Academic Guides: Newsletters: CONews: Fall 2020

Walden University College of Nursing

Dean's Corner

Greetings to all!!

This edition of the College of Nursing News highlights the Tempo Learning program at Walden University. The BSN Program Director, Dr. Karen Ouzts, and the MSN Program Director, Dr. Vincent Hall, are both overseeing the development and execution of the Tempo learning platforms. I would like to thank the BSN and MSN faculty, coaches, and subject matter experts who are teaching in Tempo and providing outstanding learning experiences for our students.

The College of Nursing was honored to have Dr. Diane Whitehead receive the Walden 2020 Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence and she was the first recipient of the Faculty Excellence Award for the College of Nursing. Congratulations Diane!

Dr. Jeanne Morrison is the new President of the Sigma Phi Nu Chapter. Congratulations Jeanne!

Thank you to all of the faculty and staff in the College of Nursing for all of your hard work and support during these challenging times.

Dr. George Zangaro

College of Nursing Dean

In This Issue

Fall Adventures

A new fall semester has begun at Walden University and with cooler weather approaching we begin to see signs of fall around us. As faculty, students and alumni we continue our mission to support social change by getting involved in our communities, our healthcare environments and at home with our families. As we continue to battle COVID and we look forward to the future, we are very proud of the many roles you have in the frontlines as healthcare workers. Always take a moment for yourselves and find a way to take care of your mental and physical health. Many of us have found new ways to do this through reading, walking, kayaking, yoga, gardening and many other activities. With the weather cooling down new opportunities arise for us to find new adventures , discover new classes in school and find new ways to expand our roles in nursing.

Please enjoy the issue and we look forward to putting out the Holiday Issue in the next few months…

CONewsletter Team

Tempo Learning

Tempo Learning is a new educational experience that has been structured to provide a customizable competency-based education for students looking for an alternative to traditional remote learning. This new learning environment offers a self-paced, personalized and flexible academic experience. Great for working students, the focus is on learning outcomes. Competency assessments such as work based projects and papers, planning documents and knowledge checks and quizzes are utilized to measure subject mastery. Rather than following a traditional school schedule, Tempo Learning is subscription based. Students can go as fast or slow as they need, with no weekly deadlines. Students move to the next step once they have shown mastery of the content. Each student has a dedicated Academic Coach to help customize a learning plan and help move each person toward their goal. Subject Matter Experts (SME) help with program content and design. Tempo Learning can be described in three words: Relevant, Rigorous, Flexible.

What is Tempo Competency Based Learning?

Tempo Learning® by Walden University is a way for students to earn their degree by demonstrating what they know, when they know it. Tempo Learning® allows students to have more control over their schedule and even impact the length of time their degree takes and total cost of their program. The Tempo Learning® experience is competency-based, meaning you progress by demonstrating knowledge of a subject, when you are ready. It is a different way to complete your Walden degree vs. the traditional course-based experience.

Which Degree?

First step is to find which degree matches your goals. Walden has four degrees in Nursing available for the Tempo program. You can request information online and review available programs. An admissions specialist will reach out to you to help you through this process. On the Walden Tempo webpage you will see various links to the Nursing programs available. Each program link takes you to an overview, courses required, and tuition and fees estimation.

Course-Based Learning v. Tempo Competency Based Learning

As you can see each program is unique and has advantages. Is Tempo right for you?

	COURSE-BASED LEARNING	TEMPO COMPETENCY-BASED LEARNING
	The standard, guided pace to earn your degree	The flexible pace, ideal for some students
Time	Structured schedule	Flexible schedule
Pace	Deadlines to make steady progress	Set your own pace, and speed up or slow down when needed
Tuition	Pay by the course	All-you-can-learn subscription fee
Support	Faculty guide you through your courses as you earn your degree	Faculty support when you need it and a personal academic coach
Expert Walden Faculty	✔	✔
Payment Plans and Scholarships^*	✔	✔

How can my experience help me earn my degree?

