence of Skin Impairment. She is also the web site
coordinator for the Northeast Chapter of the Wound,
Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society. Linda
continues to assist patients needing wound care
expertise, helping patients in rehabilitation and home
care settings. So much for being retired!
When asked to reflect on her nursing practice, Linda
related several anecdotes that impacted her nursing
beliefs and approach to patient care. Early experiences
placed the Protestant-raised Linda at a Catholic hospital
caring for Jewish patients. The ecumenical approach of
her supervisors impressed upon her the need to care
not only for her patients, but also for their families.
Linda also reflected upon the “3 C’s” of her approach to
nursing, inspired by Kobasa’s theory of hardiness:
Commitment (versus just doing a job); Challenges
(versus threats); and sense of Control (internal versus
external). Following these tenets saw her through many
challenges, including the untimely death of her husband,
and her enrollment as a full time graduate student at
Penn State in 1980, all while she continued to work as a
nursing staff development instructor and raised three
daughters on her own.
Those of us who have worked with Linda at Mount
Nittany Medical Center admire her professionalism,
energy level, and commitment to the nursing profession.
Linda has brought the Sigma Theta Tau mission of
Love, Courage, Honor, to her patients both past and
present. The Beta Sigma Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau
recognizes Linda for her continued efforts in advancing
the role of the professional nurse.
Member Accomplishments
Sharon Falkenstern
Presentations:
Presenter on Adolescents and Risky Behavior at
American College of Nurse Practitioners
Conference, San Antonio, TX, Oct 26-30, 2008.
Invited presenter on the Penn State Nurse
Practitioner Option at US Dept of HHS Health
Resources & Services Administration All Grantee
Meeting, Washington, DC, Feb 26-28, 2008.
Invited participant in Keynote Debate of Online
Learning for Nurse Practitioner Education, Nursing
Technology Conference sponsored by Drexel
University, Hilton Head, SC, March, 2008.
Susan Loeb
Publications:
Madden, S.G., Loeb, S.J., & Smith, C.A. (2008).
Lifestyle interventions for diabetes prevention.
Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17(17), 2243-2256.
Loeb, S.J., Penrod, J., Kolanowski, A.M., Hupcey,
J.E., Haidet, K.K., Fick, D.M., McGonigle, D., & Yu,
F. (2008). Creating cross-disciplinary alliances to
advance nursing research. Journal of Nursing
Scholarship, 40(2), 195-201.
Loeb, S.J., Steffensmeier, D., & Lawrence, F.
(2008). Comparing Incarcerated and Community-
Dwelling Older Men’s Health. Western Journal of
Nursing Research, 30(2), 234-249. Response to
commentaries 256-258.
Honors:
Loeb, S. J. “Understanding and Eliminating Health
Disparities in Prison Populations.” Invited speaker on
panel at the NIH Summit: The Science of Eliminating
Health Disparities, National Harbor, Maryland,
December 16-18, 2008.
Melinda Steis
Publication:
Steis, MR, Fick, DM (2008). Are Nurses
Recognizing Delirium? A Systematic Review.
Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 34(9):40-8.
Denise Smith
Denise was promoted to Captain, US Navy, Nurse
Corps. She is the Senior Nurse Executive at Naval
Health Clinic Cherry Point, North Carolina and Head
of the Quality Management Department.
 Member Accomplishments
Rae Brown
Grants:
Dr. Raymonde Brown received a three-year, $841,514
grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA) D11HP09763-01-00 for Nurse
Education Practice and Retention, to launch an
Accelerated Bachelor of Science Nursing program that
enables associate degree-prepared registered nurses to
obtain a baccalaureate nursing degrees within a year.
The program will be implemented at two Penn State
campuses (Penn State Altoona and Penn State Fayette,
The Eberly Campus). The project will admit three
cohorts, graduate 100 BS prepared RNs during the
funding period and develop a program expansion plan
that will be available to other Penn State Campuses that
provide the nursing program.
Dr. Raymonde Brown received over $500,000 in grant
money from the Pennsylvania Higher Education
Foundation(PHEF). The money is totally designated for
undergraduate and graduate scholarships. Students are
selected based on need and GPA.
Sandy O’Sullivan
Presentation:
Poster Presentation for 17th Annual Convention ,
Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, Nashville, TN,
October, 2008,"A Theoretical Model of Care of the Adult
Cystic Fibrosis Patient on an Acute Care Medicine Unit".
Co-authored with Paula LaBonte, Nurse Manager, 6
Medicine, Penn State Hershey.
Jo Anne Carrick
Presentation:
Jo Anne and Nick Miehl presented at the METI Eastern
Nursing and Simulation Conference at Villanova
University. Their topic was "Clinical Judgment
Development and the Use of Simulation".
Tamara Murphy
Award:
Tamara, So Young Shin (CNS student) and Victoria
Schirm won the National Gerontological Nursing
Association's Innovations in Practice award for their
poster and presentation "An Innovative, Portable, and
Interactive Falls Education and Prevention Tool for the
Elderly: The Fun House". So Young and Tamara
traveled to Albuquerque to receive the award on
November 2nd.
Mary Ellen Yonushonis
Mary Ellen became a Certified Nurse Educator in
