(April 30, 2012) – “To my knowledge this is the first time the entire issue has featured just one school, the first time all articles were by Doctor of Nursing Practice students, graduates and faculty, and the first time the journal has featured all advanced case studies,” said Susan D. Ruppert, Ph.D., R.N., assistant dean and chair, Department of Acute and Continuing Care.  Ruppert served as editor for the April/June 2012 published issue of Critical Care Nursing Quarterly (Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins), which exclusively features articles written by UTHealth School of Nursing authors.

The issue, titled “Advanced Case Studies in Acute/Critical Care” (DOI: 10.1097/CNQ.0b013e3182456752), provides documentation of advanced, evidence-based practice in scenarios that represent the complexity of health and illness from both physical and psychosocial perspectives.

Ruppert notes in the issue’s foreword that “the authors also highlight the role of the multidisciplinary team in providing high-quality, outcome-oriented care.”

Student/graduate authors include: Patrick A. Laird, D.N.P., R.N. (now a clinical assistant professor and track director of the Adult/Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program); Kyle Kincaid, D.N.P., R.N., (now a UTHealth instructor in nursing); Laura J. Griffin, D.N.P., R.N. (an alumna, now at Methodist Sugar Land Hospital); Mary Lou Warren, M.S.N., R.N.; Sarah Livesay, M.S.N., R.N.; Louisa Chika Ikpeama, M.S.N., R.N.; and Melissa McLenon, M.S.N., R.N.

“I wrote a case study on a patient with the diagnosis of severe sepsis, because severe sepsis and septic shock affect over 700,000 people annually and the mortality is up to 70 percent,” said student author Mary Lou Warren.  “Patients with cancer are more at risk for developing severe sepsis.  As DNPs, we need to be leaders in updating our teams with the latest evidence and recommendations and establishing methods to standardize care based on these recommendations.”

Several of the student authors will be graduating May 4 from the D.N.P. program.

School of Nursing faculty co-authors are Ruppert, plus: Joanne V. Hickey, Ph.D., R.N., holder of the Patricia L. Starck/PARTNERS Endowed Professorship in Nursing and coordinator of the D.N.P. program, with Elda G. Ramirez, Ph.D., R.N., and Barbara K. Bailes, Ed.D., R.N., both of whom are clinical associate professors of nursing in the Department of Acute and Continuing Care.

“For many of these authors it was the first time they had been published so the experience of teaming with faculty served as a mentoring experience in writing for publication and steering them through the publishing process,” Ruppert said.  “All authors were very excited to see their articles in print and are anxious to continuing writing for publication.  The experience also supported the work they had done in our DNP program in communicating their scholarship to a broader professional audience.”