| In this issue: | April 1, 2004 |
USF Nursing #2 for state board pass rate |
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By Marissa Emerson Graduates of the USF College of Nursing had one of the highest passing rates in the state — 98.04 percent—on the required exam to practice as a nurse. All Florida nursing graduates averaged 82 percent on the Registered Nurse Licensure Examination (NCLEX), reported the Florida Board of Nursing in February. “Since nearly all our graduates remain in this area, this passing rate means that we have the highest quality nursing graduates entering practice in Tampa,” said Patricia Burns, PhD, FAAN, dean of the College of Nursing. “I credit this wonderful outcome to the College’s outstanding faculty and the collegial relationship we have with our Tampa Bay partners, and congratulate our alumni on a job well done.” Student nurses who have completed their coursework are eligible to take the national licensing exam. The National Council for State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) reports that 82 percent of the 93, 216 people who took the exam passed. The NCSBN also states that the number of people passing the NCLEX or the pass rate is a good indicator of how many new nurses are entering the profession in the United States. Before nurses begin practicing, they must graduate from a recognized nursing program, like USF’s, meet specific requirements of the state board of nursing, and pass the NCSBN NCLEX exam for registered nurses. USF student nurses who sat for the exam in 2003 were the first to have completed their baccalaureate study in the College’s community-based clinical collaborative curriculum, which was recently approved by Florida Board of Nursing until June 2008. In 2000, the USF College of Nursing teamed with nurse leaders from community hospitals to devise the clinical collaborative curriculum — a plan to keep new nurses in nursing and in Florida by bridging the gap between academic preparation and professional application of the skills and knowledge a nurse uses every day. “The Clinical Collaborative has opened a whole new area of nursing education,” said Burns. “By educating students in an integrated hospital setting, we prepare our students for the reality of patient care and set the stage for a continued relationship between student and hospital upon graduation.” Return to top |
Envisioning HSC 2030 |
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More than 100 faculty and staff members responded to the invitation by Robert J. Belsole, MD, interim dean of medicine and interim vice president for health sciences, to attend a HSC-wide event March 30. Attendees, including Cynthia Selleck, DSN, ARNP, program director of the Area Health Education Center (left), and H.Worth Boyce, MD, professor of medicine, shared their ideas about what the HSC should look like 30 years from now. Participants also offered input on key HSC messages and proposed HSC slogans. Photo by Eric Younghans. |
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USF neuroscientist wins $3.5-million Jacob Javits Awards from NIH |
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By Anne DeLotto Baier Bruce Lindsey, PhD, chairman of Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the USF College of Medicine, is the first researcher in the university’s history to receive this merit award. |
 Dr. Bruce Lindsey. Photo by Jason Marsh |
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The award was started by the U.S. Congress in 1983 to honor the late Sen. Jacob Javits, who suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative neurological disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Awardees must have a track record of excellence and productivity in an area of neurological research supported by NINDS, submit a proposal of the highest scientific merit, and be judged highly likely to continue their outstanding work for the award’s conditional seven-year period. The $3.5-million grant, which begins this month, will support Dr. Lindsey and his seven-member research team, including co-investigators Kendall Morris, PhD, and Sarah Nuding, PhD. | |
COM Match Day 2004 |
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Match Stats | |
| Total: 89 (male: 49, female: 40) Anesthesiology 6 Dermatology 2 Emergency Med. 7 Family Practice 12 Internal Medicine 16 Medicine-Pediatrics 5 Neurosurgery 2 Ob/Gyn 3 Ophthalmology 1 Orthopaedic Surgery 1 Otolaryngology 1 Pediatrics 12 Psychiatry 5 Radiology-Diagnostic 6 Surgery-General 8 Surgery-Plastic 1 Urology 1 Staying at USF for PGY-1 = 30% (27) Returning to USF for PGY-2 = 3% (3) Primary care areas = 51% (45) (Int Med-Categorical, Fam Prac, Peds, Med-Peds) | |||
 Susan Bradt gets a hug from her father Dennis Bradt. She is going to Asheville, NC, for family practice training. Photo by Eric Younghans. |
 Celebrating a good match. the Class of 2004. Photo by John Lofreddo. | ||
 Brian Corliss (center) is heading to Birmingham for a pediatrics residency. Tampa Tribune photographer Candace Mundy got a photo of his moment as Dr. Steve Specter held the mircophone. Photo by Eric Younghans. |
 Gretchen Shaughnessy is glad to be going to Chapel Hill, NC, for a residency in internal medicine. Photo by Eric Younghans. | ||
National study: Access to health care for poor children improving, but disparity in care for uninsured grows |
| By Anne DeLotto Baier Health care for children covered by government programs like Medicaid and the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) appears to be improving, but the gap in care is widening between these publicly insured children and poor children without insurance, a new national report by USF and the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) indicates. “Publicly insured children still do not receive the same type or amount of health services as privately insured children, but they are better off than uninsured children,” said lead author Lisa Simpson, MB, BCh, MPH, professor of pediatrics at the USF College of Medicine who holds the All Children’s Hospital Endowed Guild Chair in Child Health Policy. “In fact, the proportion of uninsured children who made at least one office visit (to a physician or other health care practitioner) dropped from 52 percent in 1987 to 43 percent in 1999.” The report was published today in the March-April issue of the journal Ambulatory Pediatrics. It draws on two national databases to detail trends in insurance