You can use your real-life experience and prior knowledge to demonstrate what you already know through competency assessments. By applying what you already know, you can accelerate progress to potentially save time and money. How long will it take me to complete my program? You’ve enrolled as a Walden student using Tempo—now what? As a new Tempo Learning® student, you will be introduced to your dedicated Academic Coach. During the first two weeks of your program, the Academic Coach will work hand in hand with you to create a customized learning plan that will help you achieve your goals. You will meet with your Coach regularly throughout your program to ensure that you have the information you need to be successful, from answering questions about the platform to helping you find resources.

What are competencies?

Competencies are the skills, knowledge, and abilities a student needs to be successful in their chosen career field. When choosing to do a degree in the Tempo Competency-Based Learning format, students demonstrate competencies instead of completing courses. This ensures that every graduate can show their current or future employer the specific skills and abilities they’ve learned in their Walden degree program.

What is a competency assessment?

Competency Assessments are how students demonstrate their achievement of a specific competency. Assessments can take many forms - work-based projects, short papers, planning documents - and usually mirror the type of work that you would create and apply on the job. Learning resources, knowledge checks and quizzes are available to help you learn new material or reinforce what you already know to make sure you're ready to attempt the assessment.

In competency-based education, the goal is to demonstrate the specific competencies that you've learned. That's why you have multiple attempts to achieve each competency, with detailed feedback from faculty to help you along the way.

Does selecting the tempo learning format impact the degree I earn?

All graduates of a Walden University program receive the same degree, regardless of the format they use to complete their program. At Walden University, several programs now offer two ways to learn—the traditional, course-based format or a competency-based format (offered in the Tempo Learning® platform). The learning outcomes and degree are the same regardless of which format is right for you.

Tempo Leadership: Meet the Team

Dr. Karen Ouzts

Dr. Karen Ouzts, BSN Program Director was integral in designing and launching the first Tempo program in the College of Nursing in May 2018. The BSN faculty worked with the PSID to design each area of expertise (AoE). Each AoE is equivalent to the course in the course-based program. All core faculty initially taught in Tempo. Her role, along with the core faculty, is to ensure that the same learning outcomes are met in both modalities. The BSN Tempo option is currently under revision and Dr. Ouzts is overseeing this work as well.

Dr. Vincent Hall

Vincent P. Hall, PhD, RN, CNE serves as the MSN SP program director for the MSN in the School of Nursing (SON) at Walden University. In his role he supervises the MSN core courses, as well as nursing education, nurse executive, nursing informatics, and public health nursing specializations. Dr. Hall has been with Walden since 2012. In addition, Dr. Hall supervises MSN Tempo and assisted with the development of the competencies for the learning pathway. The MSN Tempo pathway is composed of three specializations, nursing education, nurse executive, and nursing informatics. Prior to coming to Walden, he served as the director of the SON at Western Carolina University and supervised multiple undergraduate and graduate programs. He serves as a Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accreditation site visitor and team leader and serves on the Commission’s Accreditation Review Committee. He also serves on the American of Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials Task Force to revise standards for baccalaureate and higher degree education. He is a past president of the North Carolina Council of Deans and Directors of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs. Dr. Hall has been a registered nurse for more than 40 years.

Dr. Sonya Blevins

Dr. Sonya Blevins is a core faculty member in the RN to BSN program for Tempo Learning where she provides individual support to students as they work towards their educational goals. By teaching in several competencies, she is able to get to know her students and they work as a team to move through each one. Sonya describes Tempo as a great environment where individual student needs can be addressed.

We posed several questions to Sonya regarding Tempo Learning.

Why choose Tempo versus a traditional program for nursing?

“Tempo provides an opportunity for students to work at their own pace. For those students that want to get through, they can push through quicker. Often times, this will help them as they pursue additional academic and/or professional goals.”

If the students were to ask "what is the "competency assessment" and what is the "subject mastery assessment" of Tempo learning, how would you explain it?

“In Tempo, competency assessments are used to determine mastery of content. This assessment ensures that the objectives of each one is met. With the assessments, students can either master, achieve, or not meet the expectations. These levels of grading in Tempo are similar to letter grades in a traditional course.”

What is a myth about Tempo learning?

“A myth would be the level of support when compared with traditional courses. With Tempo, students receive support on a continual basis from the SME and coach. This support is key in helping students succeed in the program.”