August 2008.
Donna Fick
Publications:
Fick, DM, Mion, LC, Beers, MH, Waller, JL. (2008).
Health Outcomes Associated With Inappropriate
Medication Use in Older Adults. Research in Nursing
and Health, 31 (1): 42-51.
Steis, MR, Fick, DM (2008). Are Nurses
Recognizing Delirium? A Systematic Review.
Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 34(9):40-8.
Kolanowski, AM, Buettner, L, Fitzsimmons, S, Fick,
DM. (2008). Instituting Cognitive Rehabilitation in
Post-Acute Care. Annals of Long-Term Care:
Clinical Care and Aging, 16 (2): 40-46.
Loeb, S. J., Penrod, J., Kolanowski, A., Hupcey, J.
E., Haidet, K. K., Fick, D. M., et al. (2008). Creating
cross-disciplinary research alliances to advance
nursing science. J Nurs Scholarsh, 40(2), 195-201.
Fick DM, Mion LC. Delirium superimposed on
dementia. Am J Nurs. 2008;108(1):52-60.
Golden, A., Beers, M. H., & Fick, D. M. (2008). Is it
safe to conclude that Beers criteria medications led
to few adverse events? Ann Intern Med, 148(8), 628-
629; author reply 629.
Burgener, SC, Buettner, L, Buckwalter, KC, Beattie,
E, Bossen, AL, Fick, D, et al., (In Press 2008)
Review of exemplar programs for persons in early
stage Alzheimer’s disease. Research in
Gerontological Nursing.
Buettner L, Richeson, NE, Burgener, SC, Buckwalter
KC, Beattie, E, Bossen, AL, Fick, DM et al. (2008).
Evidence Supporting Exercise Interventions for
Persons In Early Stage Alzheimer’s Disease, 7 (1):
17-24.
Hodo, DH*, Waller, JL, Martindale, RG, Fick, DM
(2008) Medication Use Following Bariatric Surgery in
a Managed Care Cohort. Surgery for Obesity and
Related diseases. June 2008—Epup ahead of print
doi:10.1016/j.soard.2008.01.008
Yevchak, A*, Loeb, SV, Fick, DM. (2008).
Promoting Cognitive Health and Vitality: A Review of
Clinical Implications. Geriatric Nursing. Sep-
Oct;29(5):302-10.
Burgener SC, Buckwalter KC, Buettner L, Beattie E,
Bossen AL, Fick D, et al. Evidence supporting
nutritional interventions for persons in early stage
Alzheimer’s disease (AD). J Nutr Health Aging.
2008;12(1):18-21.
Lisa Kitko
Lisa Kitko, Penn State Nursing Instructor and Ph.D.
candidate, was one of seven graduate and post-doctoral
students selected to the 2008 Grantmakers in Aging
(GIA) Fellows Program. Kitko was offered the GIA
Fellowship to attend the annual conference in October in
Princeton, New Jersey. The theme of this year's
conference is "The Power of Knowledge: Lighting the
way for bold advances in aging philanthropy."
Nikki Hill
Nikki and Erica Herb attended the End-of-Life Nursing
Education Consortium Train-the-Trainer course in
Washington, DC. Erica and Nikki were two of
approximately 250 nurses from across the United States
to attend this training program. The principal goal of the
training program is to provide nursing continuing
education providers with information on end-of-
life/palliative care and resources to integrate content into
their inservice programs or courses.
Ronna (Gersh) Zaremski
Publication:
C. Jessica Dine, MD; Ronna E. Gersh, RN; Marion
Leary, RN; Barbara J. Riegel, DNSc, RN;
Lisa M. Bellini, MD; Benjamin S. Abella, MD, Mphil
(2008) Improving cardiopulmonary resuscitation quality
and resuscitation training by combining audiovisual
feedback and debriefing. Crit Care Med 2008 (36)1-6.
Kathleen Parlanti
Scholarship
Kathleen was named a Hartford Scholar by the John A.
Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence. This is
a full scholarship for pursuing a Clinical Nurse Specialty
with a focus in Gerentology.
Diane Daddario
Appointment
I received an appointment to the Editorial Advisory
Board for The American Nurse.
Please remember to notify Amy Pupo at alp18@psu.edu with any change in your email address.
Victoria Schirm
Publications (Refereed):
Schirm, V., Murphy, T., & Himes, J. (2008). Issues
editors: Geriatric Care in Acute and Critical Care
Settings. Critical Care Nursing Quarterly 31(1).
Schirm, V., Sheehan, D., & Zeller, R. A. (2008).
Preferences for care near the end of life: Instrument
validation for clinical practice. Critical Care Nursing
Quarterly, 31(1), 24-32.
Presentations:
Murphy,T., Shin, S. Y., & Schirm, V.(2008, October).
An Innovative, Portable, and Interactive Falls
Education and Preventive Tool for the Elderly.
Poster presentation: National Gerontological Nursing
Association Convention, Albuquerque, NM.
(Received NGNA 2008 Innovations in Practice
Award).
Schirm, V., Kopp, M., & Haack, M. (2008, March).
Using Data to Support Nursing’s Contribution to
Quality Care in the Magnet Journey. Poster
Presentation, 20th Annual Scientific Sessions of the
Eastern Nursing Research Society, Philadelphia,
PA.
Tringali, C., Jankouskas, T., Schirm, V. (2008,
March). Journey to Magnet Recognition: The Role of
Nursing Research Council in Research Scholarship,
and Evidence-based Practice. Poster Presentation,
20th Annual Scientific Sessions of the Eastern
Nursing Research Society, Philadelphia, PA.
Tringali, C., Schirm, V., & Chin, C. (2008, March).
Caring for the Caregivers: Implementation and
Evaluation of Schwartz Center Rounds at and
Academic Medical Center. Poster Presentation, 20th
Annual Scientific Sessions of the Eastern Nursing
Research Society, Philadelphia, PA.
Linda Chorba,
Graduated Oct 3, 2008 with a MSN Nurse
Anesthesia
University of Scranton/ Wyoming Valley Health Care
System
 Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge

