UTMB Health celebrated Certified Nurses Day, March 19 by honoring its board certified nurses. Fifty-eight percent of UTMB nurses are certified, and were recognized for their professionalism, leadership, and commitment to excellence in patient care.
There are many nursing certification specialties such as ambulatory care, medical-surgical, pediatric, cardiac vascular, oncology, case management, emergency nursing, critical care and many others.
The Office of Public Affairs received the 2012 Excellence in Constituent Relations Award from UT System for its work in producing over 100 videos to help spread the word about the many talented and dedicated people who work at UTMB. The videos were deployed through
UTMB's YouTube channel, Facebook page and
Twitter account; showcased in
Impact; and broadcast through the UTMB website highlighting student volunteer work, health tips, researchers and more.
The Department of Preventive Medicine & Community Health (PMCH) has received the Outstanding Educational Program Award from the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research. This award honors innovative programs, departments or academic institutions for their involvement in advancing undergraduate or graduate medical education in prevention and public health in ways that further students’ interest in the discipline.
PMCH administers four graduate degree programs—Public Health, Clinical Science, Population Health Sciences and Rehabilitation Sciences. All four graduate programs share a focus on disease prevention and health promotion and restoration in human populations.
Dr. Carlos Clark has been appointed as UTMB Chief Medical Information Officer. In this role, he will provide leadership across UTMB for assessing and improving information management, information technology, and support processes in order to better support and advance evidence-based practice, clinical outcomes, patient safety, and the patient experience. In collaboration with clinicians and medical informatics staff, he will support the evolution of vision and strategy for UTMB’s electronic medical record. This will include optimization of the interface between the EMR and the clinician as well as use of medical information systems to drive clinical quality improvement.
Congratulations to Jennifer Zirkle. She has accepted the position of
Director of Care Management & Utilization Management. In this role, she will be responsible for directing the Inpatient Care Management Program consisting of care facilitation, utilization management, case management and discharge planning. She has served in the interim role as Director, Care Management & Utilization Management for the last year.
Debbie Barrera recently accepted the role of Nurse Manager for the Neonatal Nurseries. Debbie joined UTMB 21 years ago and has spent her entire professional career in the Infant Special Care Unit. In 2003, Debbie assumed the Assistant Nurse Manager of the Neonatal Nurseries and has led the nursing staff with directness, honesty and integrity. Congrats, Debbie!
The Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence has chosen the UTMB School of Nursing to participate in the Jonas Scholars program for 2012 with a $10,000 grant to support a doctoral scholar, in support of the Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing goal to increase the number of doctorally prepared nurses.