What is a truth or fact about Tempo learning?

"Students work at their own pace. Based on the student’s schedule and goals, it provides flexibility in pursuing additional education.”

What is the target audience or perfect student for Tempo learning?

“The perfect student for Tempo is one who is organized and utilizes time well.”

Dr. Jamil Norman

Dr. Jamil Norman is the Academic Program Coordinator for the RN to BSN program with Tempo. She views Tempo as a true ‘pace yourself ’ program. “There is no stress of a due date unless it is a self-imposed stress. This helps the student to put in more work at a faster pace when they are able to do so and to slow down as needed. Students in Tempo are also able to utilize feedback provided on their assessments to have a repeated attempt without penalty. This helps the student to truly meet the learning objectives for each competency.” The perfect student for Tempo is described as “self-disciplined and understands the meaning of perseverance.”

Dr. Norman describes competency based assessments as similar to a course based assignment. “Each course is broken into competencies and these competencies each have an assessment to measure the learning objectives for that specific competency content. In Tempo students either master, achieve, or do not met the assessment. You can think of this as making an A, B, or not yet passing the assessment with an opportunity to repeat the assessment. When a student masters the competency on the first attempt, this would be the equivalent to making an A on an assignment.

One myth that Jamil would like to clear up regarding Tempo is that “if you feel you are knowledgeable about the content in the course, you will not have to read the learning resources and will be able to complete the assessments based on your current knowledge. Although in Tempo we want to draw on the student’s previous knowledge, reading and understanding what is needed to master the competency is always necessary.” On the contrary, one truth about Tempo that she shared “is that you are truly able to pace yourself and receive needed support from SMEs and Coaches.”

“What I love about Tempo is that I get to connect with my students more on a one-on-one basis. Since students pace themselves I am able to take the time needed to help students exactly where they need it. When a student turns in an assignment I can give them specific feedback to help them be successful on the next attempt. I also like to provide my students with a little welcome video that points out some areas that students usually have an issue with and this helps them to be better prepared for their first attempt on the assessment.”

A TEMPO Student Experience: Joanne Klosterman

When septuagenarian Joanne Klosterman was young, the expectation was to complete high school and get married. She watched as others went away to college and always longed for the opportunity. After raising her three children as a single mother and seeing to their education, Joanne had the chance to go to nursing school. She stated that her children’s education had come first, and her daughter and two sons are all now successful in their own careers. She has been an RN with an associate degree for the past 21 years, working in an oncology department in New York and most recently North Carolina. Now nearing 70 years young, she is on a mission to complete her education before retirement and has taken the step of enrolling in Walden University Tempo Learning program for her BSN. Instead of settling into a sedate roll of grandmother to six, Joanne is fulfilling a lifetime goal of her own.

Joanne had originally started in an on-line course with a local college. She realized that the demands of deadlines, new computer based learning and juggling life was not going to work for her. She had dropped out and was ready to put aside her own goals when she walked through the room and heard a commercial on TV for Walden’s Tempo Learning. She sat right down and did a web search for the program. “Learn at your own pace” was an appealing option for her and she decided to take the plunge once more.

Joanne began taking classes in May 2020 with the encouragement and support of her family, Dr. Norman and her Academic Coach, Emily Buffum. Dr. Norman was noted to be a “great resource, encouraging, with an extra-special way” of making her feel that she can succeed. “She takes my anxiety level way down”. Compared to the traditional online program, Tempo Learning provides an avenue for her to learn at her own pace.

Joanne admits that the going has not always been easy. Not having grown up in the computer generation, learning new computer skills has been a challenge. Working with her friends, family and her Academic Coach, that part is getting easier. The financial side was also an issue and she is working with the financial counselors to find ways to complete her education, while working towards her retirement. While she is just getting started, Joanne is keeping her eye on her personal goal of completing her bachelor's degree. She wants her children to be “extra-special proud” of mom and credits them for their support and love during her journey. "They are my biggest cheerleaders!”

By Dr. Nancy Hadley

Advanced Care Planning

Advanced Care Planning is for Everyone.

Everyone is different when they think about future health care needs. Some know exactly what types of medical treatments they would want, while others feel uncomfortable thinking about the future and the possibility of a life changing illness.