coverage, use of health care services, perceived quality of care and health care expenses for U.S. children, ages 17 and younger, from 1987 through 2001. Overall, the researchers found, access to health care appears to be better and children are receiving care in more appropriate and less expensive settings. For instance, emergency room visits and hospitalizations are down while office-based visits are up. The study confirms a decrease in the rate of uninsurance among children, spurred over the last 15 years by state and federal initiatives to expand health insurance coverage for low-income children and a strong economy. But, the researchers write, “children who remained without coverage in the late 1990s appeared to experience worsening access to care.” “We already have evidence of states needing to cut eligibility, limit enrollment and eliminate outreach programs,” Dr. Simpson said. “The challenge for the years ahead will be to prevent deterioration in coverage as the gains that have been made are threatened by economic downturns and state fiscal crises.” Based on information from the AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, the report’s findings include: • The percentage of children uninsured for an entire year declined from 10.4 percent in 1996 to 7.7 percent in 1999 (from 7 million to 5.3 million). • The percentage of children hospitalized dropped 45 percent between 1987 and 1999. • The gap between publicly and privately insured children who did not report a problem getting needed care narrowed from 2000 (a 9.9 percent difference) to 2001 (a 3.7 percent difference). • Parents of publicly insured and uninsured children were more than twice as likely as parents of privately-insured children to report that health care providers never or sometimes listened carefully to them, explained things carefully, or showed them respect. • The percent of total expenditures on children’s health care decreased significantly from 14 percent in 1987 to 10 percent in 1999. Costs associated with hospital outpatient and emergency room visits declined, while those associated with office visits increased. “Despite our gains in insuring more children,” Dr. Simpson said, “we’re spending less of our overall health care dollars on children.” The question remains whether this is due to more emphasis on primary and preventive care and less use of inpatient services, or if other factors, like barriers to care, might contribute to reduced spending for children’s health, Dr. Simpson said. The researchers plan to continue to focus on disparities in children’s health care in future issues of the report. Other authors of the report were Marc Zodet, MS; France Chevarley, PhD; Pamela Owens, PhD; and Denise Dougherty, PhD, all of the AHRQ; and Marie McCormick, MD, ScD, of the Department of Maternal and Child Health, Harvard School of Public Health. Return to top |
Dr. Richard Heller earns biomedical research award |
| Richard Heller, PhD, professor of surgery and co-director of the Center for Molecular Delivery, received the Iwao Yasuda Award from the Society for Physical Regulation in Biology and Medicine. The annual award is presented to an individual who has made an excellent contribution to the field of biomedical research, based upon current research achievements in the area of physical regulation in biology and medicine. The society uses the award to recognize an individual who has significantly advanced or created a new area of biomedical research. Dr. Heller was recognized for his pioneering contributions to the area of drug and gene delivery using pulsed electric fields. Return to top |
Med students to present posters at ACP meeting |
| Four medical students were selected to present their posters at the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians later this month in New Orleans. Rebecca Edgeworth, Phong Q. Ong, Joseph Pidala and Sumeeta Rao, all fourth-year medical students, were among the more than 230 submissions in this year’s Medical Student Member Abstract Competition, now in its 10th year. Return to top |
USF Dialysis Center moves, open house April 13 |
| The USF Dialysis Center has moved. The new location (10770 N. 46th St., suite A-100), more than doubles the clinic’s space. HSC faculty are invited to an open house of the new facility on April 13. For more information, please call 813-632-7918. Return to top |
Public Health Week set for April 5 to 11 |
| National Public Health Week is April 5 to 11 and the USF College of Public Health is offering several events. • College Awards Assembly and Event Kickoff: Friday, April 2, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the COPH Auditorium. The College of Public Health will kick off Public Health Week events at the annual College Awards Ceremony. Open to students, faculty, staff and the community, the College will present the following scholarships and awards: - Sam Bell Endowed Scholarship - Lee Leavengood Senior Programs Endowed Scholarship - Carl A. Gelin Endowed Scholarship - COPH Outstanding Staff Award - 2003-2004 Outstanding Teacher Award (presented by the Public Health Student Association). The highlight of the program will be the announcement of the Florida Outstanding Woman in Public Health. The College of Public Health initiated this award in April 1988 to honor women in Florida who have made significant contributions to the field of public health. The recipient of the first award was Dr. Flora Mae Wellings, retired Director of the State Epidemiology Research Center. She served as Director for 18 years and was instrumental in finding solutions to many of Florida’s environmentally related public health problems. • USF Public Health Fair in Bulls Country Saturday, April 3, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the University Mall. Participate in health screenings, attend a Tai Chi presentation, experience a healing massage and talk with organizations from around the county about issues related to health and safety. Plus...bring your old cell phone to be donated to victims of domestic violence. • Keynote Address: Wednesday, April 7, noon to 1 p.m. in the USF College of Public Health Auditorium. RADM Stephen B. Thacker, MD, MSc, director, Epidemiology Program Office at the Centers for Disease Control Prevention, will present “Evidence - Based Public Health: Using Science to Reduce Disparities.” For more information about Public Health Week, go to http://publichealth.usf.edu or call 974-3623. Return to top |