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RESEARCH
Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center
(ANCC). This prestigious award, which it earned in 2005 and has since
maintained, distinguishes a hospital from all others, because it has
met stringent requirements to demonstrate not only quality of patient
care, but also the quality of the nursing environment in which it
is delivered.
Debbie joined the Electronic Healthcare Record project at THR,
starting with training clinical staff at its first hospital in Plano, and
moving down to Dallas to train physicians and other clinical staff to
use the electronic health care record. Debbie believes the electronic
health care record was an important emerging era for healthcare, and
the Internet aspects of her degree program prepared her with the
computer knowledge needed to prove her worth on this project. She
said, “My advanced clinical background kept me grounded in the
importance of clarity of documentation, focus on quality of care, and
patient safety aspects of the electronic health care record.”
Debbie has since become certified in Nursing Informatics through the
ANCC. She continues as a software analyst in the corporate sector of
Texas Health Resources in the Electronic Healthcare Record project,
continuing her participation in what she believes has been the most
important change in health care in the past 50 years – electronic
documentation of health care information. Nursing expertise is much
needed in this arena to keep the software clinically relevant, and to
keep quality of patient care at the center of its purpose.
Debbie says, “My degree at TCU taught me to always look towards the
future (What do I need to be prepared for?), while maintaining a focus
on excellence in patient care, and never forgetting the importance of
the human touch.”
Sarah Meyer ’04 (KIN)
, PT, DPT is currently
the sole physical therapist for McMurdo
Station, a U.S. Research Station on Ross Island,
Antarctica. She works with an interdisciplinary
team of three, including an MD and PA at
McMurdo Medical Clinic. They are the winter-
over medical team for McMurdo Station, which
includes 140 people from March-October for
Antarctica’s winter season while the station
is closed (no flights in and out). They also
provide medical support to Scott Base, a New Zealand research base,
located two miles away. Sarah says, “Receiving my undergrad degree
at TCU provided me with a global view and excitement for the world.
TCU taught me what being a team player involves and prepared me
well for continuing on with my education for a doctorate degree in
physical therapy.”
Thao Nguyen ’07 (BSN)
was honored by
D Magazine
in March as one
of 22 nurses recognized for Excellence in Nursing. She is a neonatal
nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. Thao’s mother is a
nurse, but she didn’t intend to follow her path. She didn’t think she
was good at biology or chemistry, but her professors encouraged her
and gave her the confidence to do something that had intimidated
her. When her mom suggested she become a nurse, she decided that
would be a good idea. Thao has been in the NICU at THPHD for nine
years, and has managed to infuse her photography hobby with her
work there. Not all the babies Thao cares for make it past the first
few weeks, and she uses her skills in photography to provide lasting
memories for the parents. Thao recently received the DFW Great
100 Nurses award. Her mom, who convinced her to get into nursing,
also won the award – the first time a mother-daughter duo won.
Mary Garnica (’09 DNP)
, APNFNP-BC, is one of eight faculty members
selected by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to
become the inaugural Faculty Policy Intensive class. AACN will bring
these leaders in nursing education to its headquarters in Washington,
D.C., to hone their advocacy skills to further advance the contributions
of the profession at the local, state and national level. The Faculty
Policy Intensive is a board-approved initiative that offers eight faculty
of AACN member schools a fully funded, four-day immersion program
designed to expand on existing knowledge and create leaders in
health care policy. Mary is on the nursing faculty at the University of
Central Arkansas.
2010s
TaraWanzek ’10
spent two years in Adult Telemetry, then the Cardiac
Stroke Unit and recently moved to the Children’s Hospital Colorado,
where she works on a Cardiac Progressive Care Unit – a unit closing
VSD, ASD, post-heart transplants/acute rejection and open heart
surgeries, including single ventricle hearts. She says, “I am very blessed
to have moved to this kind of nursing and am learning so much about
the advancements in cardiology. Less than 10 years ago, some of
these complications had to be completed by an open heart procedure
that can now be done in the cath lab.” Tara is also engaged to
Jacob McDougal.
Martha Kingman (’11 DNP)
was honored as one of 22 nurses for
Excellence in Nursing (Acute Care) by
D Magazine
in March 2013. As
part of her doctorate work, Martha developed a survey to determine
if errors were being made with the administration of infusions to
patients. She determined there were errors, and developed guidelines
that have been accepted for publication. The guidelines are listed on
the Pulmonary Hypertension Association website.
D Magazine
says
Martha is the first nurse practitioner at UT Southwestern to receive her
doctorate in nursing practice. She has spent 26 of her 49 years as a
nurse, first in an emergency department, and now in the pulmonary
hypertension program, where her patients fight a rare, incurable
lung disease.
BryanWells ’11 (BSN)
has been working in a Neuro-
ICU at UT Southwestern since graduating from
the accelerated BSN program. He married Joanne
Mosher, to whom he proposed while he was taking
classes at TCU, Sept. 29 in Mill Valley, Calif.
Sammie Smith ’11 (BSN)
has worked as an RN in the PACU (post-
anesthesia care unit) at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Ga., since
May 2012.
Jordan Keene Christensen ’12 (KIN)
and
Kenneth
Christensen (MS KIN ’12)
were married March 29,
and they had a blast! Jordan will attend physical
therapy school at the University of Southern California
beginning in August. Kenneth has landed a job in
pharmaceutical sales, which means they will both get
to be in Los Angeles together for the next three years.
ALUMNI