Feeling nervous about the future is normal. One way to address that feeling is to consider “what does quality of life mean to me”. It may mean hiking and camping long into retirement, or just sitting on the back-porch in a rocking chair, watching grand-children play.

Quality of life questions don’t just apply to old age though. With scientific and medical advances there are now numerous treatments available that can extend lifespan, regardless of one’s age or medical condition. There is also great variability in how one feels about receiving those treatments. One person might want a feeding tube and mechanical ventilator, while another would not consider this quality of life.

The good news is each of us has control over these types of decisions. Planning ahead means you can maintain control even if you are very sick, and can’t advocate for yourself. It also takes pressure off loved ones to make those decisions for you. It is important to engage family and friends in this process. Selecting a specific person to be your voice in case you can’t advocate for yourself can be formalized in a Durable Power of Attorney for Health care.

All family members should hear and understand your medical wishes; this will make it easier for them to advocate on your behalf should the need arise.

Health care planning is all about keeping you in control, and you are free to change your mind at any time. The decisions you make at 50 may be different than at 70. The value lies in knowing your wishes will guide treatment no matter what happens.

By Eva Hvingelby

Faculty Excellence: A Journey of Life-Long Learning and Student Success

Dr. Diane Whitehead is the proud recipient of the Walden 2020 Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence and the Faculty of Excellence Award for the College of Nursing. She highlights a career in teaching that spans all levels of nursing education. She began her teaching career at the local Community College and advanced to faculty and administrative roles in BSN, graduate and doctoral nursing programs. Dr. Whitehead holds a Doctor of Education from Florida International University and shares that she has “ always been in school”. “When I was in charge of developing the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) curriculum for a University, I decided to enroll in Walden’s DNP program”. Dr. Whitehead graduated from Walden with her DNP degree in 2014. “My experience of teaching in Associate Degree, BSN , graduate and doctoral nursing programs, provides me with a deep appreciation of the life- long learning paths of our Walden nursing students”. “As many of our Walden students, I also share being the first in my family to complete a college degree and going back to school after many years”.

As a faculty in the DNP program and Coordinator of the DNP Writing Intensive, Dr. Whitehead shared her best practices for student success. “It is so important to keep in touch with students, especially in the virtual environment”. “I use emails, phone calls and zoom meetings with students to review assignments, edit project papers and to share examples of scholarly writing”. “ It is important to recognize and catch students that may be struggling”. She provides a personal and caring approach to assisting students in their journey to learn and be successful. Dr. Whitehead proudly mentions student success stories from the DNP Writing Intensive. Students call or email to say” I would never have finished my DNP project if it wasn’t for the Writing Intensive. I wish that I had done this sooner”. Often a simple thank you is sent by a student with a note to say, “I achieved CAO approval”. “ These are the moments that let you know that you have made a difference”.

Dr. Whitehead discussed the value of Walden’s mission of social change. “ DNP students are making a difference with their projects in the community.” “I have a student that worked in Alaska, addressing natives receiving diabetic care in seven different rural clinics. This student worked to meet the needs of these patients and the staff to improve patient care and outcomes”. Dr. Whitehead cites working with her students to publish DNP projects in Walden’s Journal of Nursing Excellence. She also expands her teaching expertise to the community, providing lifelong learning opportunities to the residents. Her current volunteer work with the OSHA lifelong learning program in Pittsfield, MA. Includes an educational series titled “Women in Leadership” which will provide the history of women and social change within the United States.

At the end of our conversation, Dr. Whitehead had these parting wording which we can all apply to our daily lives: “ I enjoy what I do every day”.

By Dr. Cheryl McGinnis

Meet the Coordinator for the Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program

Meet the Coordinator

The Walden University Nurse Practitioner Program is excited to announce that Dr. Virginia G. Moore has accepted the position of Program Coordinator for the Psych Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Track.

