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JU faculty members present at prestigious national health forum

Jacksonville University’s Dr. Teri Chenot (left) and Dr. Michelle Edmonds made presentations at the 2013 Quality and Safety Education for Nurses National Forum in Atlanta.

By Chelsea Wiggs/JU Communications Major

Two of Jacksonville University’s nursing faculty members are bringing attention to the University’s College of Health Sciences as it becomes a forerunner in improving health outcomes.

Dr. Teri Chenot, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Dr. Michelle Edmonds, Director of JU’s Nursing Graduate Program, recently presented at the prestigious annual Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) National Forum in Atlanta, which focuses on improving the quality and safety of health care.

At the May 30-31 conference, Edmonds and Chenot made podium presentations of their research and/or teaching strategies. Chenot also conducted a poster presentation on the research she has developed in collaboration with Dr. Wendy Madigosky of the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Chenot and Madigosky have received global inquiries regarding their survey instruments that measure patient safety awareness among interprofessional healthcare disciplines.

Chenot’s instrument focuses on nursing students’ perceptions about their awareness, skills and attitudes regarding patient safety, something she recognized as an issue in 2003 while working as a patient safety officer at a local hospital.

“I noticed that there was a gap,” Chenot said. “The things that we needed to know about quality and safety were not being taught in the healthcare curriculum.”

Chenot has worked toward filling that gap through her involvement with QSEN since its inception and by serving on the 2013 QSEN National Forum Conference Planning Committee. She also serves on the Nursing Research Council at The University of Florida Health Science Center Jacksonville and is working on an innovative academic and clinical partnership with co-researcher Roberta Christopher, Director of Nursing Research and Magnet, on a study that assesses clinical nurses’ patient safety awareness in comparison with the QSEN standards.

Chenot and Christopher plan to make quality and safety education recommendations, provide training, and disseminate the study’s findings at the local, state and national level to improve health outcomes.

“As faculty, we need to be infusing this in the curriculum,” Chenot said. “Now the new students will be graduating and going forth with this education, so we need to get the clinical nurses up to speed on this to improve health outcomes.”

While Chenot and other faculty members of the College of Health Sciences continue to be innovators in their field through research and studies, they are also contributing to JU’s already positive reputation in the field of nursing.

“We already have a high NCLEX state exam pass rate,” Chenot said. “But to have this as a forerunner to improve patient safety and health outcomes, that’s a big deal.”