From the DirectorThe Glen Taylor Nursing Institute continues to become more visible and engaged with the University, regional and international communities. The Becky Taylor Fellows strengthen the Doctor of Nursing Practice program at Minnesota State Mankato through their research, and they remain committed to the University and the science of nursing practice after graduation. The Taylor Visiting Scholars inspire and guide students to develop quality projects that aim to advance the science of nursing practice, while the Taylor Advisory Council works to develop a new five-year strategic plan.

The Institute continues to seek ways to support its research and development with the goal of improving the health of families and society. As you’ll see in this issue of our newsletter, the number of initiatives is growing!

Here is what you’ll find inside:• Update on the International Family Nursing Conference to be held in 2013• Inside look at the School of Nursing’s new simulation laboratory• Report from the International Family Nursing Association• Spotlight on the work of Dr. Joyce Bredesen, Becky Taylor Fellow• News and highlights from the Institute

Volume 1, Issue 2Newsletter

Dr. Sandra Eggenberger

11th International Family Nursing Conference

June 19-22, 2013 Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Future.Hyatt Regency MinneapolisMinnesota, USA

The Glen Taylor Nursing Institute for Family and Society at Minnesota State

University, Mankato is dedicated to providing leadership and expertise in family and societal health at local, state,

national and international levels. The Institute, Taylor Visiting Scholars and Becky Taylor Doctoral Fellowships are made possible by a seven

million dollar endowment established by Glen and Becky Taylor.

•The vision of the Glen Taylor Nursing Institute for Family and Society within the School of Nursing is to create an intellectual community that creates landmark innovations in the scholarship of family and society nursing practice.

• The mission of the Glen Taylor Nursing Institute for Family and Society is to focus on innovative nursing practice knowledge that influences the health and healing of families and society at local, state, national and international levels.

Sponsored in part by:

http://internationalfamilynursing.org/

International Family Nursing Conference Coming to Minnesota!Plans and preparations are underway by the International Family Nursing Association for the upcoming International Family Nursing Conference, “Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Future,” which will be held in Minneapolis in June 2013. The conference will continue its 10-year tradition of gathering nurses and interdisciplinary colleagues from around the world to exchange ideas and address critical questions related to family research, practice and education. Patricia Benner RN, PhD, FAAN, and Pauline Boss PhD, will be two keynote speakers.

Dr. Benner is a Professor Emerita from the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing. She is a noted nursing educator and author who pioneered the use of Interpretive Phenomenology in Nursing. Dr. Benner is designated as a Living Legend of the American Academy of Nursing and was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Nursing. She is the first author of Expertise in Nursing Practice: Caring, Ethics and Clinical Judgment (2010) with Christine Tanner and Catherine Chesla (who

serves on the Institute’s advisory board), and she has coauthored 12 other notable books including a second edition of Clinical Wisdom and Interventions in Acute and Critical Care: A Thinking-In-Action Approach (2011).

Dr. Boss is Professor Emeritus, Family Social Science, University of Minnesota, a Fellow in the American Psychological Association and American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy; a former president of the National Council on Family Relations, and a family therapist in private practice. She is the principal theorist in the study of ambiguous loss, a term she coined in the 1970s. Her widely acclaimed book, Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief (Harvard University Press, 1999) summarizes her research,

while Loss, Trauma, and Resilience (Norton, 2006), presents guidelines for treatment when loss is complicated by ambiguity. Dr. Boss’s most recent book, Loving Someone Who Has Dementia (Jossey-Bass, 2011) outlines proven strategies for managing ongoing stress and grief while caring for someone with dementia.

Conference attendees can participate in pre and post conference workshops, choose from more than 200 breakout sessions targeted toward innovative and current practices and research in family nursing and take in “Talking Poster” sessions on selected topics. In addition, there will be a poster reception to allow participants to view the posters and meet colleagues with shared interests. Live simulations will be presented by nursing faculty at the Minnesota State Mankato simulation center, allowing participants to learn about how family nursing curricula can be integrated into simulation courses. On Friday, a special focus session will address the intersection of practice and research in family nursing.

Special events ranging from performances by local artists to activities showcasing the many nations involved in the conference are planned. Sightseeing tours in and around Minneapolis, theater outings and trips to the Mall of America are just a few of the available options. Day trips before and after the conference will allow visitors to experience a taste of Minnesota’s beauty and wildlife. And Friday night's banquet on a Mississippi riverboat will be the perfect end to a busy day; a time for colleagues and friends to enjoy a relaxing evening together.

The Glen Taylor Institute for Family and Society has been instrumental in bringing the conference to Minnesota. In addition, the Institute is providing connections to regional health care systems that could partner with the Institute to participate in the conference.

Becky Taylor Fellow Joyce Bredesen: Giving a Voice to Homeless CaregiversThe photograph from Dr. Joyce Bredesen’s Doctor of Nursing Practice project shows a child sleeping peacefully, but the caption—written by the girl's homeless mother—portrays an undertone of concern. “This is my baby, a picture of my daughter. It doesn’t look right to me, because she’s not in her own bed in her own room. But she’s safe, and that’s all that I care about.”

With the support of Dr. Marcia Stevens, nursing faculty at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and Taylor Visiting Scholar Dr. Sharon Denham, Bredesen studied health care needs among homeless families in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Bredesen used PhotoVoice, a program that provides a window into the lives of marginalized people by offering them a means to document their experiences in words and photographs. Bredesen studied 13 homeless adults who had at least one child in their care in order to determine whether these families had access to healthcare, food, shelter, safety and a system of social support. She then compared her findings for this homeless population with the national guideline for healthcare of homeless patients. Results indicated that support for homeless individuals exists, but much more needs to be done for homeless families and children.