Dr. Virginia G. Moore received her Ph.D. in Nursing Education at Capella University in June 2017. She recently served as Core Faculty in the College of Nursing MSN Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program at Walden University and has served as faculty since July 2018. Dr. Moore began her teaching career as an adjunct faculty member at another university RN-BSN Community Mental Health program in2015. Professionally, Dr. Moore is a clinical Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Board Certified. Dr. Moore holds an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse and Registered Nurse licensures in the States of Minnesota, Florida, Oregon, and Washington. She has worked in a variety of mental health settings including private sector hospitals, state facility hospitals, state prison, community mental health, private practice, and the federal government. Her experiences are within inpatient and outpatient clinic settings including emergency room and Primary Care-Mental Health Integration teams. She conducted research in the field of education and psychiatric/mental health with expertise in Delphi study. Dr. Moore has experience with presentations on telehealth, nursing education, psychiatry, substance user and primary care- mental health integration topics. She has experience with evidencebased practice mentorship. Dr. Moore maintains a clinical practice in telepsychiatry.

Her immediate goals for the PMHNP-MSN program include: implementing innovative teaching strategies into course rooms to enhance student learning and success by supporting current course revisions; to create an online venue for PMHNP faculty for sharing of best teaching practices and resources, communicate concerns, and enhance team building as well as communication; to improve faculty retention to meet the growing demand of the PMHNP-MSN program through staff communication and appreciation strategies.

Welcome Dr. Moore!

By Dr. Beth Garretson

Sigma Phi Nu Chapter News

Phi Nu Chapter is Sigma partnering with DC Project Connect

DC Project Connect is currently providing virtual life skills to residents of Washington, DC's Residential Reentry Center or halfway house for women. These psycho-educational classes are affectionately known as "Coffee Talk & Me Time." While these sessions were originally face-to-face, due to COVID19 things had to change rapidly, but strategically. Given the pandemic, volunteers were no longer allowed in from the outside to protect its residents. Yet, these classes were much needed given the anxieties and concerns that America and global citizens were facing. DC Project Connect proposed virtual sessions and they were approved by the RRC management. Now, these sessions are done virtually. The silver lining is that for the first time, residents are now able to continue the much-needed psycho-educational training using technology. The additional bonus is that individuals who are on home confinement are also attending these sessions. Additionally, we have guest speakers who are able to attend our “Empowering Lives Speakers Series.”

Each week, different guest speakers join the Coffee Talk session to impart important information. Most recently and continuing through the month of August, the Sigma Phi Nu Chapter has provided such wonderful and needed topics such as COVID19, Heart Disease, Sleep Health, and more requested topics. Phi Nu is also providing coffee and breakfast during the event.

Sigma Phi Nu Sponsor’s a Haitian Nursing Student

This year Sigma Phi Nu Chapter is sponsoring a Haitian Nursing Student. This sponsorship assists with the student’s tuition, room and board, textbooks, uniforms, other learning materials and travel to clinical sites. These students graduate with a baccalaureate’s degree.

Sigma Phi Nu partners with Reentry Action Network & DC Project Connect

Sigma Phi Nu chapter is partnering with DC Project Connect and the DC Reentry Action Network to provide COVID-19 information to underserved communities of color in the DC area.

Sigma Phi Nu Chapter raises money with Charity Miles

While socially distancing, Phi Nu members are raising money for various charities using the Charity Miles app. This app allows you to turn activity into donations for various charities. As of July 10th, Phi Nu has logged 4,017 miles! Charities included in the app are: St. Jude Children’s Hospital, March of Dimes, Team RWB, Wounded Warrior Project, National Multiple Sclerosis Society and many more! If you are interested in joining our team, please email tech@stti-phinu.org.

SIGMA Scholarship Opportunity

Calling all Phi Nu members who would like a Phi Nu scholarship to help with a BSN, MSN, or doctorate from Walden, or a grant to help with expenses for an educational conference, publication, or other scholarly endeavors.

Applicants must include a 20 minute presentation of the submitted work and agree to present at a Phi Nu webinar within six months of the award. The window to submit your application is September 1-30. Applicants must be current members of Phi Nu and have maintained active membership for at least one year. See the Circle Phi Nu Chapter.

New SIGMA President: Dr. Jeanne Morrison

Dr. Morrison, thank you so much for telling us about yourself and your career.

