Bayada Award for Technological Innovation in Nursing Education and Practice

[rnformatics]

Fifth Annual International Bayada Award for Technological Innovation in Nursing Education and Practice Announced by Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions

$10,000 in Cash Prizes, Applications due April 21, 2008

PHILADELPHIA – January 11, 2008 – Today, Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions (CNHP) announced the fifth annual Bayada Award for Technological Innovation in Nursing Education and Practice. The award, sponsored by brothers Mel and Mark Baiada, recognizes the importance of incorporating technology in nursing for improved patient outcomes. Two $5,000 cash awards will be presented: one to a nursing educator whose innovation leads to improved student clinical competency or efficiency of curriculum delivery, and one to a practicing nurse whose innovation leads to improved patient care. A blind judging will be performed with the judges considering the technology’s innovativeness and impact. The technology must be in use six months or longer. The application deadline is April 21, 2008.

To apply for the award, visit: Drexel University: CoNHP: Bayada Technology Award: Application.

Resubmissions from previous years are welcome.

Winners will be recognized at the Drexel University Nursing Education Institute conference in Atlantic City , NJ on Friday, June 27, 2008. “The future of nursing lies in technological innovations and how they are applied to improve healthcare delivery to patients, and how they ready students to provide care,” said Dr. Gloria Donnelly, dean of Drexel’s CNHP. “Through the Bayada Award, we can highlight how nurses incorporate technology every day to better patient care, to save lives, and to instruct students on the use of technology in learning.” Continued Dr. Donnelly, “At Drexel we believe in incorporating technology into our nursing program. Since 2003, we have been providing our incoming nursing students with a PDA loaded with technical information on drugs and symptoms that can be used on clinical rotations. With PDAs, nurses have accurate information when needed.”

Past winners have been from across the U.S. and the world. Last year’s award recipients were Judy LeFlore, Associate Clinical Professor at The University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing and Jean Giddens, Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico College of Nursing. LeFlore employs high-fidelity simulation as a mechanism to provide nurse practitioner students with interactive, real-life experience. This training takes place in multidisciplinary teams, modeling the type of collaboration that is required in the dynamic healthcare environment that the nurses will be entering. Giddens developed a multi-contextual, student-centered learning tool called The Neighborhood, a fictitious web-based community featuring 36 characters of various ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and levels of health. The inaugural Bayada Award was won by Mary Kay Bader of Mission Viejo , Calif. , a nurse who led her hospital’s neurosurgery unit in designing guidelines for using the LICOX oxygen monitor. As a result, Bader and the neurosurgery team saved a 17-month-old boy who was given a one percent chance of survival.

In 2006, the award was won by Teddie Tanguay and Gwynne MacDonald, critical care nurses at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton , Alberta , and Patricia Payne, clinical assistant professor at East Carolina University in Greenville , N.C. Tanguay and MacDonald developed a prone device to be used with existing hospital beds. It comfortably places patients in the prone position to allow for improved lung expansion. The result was an increase in survival rates for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome or severe lung injuries. Payne developed MIDWIFE, a software system which allows nurse-midwives to collect more accurate and complete data. It enables faculty to retrieve the clinical data for student evaluation. The award is sponsored by J. Mark Baiada, Founder, Bayada Nurses and Mel Baiada, Benefactor, Drexel University ’s Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship in Technology.

University College of Nursing and Health Professions enrolls approximately 2,000 students and 30,000 nurses taking continuing education courses, annually. The College includes 17 programs, 120 full-time faculty and affiliations with some of the finest health care institutions in the U.S. The College program’s are designed to build knowledge, improve practice and culturally competent care, foster professional integrity, and ultimately improve the health outcomes of patients, families, and communities across the continuum of care. For more information on Drexel University or other programs in Drexel’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, visit Drexel University: College of Nursing and Health Professions.