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Excerpt from Ashley (Nassau) Walsh, Health Science ’02, Improving Nurse Satisfaction Requires Root Cause Solutions on Health IT Outcomes website.

By Ashley Walsh, MHA, Sr. Financial Analyst and former Perioperative Business Manager, UCHealth

A recent RNnetwork survey found half of the nurses they surveyed (49.8 percent) have contemplated switching professions, with 27 percent citing overwork as the reason. In his analysis of this data (as reported by Kelly Gooch on Becker’s Hospital Review), RNnetwork President Eric Darienzo offered six ways healthcare organizations can create a nurse-friendly culture including improving communications between nurses and administrators, recognizing the hard work of nurses through simple acts like an “employee of the month” award, and doing more to foster a teamwork mentality.

To read more, visit Improving Nurse Satisfaction Requires Root Cause Solutions from Health IT Outcomes

About The Author
Ashley E. Walsh, MHA, is a senior financial analyst and former perioperative business manager at UCHealth Metro Denver campus. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in health science from Truman State University in Kirksville Missouri and her Masters in Health Administration from Maryville State University in St. Louis Missouri. Since February 2009, Ashley has been with UCHealth where her responsibilities include capital and operational budget maintenance, patient billing, utilization reporting, expansion planning and perioperative supply chain management. Ashley is lean trained and participates in regular process improvement initiatives across UCHealth.

After graduating with a B.S. in Health Science in 2015, Linnea Heimsoth started working as a medical scribe through PhysAssist Scribes. She works directly with providers, charting in real time during each physician-patient encounter in the ER. Currently, she is a certified trainer and travels to different locations to help establish new scribe programs in hospitals all over the country. So far she has had the pleasure of traveling to St. Joseph, MO, Leesburg, FL, and Duluth, MN, all expenses paid! This job has allowed her to build connections with many different physicians and physician assistants, while improving her knowledge of medicine tremendously. Linnea found being exposed to many different socioeconomic and geographic locations both eye-opening and enjoyable. Her work as a medical scribe has been an invaluable experience while applying to graduate programs. Linnea believes that Truman’s Health Science program prepared her well for working in the real world, in additional to making her a competitive applicant for graduate school.

Advanced Sport Management class works with Kirksville Parks & Recreation and participates in the Interview Project

Seventeen undergraduate Exercise Science and graduate Leadership program students are enrolled in ES 506 Advanced Sport Management class this semester with Liz Jorn, Instructor in HES.  Students are participating in the interview project where they practice their interview skills with members of the Truman and Kirksville community including Luke Callaghan, Program Coordinator at the YMCA and Sue Limestall, Director of the Student Recreation Center.  Students from the class have also worked with the local group “People for Better Parks” to educate the community about the ½ cent sales tax for parks and recreation.  Upcoming community events include Week of the Young Child, Family Fishing and Kids Track Meet.

New for Spring 2017-Liz Jorn, Instructor in HES and Faculty Athletics Representative and Mike Bazemore, Associate Athletic Director are teaching ES 199 Athletic Leadership.  The focus of the class is to help student athletes with professional development-students have taken the DISC personality inventory with the NCAA, worked on resumes, job shadowing and have even been put through their paces with the US Marine Corps and Captain Vazquez as they worked on leadership development and team building.

Elizabeth Barreca, HES major, will complete her two-semester senior capstone project when she makes the fourth presentation on her Photovoice project.  Lizzie received a SHSE mini-grant, a MO-PIP grant, and senior grant from the Student Public Health Association to fund her project, “A Snapshot of Mental Wellness.”  The Photovoice method allowed Lizzie to recruit 24 participants to submit up to five photographs with an accompanying caption explaining what mental wellness meant to them. All participants were interviewed and the data collected was analyzed quantitatively. On April 3, 2017, a gallery showing of the “Snapshot of Mental Wellness” was held in the SUB  from 5-9:00 p.m.

To date, Lizzie has made three presentations of her study.  First, she presented her project at the SHSE Mini-Grant Conference on April 4, a hands-on Photovoice learning session on mental wellness at the Meeting of the Minds in Kansas City, on April 8, at the Student Research Conference on April 20, and will make her final project presentation at the HLTH 440 Showcase on May 4, 2017.

Maha Mohamed, Health Science major, will be participating in an REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) through Western Washington University.  She will spend part of her time in Bellingham, Washington, and the remainder in Kigali, Rwanda. Maha and her cohort will be working with the Primary Investigators, Rwandan colleagues, and the National Institute of Statistics Rwanda (NISR) to create and administer research and intervention programs responsible for reproductive and sexual health. The research question which will be examined is whether there is variation in identified needs. The student researchers will be using existing quantitative data collected by the NISR staff in Kigali and learn how to document data in compliance with international standards. The research will contribute to the literature on the differences in change in reproductive health indicators by region, urban/rural residence, education, and wealth. The REU will also explore a number of additional questions using NISR data, with a particular focus on child health and nutrition. Maha is excited to see and explore new places while conducting research; she has never been to either Washington or Rwanda.

Two athletic training students won scholarship awards at the 2017 MAATA Annual Symposium and Conference in La Vista, NE. Aaron Patterson (junior) and Paige Clawson (junior) were each awarded the 2017 Professional MAATA Scholarship Award. This award is based on GPA, athletic training service, community service, and research.

Katie Hirsch is a recent graduate from the exercise physiology master’s program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Working under the direction of Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan, she conducts research in the areas of exercise, nutrition, and body composition in athletic and clinical populations, with special interests in exercise and nutritional supplementation to improve performance, body composition, and metabolic health in women. In the fall, Katie will begin pursuing her Ph.D. in Human Movement Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Katie is a certified exercise physiologist (EP-C) with the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

Nic Shea is a Master’s student in exercise physiology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.  Nic works in the neuromuscular lab researching firefighter safety and performance.  Nic also assists in training the UNC student athletes across all Olympic sports.  Prior to UNC, Nic coached wrestling and strength and conditioning at Staley High School.  Nic completed his Bachelor’s degree at Truman State University where he was a 2x NCAA Academic All-American in 2013 & 2014.  He plans to continue education with a PhD in kinesiology.

Picture and Article from https://www.nsca.com/grants-and-scholarships/scholarship-recipients/

Truman SAAC members joined in the National SAAC program and were trained in CPR and AED skills at their meeting on Wednesday, February 15. There is compelling research from this public health program that proper CPR/AED training can save the life of someone who is in cardiac arrest.  Twenty-four members of SAAC were trained by Liz Jorn (FAR) and Jana Arabas, Faculty Instructors for the American Heart Association.   SAAC members were taught skills such as how to do proper chest compressions and use an AED.  Students were also educated about the NEMO Heart Health program that provides awareness of the importance of heart health and AED education throughout Northeast Missouri.