“Early in my career, I worked in critical care and dialysis. After I received my Masters in Nursing, I worked as the Dialysis Nursing Administrator for a large multi-specialty clinic. I also served as the Director of Healthcare and for Sharecare. Sharecare is an interactive social QA platform created by Jeff Arnold and Dr. Mehmet Oz.” Yes, Dr. Mehmet Oz is the Emmy award winning TV personality. She also managed the Medical Review team at Healthline. Healthcare is one of the fastest growing healthcare information websites.

Dr. Morrison was one of the first contributing faculty at Walden. “I had just graduated with my PhD and was working at a non-online University. I saw an ad for faculty in the nursing program. I applied and was hired. I remember the first graduation I went to at Walden. It was so small, when students and faculty walked out the door, after graduation, they were all given a glass of champagne.” Dr. Morrison now has 25 years of teaching experience and is now the MSN Academic Coordinator for the Nurse Executive program at Walden University. Dr. Morrison joined SIGMA after completing her BSN because of the opportunities for nurses in leadership, career development, and education. Why did Dr. Morrison run for Phi Nu President? “To work with a group of students and faculty who are highly creative, motivated, intelligent, and fun.” Dr. Morrison has also served in the Faculty Counselor role for 4 years.

During Dr. Morrison’s tenure as President, she will build on Phi Nu’s diverse membership and promote connections with members globally, to meet their needs, while also promoting scholarship, leadership, and service. If resources were not an issue, Dr. Morrison would like to bring all of Phi Nu together for an on-the- ground conference, to connect in person and to share experiences and presentations.

by Sara Thimmes

Nurse Practitioner Test Prep Opportunities

Entering into a Nurse Practitioner program is just the start of an educational experience that will last a lifetime. Once our students have completed all the required courses for their degree, they face a national certification exam that allows them to put their knowledge to work. After years of reading and studying, the content learned is honed down to 150 questions to prove their knowledge base. This exam can be quite stressful and thus most students look to a review course or other study option to prepare. While there are many options available, some of the most commonly used are listed here as a starting place for finding the one that best suits your needs.

Margaret Fitzgerald is a leader in board review for practitioners. Her company, Fitzgerald Health Education Associates (FHEA) offers courses for FNP, AGPCNP, AGACNP, ENP, PMHNP, PNP exams. This review offers 35.5 contact hours over three days in a live seminar or can be taken online/on-demand. The course includes lectures, practice exams, a reference workbook, online resources and a question bank with final review. The on-line version includes 5 webinars and video presentations. An MP3 player with audio recordings of live presentations is another option for those students that do not have time for in-person or computer based learning.

Fitzgerald Health Education Associates

Maria Leik Intensive Nurse Practitioner Reviews is another popular NP review course. This course follows both ANCC and AANP style questions and is available for FNP and AGPCNP exam review. Leik offers live review courses or webinar format with a four month period post course for re-watching the lectures as many times as you would like. This course has question banks, review books, test taking strategies and many other amenities, including a money-back guarantee if you do not pass the board exam.

Intensive Nurse Practitioner Reviews

Amalie Hollier is the leader of Advanced Practice Education Associates (APEA). This course offers live classes or webinars for the FNP and AGPCNP board exams. This two day course includes lectures which follow AANP and ANCC certification exams, sample/ predictor exams, practice questions, a manual with online learning aides. Books and study guides are also available through this course as well as a mobile app with audio/video/MP3 player options. APEA also offers a guaranteed pass or access to repeat the course and 32.5 contact hours.

To take advantage of Walden discounts, students must email Nina Gossen, program and scheduling manager at nine@apea.com.

Advanced Practice Education Associates

Barkley and Associates board review is available for FNP, AGPCNP, PNP, AGACNP, PMHNP and ENP exam study. This live or online course review includes streaming home study, procedural skills options, continuing education, test taking strategies, course manual, audio CD with recordings of live classes, a practice exam with rationales and 26.25 contact hours.

Walden offers discount codes for Spring.

AGACNP 2CourtneyACNP40
AGPCNP 2CourtneyANP40
FNP 2CourtneyFNP40
PNP 2CourtneyPNP40
ENP 2CourtneyENP40
PMHNP 2CourtneyPMHNP40

Barkley and Associates

Board Vitals is an extensive question bank without course lectures. It follows ANCC and AANP style questions that can be customized and offers contact hours. This option allows you to purchase access on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis.

