The KU School of Nursing celebrated the second annual Scholarship Night and Symposium on November 21, 2024, where nursing students of all levels — undergraduate to doctoral students — showcased their scholarly achievements.

"It is exciting in that undergraduate students get an opportunity to hear about projects that graduate students are doing and vice versa," said Barbara Polivka, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, associate dean for research and professor.

The evening started with a welcome and introduction by Ericka Sanner-Stiehr, Ph.D., RN, clinical assistant professor, followed by presentations from Jean Giddens, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, ANEF, dean of the School of Nursing, and Suzanne Mitchell, Ph.D., FNP-BC, APRN, clinical assistant professor.

Over 150 students in Kansas City, Salina and online then presented 58 sessions aimed at improving patient care and outcomes.

"The breadth of projects that students are doing is amazing as is the depth of their knowledge on the topic," said Polivka. "The scholarly work that is being done is very high quality and has the potential to improve patient care and patient outcomes."

BSN student Seth Ehresman shared that the opportunity to present his work at the symposium showed him how much his team's research actually taught them about a specific topic. 

"Answering questions from attendees made me feel like an expert," he said. "Seeing other students’ work showed me how expansive nursing recommendations can be based on research. There were lots of creative ideas for how nurses working today can change their practice to improve outcomes."

Seongmin Cho, a student in the Ph.D. program, echoed the value of the scholarship symposium. "Presenting my Ph.D. dissertation project, which is still in progress, at the symposium was a valuable experience," Cho said. "It provided an opportunity to share my developing research ideas. Interacting with professors and fellow BSN and DNP students was particularly enriching."

The evening ended with closing presentations from Nelda Godfrey, Ph.D., ACNS-BC, FAAN, ANEF, associate dean for undergraduate programs and department chair, and Michelle Cochran, DNP, RN, clinical assistant professor.

"The symposium showcased numerous impressive research projects within the nursing profession, highlighting Dr. Godfrey's importance of developing nursing professionalism — an often-overlooked topic," said Cho. "Engaging with these projects underscored the need to prioritize and advance professionalism in nursing."

Ehrisman summed up the night by saying, "Being introduced to the scholarship process showed me how small groups of people can make big changes. Getting to learn a different type of nursing and how nurses can impact patients daily through research was exciting."

The school would like to thank the faculty mentors who guided the student scholarship.

Full list of presentations

Bachelor of Science in Nursing Students

• Payton Dean, Claire Calkins, Grace Marshall, Rachel Turek, Ella Sics, Julia Hughes, "The Impact of Lactation Consultant Education on Breastfeeding Duration"
• Katherine Stineman, Piper McClain, Madison Witt, Megan Davis, Skyler Johnston, Camdyn Pipkin, "Impact of Shift Types and Durations on Nurse Wellness and Patient Outcomes"
• Peter Ganstrom, Chase McDermott, Cooper Foltz, Noah Schopper, Seth Ehresman, "Effective Indwelling Urinary Catheter Management in the Prevention of CAUTI"
• Channing Osborne, Andrea Cote, Rachel Hughes, Alicia Phlieger, Arissara Chatani, Paige Walker, "Cap. No Cap. Exploring the next generation of CLABSI Prevention"
• Abigail Willson, Callie Perry, Nsemeke Nnamse, Zella Lubin Meyer, Cameron Simon, Erin Ruggles, "Polished vs. Pristine: How Nurse Hand and Nail Hygiene Affect Hospital Infection Rates"
• Abigail Yockey, Abigail Spencer, Kira Dent, Ainsley Shank, Tibernay Beal, "The Effect of Mandated Rest Breaks on Nursing Burnout in the Acute Care Setting"
• Maclaine Sears, Keagan Mann, Riley Brown, Greta Young, Alexandra Radakovich, "No Vein, No Gain: Evaluating the effectiveness of vein-visualization on pediatric IV placement"
• Myah Elliott, Anna Carpenter, Grace Kennedy, Mia Mansy, Jack Ingram, Marissa Baumhover, "Effect of Special Skin Dressings on Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injuries in Acute-Care Patients"
• Madie Schemmel, Talynn Rome, Kennedy Farris, Bailey Ko, Jocelyn Watson, Sarah Beth Gueldner, "Reducing Ventilator Associated Pneumonia with Meticulous Oral Care"
• Maria Kristic, Grace Williams, Megan Bulcock, Monserrat Chihuaque Alcantar, Kelly Hagedorn, Maira Munoz Garcia,  "Effects of Diverse Exercise Types on Fall Prevention in Older Adults"
• Emily Moser, Taylor Emmons, Trinity Fadorsen, Kiara Mcgee, Anna Janckila, Taja Keeler, "Effects of Sleep Bundles on Quality of Sleep in hospitalized patients"
• Caleb Brintnall, Garrett Donnelly, Makenna Macgee, Ella Root, "Best Practices for CLABSI Prevention"
• Aklesia Kebede, Michelle Recalde-Phillips, Kailen Chase, Betelhem Negash, Joyce Yu, "The Effectiveness of a Structured Fall Prevention Program on Reducing Falls in Older Adults"
• Lauren Taldo, Ariana Reck, Katherine Braun, Chandler Fienhage, RheaAnn Parker,  "A New Angle on Birth: Comparing Alternative Positions to Lithotomy"
• Kailey Schlink, Rachel Spencer, Auria Jackson, Gaby Guevara, Lydia Pope, Katie Poulter, "The effects of CHG bathing on rates of CLABSI"
• Loretta Medina, Lainey Van Hecke, Chloe Amon, Mackenzie Leisten, Jane Ford, Meg Molitor, "The Impact of Restorative Breaks to Alleviate Nurse Burnout"
• Sage Davis, Marisol Kingfisher, Owen Massaro, Kristy Ramirez, Aubrey Craig, "The Relationship Between Staffing Levels and Outcomes of Critically Ill Patients"
• Avery Barker, Lexi Ketcham, Taylor Schmidt, Anna Langan, Isabel Ultzsch, "Assessing the Impact of Alarm Fatigue: Enhancing Patient Safety and Nurse Well-Being in the ICU"
• James Medlang, Brianna Edwards, Lara-Amiele Collier, Zach Payne, Laura Hale-Embers, "The Impact of Nurse-Led Education for Effective Blood Glucose Management"
• Abbie Cruz, Shay Pemberton, Emerson Adams, Madeline Hunt, Brynna Christiansen, "The Role of Lifestyle Education and School-Based Activities in Modifying BMI in school-aged Children within a Year"
• Kaylin Moser, Ellie Brumbaugh, Payton Walters, Jilian Powell, Hoang-Anh Vo, "Best Practices for Effective Hand Hygiene"

