On Nursing:
Institute Promoting Hopkins Nursing to the Rest of the World


Mike Field
-------------------
Staff Writer

     When Hopkins nurses Anita Pearce, Melissa Gerstenhaber and
Joseph Capozzoli presented a poster at a national conference
recently, they were unprepared for the response. Their
presentation detailing the development of a day treatment program
in child and adolescent psychiatry brought a wave of inquiries
from other nursing staffs around the country. 

     All three are full-time nurses, however, with active
caseloads and busy schedules. They had no office, no staff and no
secretarial resources from which to coordinate the distribution
of materials and consulting duties that would likely arise. Yet
they were able to successfully share their findings, thanks to
the newly created Institute for Johns Hopkins Nursing, a joint
development of the university and the hospital meant to share the
expertise and educational programs of Hopkins Nursing with
healthcare providers worldwide.

     Managed care and changes in medical insurance have meant
that fewer overnight stays are covered, and more young patients
needing psychiatric counseling are being treated on an outpatient
basis. The daycare counseling program Pearce and Gerstenhaber
helped develop in conjunction with nurse manager Capozzoli
provides an intermediate step to full hospitalization and thus
fills a need felt at many other institutions.

     "After our presentation we had a very favorable reaction
from many psychiatric institutions nationwide, and they all
wanted follow-up information," said Pearce, who is a senior
clinical nurse for adolescent psychiatry at the hospital. "This
program allows an institution to extend its hospitalization
program without incurring the costs associated with overnight
stays." By the end of the conference, Pearce, Gerstenhaber and
Capozzoli had a list of a dozen institutions requesting
information about their program.

     Back at Hopkins, the team soon found themselves with more
demands for information than they could fill. They turned to the
institute, which was able to step in with expert advice and
assistance. Institute staff helped edit, collate, copyright and
distribute their report to all the institutions that had
expressed interest in their work. "We were able to rely on the
institute to help complete the process," Pearce said. "There is
no way we would have had the resources to get this done."

     "This is the only entity of its kind in nursing anywhere,"
said Kathleen Sabatier, who arrived Aug. 1 to serve as senior
program administrator for the institute. "It's the collaboration
that makes this effort so unique. Part of our focus will be to
serve as a resource to all Hopkins nurses and to allow them to
network within the institution."

     The institute is currently housed at the 2024 Building on
the East Baltimore campus, but plans have been made to find a
permanent place for it within the School of Nursing's new
building, to be built on Wolfe Street, across from the main
entrance to the hospital. 

     "The idea behind the institute is to take the tremendous
resources of Hopkins Nursing and market them outside the
institution," Sabatier said. "We want to be a resource not only
within the Hopkins community, but outside, to the rest of the
world as well." 

     Initially funded through a joint initiative by the School of
Nursing and the hospital, the institute plans to achieve
financial self-sufficiency within three years. Distance learning
and continuing education programs will now fall within the
institute's purview, as well as other efforts that will advance
the achievements of Johns Hopkins Nursing. Eventually, these
activities--including site visits, consultations, books, papers
and educational computer programs--will not only promote Hopkins
Nursing, but earn income as well.

     In a prepared statement at the unveiling of the new
institute, Nursing Dean Sue Donaldson described a wide scope of
programs to be explored. "[Our] goal is to share the innovations
in practice, science and scholarship that have always been a
hallmark of Johns Hopkins Nursing. We will provide leadership and
consultation on contemporary practice issues, nursing programs,
management systems, new technologies, nursing research and
advanced nursing roles."

     "With the expansion of managed care and the increasing
demands on nurses to deliver care more effectively, the need for
a resource such as the institute is clear," said the hospital's
vice president for nursing, Maryann Fralic, in the same
statement. "Nurses and healthcare providers here at Hopkins, as
well as from around the world, can take advantage of institute
programs." Fralic and Donaldson will oversee operations at the
institute, while Sabatier will be responsible for day-to-day
management.

     Among its new duties, the institute will coordinate
conference planning and help organize logistical resources for
symposia and other meetings. Its first event will occur Nov. 13,
when it sponsors the Doris Armstrong Leadership Forum, named for
the former director of nursing services at the hospital from 1970
to 1976. 

     This year's forum will feature a panel discussion with
nurses elected to the Maryland Legislature. Sen. Paula Hollinger
and delegates Marilyn Goldwater, Shirley Nathan-Pulliam and Mary
Roe Walkup will discuss leadership options available to nurses in
a session titled "Nurses as Leaders" to be held in Hurd Hall.
Information about the forum, and the Institute for Johns Hopkins
Nursing, can be obtained at (410) 614-3160.