Board Vitals

ExamEdge is another testing simulation site that includes both ANCC and AANP exam styled questions. This practice test site can be customized, paused, reviewed and comes with an explanation mode. The cost of this option is based on the number of practice tests you wish to take.

ExamEdge

*Note that Walden University does not endorse any specific testing agency nor receive any funds from these agencies. Other testing agencies are also available outside of this list; students should research agencies independently.

by Dr. Nancy Hadley

Mental Health

Finding ways to improve your mental health and mindfulness are a constant journey for may of us. Below are different ways to address it and hopefully find a new way to explore our thoughts, feelings and experiences…

Stress Relief and Meditation

The Family That Reads Together

Through their new YouTube series 'Storytime with Dr. Connolly,' instructors Nathan Connolly and Shani Mott hope to bring a celebration of Africana history to the next generation of readers

Storytime with Dr. Connolly

Combating Stress

The ANA has multiple resources free to nursing to combat stress through the Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation that is free and includes over four million nurses. Join at Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation Grand Challenge

Kids and Teens and COVID Stress:

Resources from the Boys & Girls Clubs

Improving Sleep

Getting a good night rest leads to better health, job performance and mental well-being. Best Healthy Sleep Apps of 2020.

Nursing Educational Opportunities

Walden University Nursing Continuing Professional Development (NCPD)

This month, we are introducing nursing continuing professional development activities related to article topics.

Please follow the steps below to claim contact hours for an activity.

Click on the demand link
Register for the activity next to the activity title
View the activity
Click on the link at the end of the activity
Complete the evaluation
Print or Download your certificate

These activities are best experienced using Chrome or Firefox current browsers. Participants needing accommodations to attend this webinar, please contact disability@mail.walden.edu. Participants experiencing technical issues, please contact patricia.tate.@mail.waldenu.edu.

Walden University is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by the American Nurses Credentialing Commission.

Sigma Phi Nu and Walden University Summer Quarterly Webinar 2020 Topics

Barcode Medication Administration in the Emergency Department to Mitigate medication errors
Promoting Healthy Workspaces Through User Centered EHR Learning

Journal Article

Impact of Acculturation on Body Mass Index in Haitians, Journal of Excellence in Nursing and Healthcare Practice

New Name, Same Standard

The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) has changed the term continuing nursing education (CNE) to nursing continuing professional development (NCPD). Instead of earning CNE, nurses now earn NCPD. Walden University is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation (P0469).

PhD Academic Residencies and DNP Writing Intensives

PhD Academic Residencies

Walden offers many capstone residencies and intensives where students can work directly with faculty and the Writing Center to achieve goals in completing their Dissertation. Below are the next scheduled VIRTUAL residencies.

PhD Residency: October 10-13, 2020
PhD Residency: November 5-8, 2020
PhD Residency: December 27-30, 2020

PhD Residency Information

DNP Writing Intensive

The fall DNP virtual writing intensive will be held November 11-15, 2020. Participation is required Wednesday, November 11 4-6 PM CT, all day Thursday-Saturday November 12, 13, 14 and Sunday morning, November 15, until noon CT.

You will be working one on one with a Walden University nursing faculty member and have opportunities for individual meetings with a library and a writing center representative. The intensive is open to all students who are enrolled in NURS 8110 or later courses within the program. Students should have identified a practice site where they will implement their project and a gap in practice issue before attending an intensive.

You can register for the writing intensive through your Walden advisor. The intensive retreat fee for virtual events is $1,475. The deadline for registration is October 14. For more information on the writing intensive review the information at the DNP Intensives website or email Dr. Diane Whitehead, diane.whitehead@mail.waldenu.edu, Writing Intensive Coordinator.

College of Nursing News Team

Dr. George Zangaro (Dean)

Dr. Jody Minnick (Co-Editor)

Dr. Nancy Hadley (Co-Editor)

Contributing Team

Dr. Eva Hvingelby

TEMPO Team

Thanks to everyone who helped with this issue.