Bachelor of Science in Nursing Honors Students

• Alejandra Wright, "Impact of Extended Work Hours on Mental Health Among Frontline Nurses"
• Kinuko Bradley, "Qualitative Analysis of Adult Asthma Patient's Concerns during COVID-19 Pandemic"
• Madison Johnson, "The Gift of Life Mentorship: A Secondary Data Analysis"
• Alex Lim, "Elderspeak within Family Caregiving: Exploring the Correlation Between Elderspeak Usage and the Frequency of RTC Behaviors in Home Healthcare Settings"
• Sarah Kriet, "Midwives KAN: Interviews of Midwives in Rural and Underserved Areas"
• Shiya Bhakta, "The influences of race, ethnicity, social determinants of health, and health care utilization among gynecologic cancer survivors"
• Faia Fry, "The Effect of Age and Education on Self-Efficacy and Intent to Stay for Hospital-Based Patient Care Assistants: A Secondary Data Analysis"
• Kari Tucker, "Mapping Obstetrical (OB) Access in Kansas: A Picture of the Growing OB Deserts"

RN to BSN Students

• Crystal Dunstan and Sarah Stradley, "What in the C. Diff Changing from PCR to two-step testing"

Master of Science Students

• Tonya Dresher, "Kansas School-Based Health Clinics: A Scoping Review of the Literature Summarizing Barriers and Facilitators That Impact the Implementation"

Doctor of Nursing Practice Students

• Kendra Peck, "Phone and Message Triaging in Primary Care"
• Nicole Kreimer, "Best Practices to Promote Waste Segregation Among Nurses"
• Falon Nelson, "Screening for Substance Use"
• Young Hyun, "Mentorship Program Benefits for Newly Graduated Nurses"
• Dallas Leigh Gammon, "Developing Evidence-Based Care Guidelines for Midwifery Care of Individuals with Physical and/or Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities"
• Angela Ramirez, "Trial of Labor After Cesarean"
• Karla Valenzuela Silva, "Aspirin as a Tertiary Prevention to ASCVD in Patients with Established Risk Factors"
• Jessi Loucks, "Implementation of a Data-Driven Preoperative Blood Type Ordering Algorithm: Impact on Unnecessary Ordering and Waste of Resources within the Obstetric/Gynecologic Surgical Service"
• Elaine Level, "Improving Mental Health Crisis Response in Rural Kansas"
• Pamela Masters, "Meeting Workforce Needs Through Reduction of Nursing Student Attrition"
• Scott Spacek, "Certified Nurse-Midwives and how they can relieve the United States’ maternal healthcare crisis"
• Abbi Crook, "Importance of Simulation for Maternal Cardiac Arrest: A low frequency, high-risk event in the intrapartum setting"
• Nikita Rana, "AIMS for Early Identification of Tardive Dyskinesia in Patients on Antipsychotic Medications"
• Marie Rodriguez, "Vaginal Birth: the 4 P's"
• Brandy Voegli and Caitlin Dansel, "Neurologic Assessments: Common Exams for Neurologic Evaluation"
• Kimberly Stanfield, "Decreasing patient violence: Evaluation of a Patient Misconduct Policy"
• Amy White, "The Role of Accreditation/Simulation Program Accreditation"

Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing Students

• Ishita Kapoor, "Facilitating Spontaneous Storytelling in People with Aphasia"
• May Maloba, "Male Partner Involvement in Cervical Cancer Screening"
• Ashley Downing, "Improving Mental Health in College Students"
• Karen Towne, "Public health and clinical care collaboration in the time of climate change: A case study of Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis and the Naegleria fowleri freshwater amoeba"
• Seongmin Cho, "Nursing Workforce: Effect of burnout in urban v. rural"