The Latest News from the School of Nursing

"We are the bouncers, the bodyguards, the 'shotgun' riders, the overseers, the maitre d's, the stewards, the organizers, the managers and leaders for the patient . . . Often we are the only thing between them and a sentinel event. See us, hear us, feel us." Welcome to the nurse's world, through the words of those who live there.

What keeps a newly licensed nurse on the job? Answers to that question are important to hospitals across the U.S., many of which are confronting serious nursing shortages. Based on results of a study to be published in the May 2007 issue of American Journal of Nursing, the top two priorities for hospitals to address the retention issue are improving nursing management and taking steps to reduce on-the-job stress.

The acute shortage of registered nurses in the U.S. could be lessened by adopting tactics used successfully in other segments of the economy, including sweetening incentives for experienced nurses to stay on the job and enticing nurses who have left the profession back into the market, a new study proposes.

Fourteen students in the University at Buffalo School of Nursing received awards and scholarships at the school's recent commencement ceremony.

The University at Buffalo and Jamestown Community College have signed a new dual admission program agreement designed to assist the transfer experience and increase the number of students transferring to UB with completed JCC associate degrees that include prerequisites for parallel degree programs at UB.

Jean K. Brown., Ph.D., professor and associate dean of the University at Buffalo School of Nursing, was named interim dean of the nursing school Nov. 14 following the resignation due to illness of Mecca S. Cranley, Ph.D.

Mecca S. Cranley, Ph.D., dean of the University at Buffalo School of Nursing since 1991, died Nov. 20 in the hospice unit at Sister's Hospital in Buffalo, surrounded by her family. The cause was multiple myeloma, cancer of the bone marrow. She was 67.

Mecca S. Cranley, Ph.D., who has served as dean of UB's School of Nursing since 1991, has announced that she is stepping down at the end of the current academic year.

An innovative accelerated bachelor's-degree program in the University at Buffalo School of Nursing designed to address the chronic nursing shortage will expand and focus on meeting the needs of underserved urban and rural areas under a three-year, $1.36 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Eleven students in the University at Buffalo School of Nursing received awards and scholarships at the school's recent commencement ceremony.

Sara Rivera-Riemer of Tonawanda, a 2003 graduate of the University at Buffalo's School of Nursing, is one of five persons selected to receive a 3-year, $75,000 scholarship to complete doctoral training in nursing at UB.

Being hospitalized can be a traumatic experience, especially for older persons. Hospitals are noisy, disorienting, full of strangers and infections often spread among patients. Now a new study has shown that for older persons with certain acute conditions, hospital-level care can be provided at home for less money and with fewer clinical complications than in-hospital care.

A new study being conducted in the University at Buffalo is expected to make it easier for clinicians to predict those at high risk of experiencing sudden cardiac death, which results from disruption of normal heart rhythm, and who would benefit from a life-saving implantable defibrillator.

Carol S. Brewer, Ph.D., associate professor of nursing at the University at Buffalo and a specialist in nursing labor issues, has received $440,000 to study the reasons behind the critical shortage of nurses across the U.S through research funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Diana J. Mason, editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Nursing, will deliver the Ninth Annual Bonnie Bullough Lecture at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 22 in the Center for Tomorrow on the University at Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus.

The University at Buffalo Library Archives recently acquired the papers of Eva M. Noles, R.N., already a historic figure in 1939 when she became the first black nurse to be trained in Buffalo.

The School of Nursing at the University at Buffalo will incorporate specialized training in addictive disorders and mental-health conditions into its family nurse practitioner program this fall, making it one of the first nursing schools to offer such training for primary-care nurses.

Research by Sherry Pomeroy, Ph.D., of the University at Buffalo School of Nursing on physical activity among rural older adults has earned her a $120,000, two-year postdoctoral fellowship in a national competition funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies.

A bequest gift by the late Helen E. Popa, an alumna of the University at Buffalo School of Nursing, will support the work of the school's Center for Nursing Research in the UB School of Nursing through the Helen E. Popa Nursing Research Fund.

Eleven students in the University at Buffalo School of Nursing received awards at the school's recent commencement ceremony.

Pregnancy for most women means joyous anticipation of the birth of a baby, day-dreaming about the child, preparing the nursery, accepting congratulations from friends. For some pregnant women, however, feeling joy is a psychological luxury they can't afford. These are women who after one, sometimes many, miscarriages, stillbirths or newborn deaths, are pregnant again. UB's Denise Cote-Arsenault is one of the few researchers to study the field. of pregnancy after perinatal loss.

Ten students in the University at Buffalo School of Nursing received awards at the school's recent commencement ceremony.

The School of Nursing at the University at Buffalo is one of 10 nursing schools in the U.S. chosen by the Helene Fuld Health Trust to receive a major endowment to fund student scholarships.

The University at Buffalo School of Nursing will inaugurate a new program in January to prepare nurses to be psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioners, one of the most in-demand and financially rewarding of nursing specialties.

Is exercise good or bad for cancer survivors? Should they eat hearty or restrict calories to speed recovery and prevent recurrence? Is a glass of wine a bad thing? A UB nursing professor headed a panel established by the American Cancer Society to answer these and many other questions concerning what persons who have survived cancer can do to lower their risk of recurrence and how those living with cancer can experience life to the fullest.