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Notes onNIU School of Nursing
Northern Nursing
Quarterly Results Are In!!
NCLEX Success 1
NIU @ ISAPN 2
Alum Author 3
HESI Superstars 3
Skills Fair 4
Student Athletes 5
IACN 6
Staff & Faculty 7
The National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX) for aspiring nurses
releases first-time pass rates each quarter. This rate often
becomes the primary metric used to gauge the effectiveness of a
nursing program to prepare their students for licensure. The 2016
third quarter results were recently released and NIU had one of
their best quarters on record with a 97% first time pass rate.
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Combined with the rates from the first two quarters of 2016, the
school’s cumulative NCLEX pass rate is now 92%. NIU has seen a
steady climb in their NCLEX pass rates over the past few years due
to the committed efforts of faculty, instructors, students, a
robust student success program and the consistent use of the HESI,
a predictive test administered to students throughout the program.
See more on the school’s HESI superstars in this issue under the
title “HESI Superstars” on Page 3.
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NIU at the ISAPN Midwest ConferenceThe Illinois Society for
Advanced Practice Nurses (ISAPN) held their annual conference the
weekend of October 6-8 in Lisle, IL. NIU attended in multiple
capacities, with presenters, an organizational table and attendees.
The keynote speaker was Carylyn Buppert (NP, JD) and the title of
her presentation was Medicare/Medicaid Billing: What APN's Need to
Know About Billing Errors and Fraud.
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Assistant Professor, Dr. Manju Daniel and Pam Taylor, Director
of Graduate Studies, both presented posters at the conference. Pam
Taylor was awarded first place in the poster contest out of 27
entries for her poster presentation of “Screening and Brief
Intervention for Alcohol Abuse in the Primary Care Setting”. Pam is
a doctoral student in the College of Health and Human Sciences PhD
in Health Sciences program.
Sue Anderson, our Graduate Internship Coordinator, manned the
NIU table at the ISAPN Midwest Conference
Dr. Manju Daniel with her poster at ISAPN
Pam Taylor with ISAPN Board members Mary Barton and Mary
Webb
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Alum Transitions to AuthorHelen Osterman is a woman of many
talents. Despite a strong artistic and creative streak as a child,
her first goal was to become a nurse. She went on to a long,
distinguished 45 year career as a nurse, earning her master’s
degree from the NIU School of Nursing in 1981.
Retiring from nursing allowed her to pursue that artistic streak
full-time. Helen is now an accomplished author and artist. Four of
her paintings of historic Maxwell Street in Chicago can be found in
the Chicago History Museum. She also just published her eleventh
book, titled “Dipped in Danger”.
The main character of her mystery novels is Emma Winberry. The
author said she had another dream to one day be a supernumerary in
an opera, but she lives out that dream vicariously through
Emma.
Find out more about Helen by visiting her website
athttp://www.helenosterman.com/index.html
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NIU School of Nursing alum, retired nurse and author/artist,
Helen Macie Osterman.
The latest induction to the 950 Club occurred on October 18.
Fifty-one students achieved a score of 950 or higher on a HESI exam
taken either at the end of the spring semester or earlier this fall
semester. The HESI is a predictive test that lets a student (and
the instructor) know how likely it is that a student will pass the
NCLEX on the first attempt. Scoring above 950 is an exceptional
score and these students received recognition for their
accomplishment by being inducted into the Chair’s “950 Club”.
HESI Superstars
http://www.helenosterman.com/index.html
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5th Trackers Hold Skills FairOne of the best ways to learn
something is to teach it. Each semester 5th Track students get a
chance to do just that at a skills fair. Students prepare a short
(10-15 minute) lesson about a particular skill and get a chance to
present it to their peers. The purpose of the skills fair is to
review skills specifically identified in the NCSBN test plan, but
often not seen in the clinical experience. One student commented,
“Skills fair was fun and informative. I enjoyed the opportunity to
gain more exposure to concepts that may appear on NCLEX. Especially
since I did not have the chance to see many of these procedures at
clinical. I learned a lot and felt that all the groups did a
wonderful job delivering comprehensive and informative
presentations.”
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Topics for this semester’s Skills Fair
Peritoneal dialysis
Drains and suction
GU apparatus (sp catheters and continuous
bladder irrigation)
Ostomies
Phototherapy
Radiation therapy
Tracheostomy care
Temperature regulation (therapeutic
hypothermia)
Blood administration
Cardiac catheterization
Central lines
Conscious sedation
Epidural and intrathecal catheterization
Feeding tubes
Mental health safety check
Pulmonary hygiene
Traction/SCDs
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School of Nursing’s Student Athletes
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Let’s face it, nursing students are, in general, overachievers.
That’s why they survive nursing school. The School of Nursing would
like to acknowledge that all of our students juggle multiple
demands – family, work, studies, etc, but in this issue we would
like to recognize our student athletes who juggle many competing
demands and also represent our university in their respective
sports. Thanks also to the faculty and instructors who work with
them to meet the demands of both their athletic commitments and the
nursing program.
Courtney DowdellGymnastics
Kali KossakowskiSoftball
Joshua OrneFootball
Katherine PrenticeGymnastics
Carly PedersonTrack, Cross Country
Quinton RosserWrestling
Tara ThackerSoftball
Jacqueline WandtSoccer
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Rosemary (Rigney) Bergin
BonnieKoerner
Lenore(Bostian)Harris
Janet(Bailey-Murray)Mingo
Jill (Johnson) O’Brien
Mary (Fosnot) Carroll
Joan Richoz
IACN Meets at Loyola
This photo shown in last month’s newsletter incorrectly
identified Jill (Johnson) O’Brien and Bonnie Koerner. Below a
corrected photo with names is provided.
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The Illinois Association of Colleges of Nursing (IACN) recently
held a meeting at Loyola University. Pictured here are IACN board
members with our own Dr. Jan Strom, the new presiding president of
IACN.
http://illinoiscollegesofnursing.org/
The IACN mission is to advance excellence in baccalaureate and
graduate nursing education in service to the public.
For more information, go to
http://illinoiscollegesofnursing.org/
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F
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Dr. Jeanette Rossetti was elected to the Illinois Association of
Psychiatric Nurses of America (APNA) Board of Directors as a Member
at Large.
Dr. Jeanette Rossetti
The School of Nursing welcomes your donations. Please go to
niufoundation.org to donate online or contact Anthony D’Andrea at
[email protected] or (815) 753-1390.
Northern Illinois UniversitySchool of Nursing1240 Normal
RoadDeKalb, IL 60115(815) [email protected]
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Dr. Daniel presented at the National Association of Indian
Nurses of America (NAINA) conference in Chicago, IL. Her poster
presentation was titled Autonomy and Mental Illness.
Dr. Manju Daniel
Dr. Cathy Carlson
Dr. Carlson presented two posters at the American Society of
Pain Management Nurses (ASPMN) conference in Louisville, KY. They
were titled And They’re Off! The Race for Regulatory Guidance to
Nurses for Mitigating Prescription Medication Abuse and Diversion
and The Use of Opioids for Chronic Non-cancer Pain while Preventing
Abuse and Diversion.
In MemoryIt is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the
passing of a member of the Class of 1965. Mary Ann (Perry)
Meldeenpassed away on October 9, 2016.
http://www.niufoundation.org/mailto:[email protected]