Drs. Dee McGonigle and Kathleen Mastrian co-edited a new textbook titled
Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge (2009) published by
Jones and Bartlett and released August 2008. The text provides a
comprehensive overview of the field of nursing informatics including the history
of informatics, roles of nursing informatics specialists and the application of
nursing informatics to clinical, administrative, education and research nursing
functions. The comprehensive introductory chapters explain the core sciences
of nursing informatics, nursing science, information science, cognitive science
and computer science. A unique feature of the text is that it is based on a
conceptual framework of knowledge—The Foundation of Knowledge Model©
2007 and explains how each aspect of nursing informatics relates to knowledge acquisition,
knowledge processing, knowledge generation, knowledge dissemination and feedback, all of which
build the science of nursing.

Several of the chapters feature contributions from key nursing informatics experts from around the
world. The authors also provided the information for comprehensive companion web sites instructors
who adopt the text and for students enrolled in a course using the text. The book is available for
purchase at the Penn State Shenango bookstore and online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and
Borders.

Penn State School of Nursing CE Portal

Who: All registered Nurses

Under the new Act 58 requirements, all nurses in need of Continuing Education hours are welcome!
What: Penn State’s School of Nursing Online Portal
Assistant Professor Rita Jablonski published the School of Nursing’s first online continuing education program.
Nurses from around the world can how log on from home & complete the program at their own pace.
Where: www.outreach.psu.edu/programs/nursing-portal
Once registered for the course, participants will log onto the web portal & choose from a variety of options,
such as: Print handouts for note taking, Information on how to view the Presentation, Help on Accessing the
Presentation, Contact information for technical support.
When: 24 Hours a day, 7 days a week
Cost: FREE!!
The first course, “Research Applications: Delivering Mouth Care to Persons with Dementia” is an hour of
Continuing Education that is at no cost to you.

Coming Soon…
Courses are currently being developed for:
Adult Health & Medical Surgical Continuing Education
Topics in Teaching Diabetes Self-Management to Patients
Assessment & Management of Delirium in Older Adults: The 7th Vital Sign
Anticoagulation: The New Generation Agents, Assessment & Implications