Issue link: http://tcnj.uberflip.com/i/1039487
19 DEPARTMENTS Health and exercise science Nursing Public health MAJORS Health and exercise science Nursing Public health STUDENT ENROLLMENT 707 CLASS OF 2017 AVERAGE STARTING SALARY $ 62,350 TOP EMPLOYERS (HOSPITALS) Atlantic Health Capital Health Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Hackensack Meridian Health Johns Hopkins Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center NYU Langone Penn Medicine Princeton Health Robert Wood Johnson Saint Barnabas Saint Peter's ENHANCING PATIENT CARE Under the direction of Professor of Nursing Gerry Altmiller, TCNJ's Quality and Safety Education for Nurses Center continues to transform nursing education to reflect a new identity that demonstrates knowledge, skills, and attitudes that emphasize quality and safety in patient care. This year, the center held a national webinar that is now archived and available free of charge, provided resources through a video library on the college's QSEN webpage, and conducted a national study in collaboration with the National League for Nursing to assess the state of QSEN integration in pre-licensure nursing education programs. Future plans for the center include on-site education programs for nurse educators, and continued research in the area of QSEN implementation in classroom and clinical student learning. In addition to leading the QSEN Center at TCNJ, Altmiller is a national consultant for QSEN, providing workshops at universities around the country. She also serves on the QSEN Institute Advisory Board as well as on the editorial board for Nurse Educator. PROVIDING THE PATH TO A BSN The RN to BSN Program continues to help the region's Professional Registered Nurses advance their careers by giving them a path to upgrade their associate degree or diploma in nursing to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. In 2011, The Institute of Medicine called to increase the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80 percent by 2020, citing studies that the more nurses with advanced degrees, the better the outcomes for patients. TCNJ's program not only helps practitioners develop skills as 21st-century learners but it expands their awareness of current quality and safety issues, and nursing's role in them. This past year, 39 graduates were awarded a BSN degree, 16 of whom were also inducted into SIGMA, the International Honor Society for Nursing. Face-to-face classes are offered on the campuses of our regional health care partners — Capital Health at Hopewell, RWJ-Hamilton, Hunterdon Medical Center, and Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center. FACULTY SPOTLIGHT Faculty from the School of Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science presented at Sigma Theta Tau International's 28th Nursing Research Congress in Dublin, Ireland, in July 2017. The congress, "Influencing Global Health through the Advancement of Nursing Scholarship," focused on current trends and issues in the nursing field. Faculty members included Sharon Byrne, Anne Farrell, Katie Hooven, Connie Kartoz, Yolanda Nelson, and Tracy Perron. Carolina Borges, assistant professor and graduate coordinator in the Department of Public Health, and Associate Professor of Nursing Sharon Byrne, joined more than 250 invited delegates at the 2018 International Health Congress at St. Hugh's College at Oxford University. The pair presented "The College of New Jersey Public Health and Nursing Departments Working Together in Haiti: Turning Higher Education into Global Health Action," which focused on trips they took to the country over the past three years with Assistant Professor of Nursing Connie Kartoz and students. These mentored study abroad programs focused on the primary health care experience in Haiti.