News

April 2001

National Convention: Plans are being made for the KU faculty, preceptors, students and friends attending the national ACNM convention to begin an annual tradition. Each year at convention most midwifery education programs sponsor an informal alumni gathering held sometime during the weeklong conference. To start the pre-alumni tradition of the KU Midwifery program, a gathering will be held in the hotel room of Ginger and Marta, date/time to be announced. Look on the Events Board near the registration area to learn more about the “gathering and celebrating” during convention. Please join us in this precedent-setting event!

Graduation Planning of 1st Class of Midwifery Students: A committee is forming to plan the graduation ceremony for the first midwifery class to be held on Saturday, June 30th, 2001. To date planning members include: Barb Parker, Class representative, Marta Skalacki, Judie Wika, Denise Fryzelka, Lynn Grylls and Ginger Breedlove. We are looking for several members of the 2nd and 3rd class who are interested in helping plan this event. This traditional gathering will be INDEPENDENT of the school of nursing and all formal gatherings conducted by the university. It is a special time to reflect with faculty, friends, and family on the experiences of midwifery education leading to the entry and practice of this unique and special role. Blessing of the hands (often by someone special to each student) preceptor of the year, guest presenter chosen by the students, formal presentation of certificates, and other forms of celebration are characteristic of this ceremony at many midwifery educational programs. We hope to establish an event that is pivotal in the transition from student midwife to beginning midwife and need the support of students for this to be most meaningful and successful. Please contact faculty/staff ASAP in you are interested in joining the committee. Plans for setting the initial meeting will be made in April.

Outcomes Database: Kathleen Miller-Jobson, MSN, CNM-ARNP, founder of the newly established Birth and Women’s Health Center in South Hutchinson, Kansas agreed to be the first pilot site for version 1 of the outcomes database starting this month. We hope the system serves Kathleen’s practice well, and look forward to her comments and input about system improvements and changes.

The database development staff at KU Medical Center is simultaneously working on re-formatting the system for Internet telecommunication since our ultimate goal is to have a centralized database that can accept data from all clinical sites in real time. Each clinical preceptor site will have a laptop or hand-held computer for data entry by students, faculty and preceptors.

Once centralized, our outcomes database will comprise a bistate repository of ultimately, unnamed patient data about pregnancy care and well-woman health. The data will be used for three purposes:

to document student clinical competency,
to demonstrate the level of service to the community by the nurse-midwifery faculty practice, and
to research various nurse-midwifery issues including quality of patient care.