Bredesen shared her findings at a forum attended by more than 125 community leaders, policy makers, and service providers in order to raise awareness of the gaps in healthcare for homeless families in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. In a survey provided to attendees at the end of the forum, a large majority reported an increased awareness of both the needs of the homeless in the area as well as the national guidelines for care of the homeless. Written recommendations for care of the homeless were given to area healthcare providers at the conclusion of the study. Bredesen plans to do similar studies in other communities to further increase awareness of the healthcare needs of the homeless population.

All funding for this project was provided by the Glen Taylor Nursing Institute for Family and Society.

Glen Taylor Nursing Institute for Family and Society

Willing Patients and Families, Confident Learners Nursing students at Minnesota State Mankato have an uncommonly cooperative group of patients on whom to practice their skills. These patients are endlessly willing to oblige the students with opportunities to practice every technique they will need when they begin their nursing practice. They never get tired of having their blood drawn or their vitals taken, and when a crisis arises student learners do whatever needs to be done..

This is the simulation lab at Minnesota State Mankato’s School of Nursing, where instructors can set up patient scenarios with life-sized medical-simulation mannequins to mimic nearly every problem students will encounter with real-life patients. Students can practice their skills to perfection on patients who look, feel, bleed, sweat and run a temperature just like real patients would—before using them on real people. And even in instances where nursing students in clinical practice would need to step aside and let more experienced staff take over, such as a heart attack or a trauma wound, students learn to trust their own judgment and gain the experience of handling the situation themselves without the risks inherent in an actual hospital.

But nursing practice goes beyond patient care, and that’s what sets this simulation lab apart from others around the state. At Minnesota State Mankato’s School of Nursing, nothing is taught without the inclusion of the patient’s family, and the simulation lab is no exception. Instructors use cue cards to prompt students who then act as families for the patients, creating more opportunity for student learning and growth. Through role playing and conversations with family members while caring for the patients, students can develop confidence and experience in working with families in a wide variety of medical scenarios.

Confidence is one of the primary benefits instructors have seen students gaining as a result of working in the simulation lab. Students also have the chance to watch and learn from each other, compare notes about what they felt they did well, or what they might do differently the next time. They can practice their family interviewing and family nursing skills anytime. Nursing requires a blend of theory, research, and practice and these students get it all.

"But nursing practice goes beyond patient care..."

Minnesota State University, Mankato

Colleagues Near and FarSince its inception at the 9th International Family Nursing Conference in Reykjavik, interest and membership in the International Family Nursing Association (IFNA) has grown to include more than 140 members who hail from more than 20 countries around the world. The Association aims to provide a place where nursing professionals from all over the globe who are engaged in caring for families can come together to share ideas and mutual support. IFNA also works to raise awareness of the need for family involvement in all areas of health care. The organization offers a wealth of opportunities to engage with colleagues in leadership, education and community development roles. Current research in family nursing practice and resources for education are available on its website. Communication between members creates a forum where nursing professionals and student nurses can network and learn about new nursing care practices and innovations or discuss topics relevant to issues in family nursing.

The School of Nursing at Minnesota State Mankato was invited to be the first patron sponsor of the organization. The mission of the Glen Taylor Nursing Institute for Family and Society aligns with that of the IFNA. Both groups seek to promote family nursing through innovation and scholarship in nursing practice; the IFNA provides a community forum for nursing scholars and professionals engaged in caring for families all over the world, and the Institute supports research and scholarship directed toward advancements in the field. IFNA makes possible the kinds of international connections that keep the Institute at the forefront of new research and practice in the field, while the Institute provides the support needed by the newly formed organization.

For more information on the International Family Nursing Association or to apply for membership, please visit its website: http://internationalfamilynursing.org/wordpress/.

• Minnesota State Mankato School of Nursing faculty Stacey Van Gelderen and her student Shamso Khandid are working together on a research project seeking ways to create better connections with the families of patients in their care for more effective patient recovery. See the Big Ideas commercial about their collaboration on the Minnesota State Mankato home page at http://www.mnsu.edu/ and on television stations in Mankato and the Twin Cities.

• Fifteen senior community health nursing students and their faculty are collaborating with health care professionals from Madelia Community Hospital and Clinic to assess the health needs of that community. The assessment will focus on groups across several demographic areas including age, ethnicity and socio-economic status with action plans to follow.

• The Glen Taylor Nursing Institute for Family and Society and Minnesota State Mankato School of Nursing faculty are collaborating on a textbook, Think Family, scheduled for release in 2013.

• The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is sponsoring an international discussion to explore the most effective ways to implement research into family nursing practice. The meeting was held in Montreal in October and included practitioners from Canada, Iceland, Japan, Sweden, Thailand and the United States. The Glen Taylor Nursing Institute for Family and Society and knowledge users from Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and Fairview Ridges in Burnsville were the sole participants from the United States to be invited to the discussion.

• The Institute's website recently received a makeover! Check out the easier navigation and fresh new look—and sign up for the RSS feed—at http://ahn.mnsu.edu/nursing/institute/

A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System and an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity University. Individuals with a disability who need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this event, please contact the College of Educa-tion at 507-389-5445 (V), 800-627-3529 or 711 (MRS/TTY) at least three days prior to the event. This document is available in alternative format to individuals with disabilities by calling the above numbers. NURS108NE 11/12

IFNA and Taylor Advisory Council Leaders