Page 25 - University of Martland Nursing Forum - Winter 2017

II grant funding has allowed UMSON
to expand its reach by partnering with
18 hospitals throughout Maryland. The current five-year, $3.1 million NSP II continuation grant allows UMSON to recruit, support, and prepare nurses
at seven partner hospitals identified through previous grants plus an additional 11 acute-care hospitals and also has expanded the initiative’s reach to UMSON’s RN-to-BSN program. The objective is to prepare 125 additional bachelor’s- and master’s-level nurses over the next five years to serve as hospital- based clinical instructors, faculty, preceptors, or mentors.
According to Mills, she and Hickman provide “a concierge service to all of our students” to help them balance school and their work at the hospitals with which the School partners. Students are provided academic advising and assistance with their class schedules. And if a class is full and partnership students aren’t able to register for it, Mills and Hickman create
a new section for them and secure an adjunct faculty member to teach it.
“These academic-hospital partnerships are the key to supporting working nurses to graduate and be successful,” Hickman says. “I regularly visit each hospital and provide on-site advisement, mentorship, and recruitment.”
Through the HSLM specialty’s Executive Practice or Education focus areas, students have as many as five years to complete the flexible master’s degree, which includes an online curriculum and a clinical practicum, in which Mills and Hickman assist, advise, and mentor students.
Executive Practice
The HSLM Executive Practice focus includes upper-level leadership, organizational behavior, health services administration, health policy, finance, and other business courses. Sowko, now nurse manager for the Neurotrauma Critical Care Unit and intermediate care interim manager at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s R Adams
Cowley Shock Trauma Center, chose the Executive Practice focus because she wanted to move into a leadership position.
“The HSLM online program was perfect for me because I live in Annapolis, and I was working full time,” Sowko says. “The master’s degree helped me advance my leadership and management career
by obtaining a management position in a larger hospital organization.” Before she had even completed her degree, Sowko had earned her current position at
Shock Trauma.
Another graduate of the HSLM Executive Practice focus area, Matthew Morris, MS ’10, BSN ’08, RN, NEA-BC, earned both his Bachelor of Science
in Nursing and master’s degrees in UMSON’s accelerated RN-to-MS program, completing both degrees in four years as a part-time student while he worked as a nurse supervisor at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore.
“The HSLM program focuses on and prepares the student for real-world administrative responsibilities,” Morris says. “It also allows the student to easily move between a patient-centric focus and a systems and/or organizational focus to plan the care of patients across the health continuum.”
Now, as an assistant director of nursing at Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Wilmer Surgical Enterprise, Morris oversees surgical services, including nursing services for the outpatient surgery center on the main hospital campus and at two community-based ambulatory surgery centers.
“In my current role, the broad base of knowledge that I gained in the program supports daily decisions in care provision as well as future planning of budgets and programs,” he says.
Morris also lends his knowledge
and experience to service on the HSLM program’s advisory board and as a guest lecturer, clinical preceptor, and part-time adjunct faculty member at Cecil College in North East, Maryland.
Education
The HSLM Education focus area concentrates on the foundations and strategies of teaching and learning for nurses who wish to become clinical instructors and faculty members.
Gloria Lay, MS ’14, BSN ’99, RN, performance improvement and
risk management coordinator in
the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Services at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, chose this focus area because it supported her efforts in the community, where she has partnered with area churches and inner-city schools to establish and maintain health programs.
A nurse for more than 40 years, Lay also teaches at Coppin State University and has served as a parish nurse coordinator at Mercy Medical Center, both in Baltimore, and mentors in the community. The background Lay gained through the HSLM Education focus area has enhanced her work with physicians and when she facilitates meetings.
“The program has given me confidence to implement strategies and write action plans,” she says. “For me, education is at the forefront. That is my passion.”
Although they work in different capacities, Sowko, Morris, and Lay all laud the role the HSLM program played in helping them achieve their career objectives.
HSLM graduates serve as staff educators, faculty members, and nurse leaders who support continuing education across the state and throughout the region. “Without hesitation, I provide my highest recommendation to this program in preparing leaders and educators,” Morris says.
“I encourage anyone to pursue this degree to further their career goals, especially if management or education is their focus,” Sowko says. “My eventual goal is to obtain a director of nursing position, and this degree has set me on the correct path.”
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