This magazine was originally supposed to come out in Spring of this year, as a print edition. We had the stories drafted and the images selected. We had a few more pages to put together, and then we could start the process of printing. But when Spring came, it brought with it a global pandemic that changed our lives in a myriad of ways, including nursing education. What this year has proven, if nothing else, is that when a public health crisis emerges, we need to be ready. I’m extremely proud the team at the School of Nursing was ready and resilient.

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) leadership team and the Council on DEI of the School of Nursing have sponsored activities and shared information that addresses racial unrest and promotes equity. Here are a few of the events the School of Nursing has hosted over the past several months:

James Tran’s path prior to entering nursing school might at first glance seem unrelated to his new career. He served as an aircraft mechanic in the U.S.  Marine Corps and as a police officer in the northern California town of Pleasanton. But a deeper look reveals a common thread of helping others. 

As a high school student, James lacked motivation, doing the minimum required to stay on the school’s soccer team. But then 9/11 happened. “I watched first responders and average citizens risking their lives to help others at Ground Zero,” said James. He wanted to help, too.

To encourage more nurses to join boards of directors for community and governmental organizations, foundations, corporations and other entities, Dean Linda Sarna and Dr. Karen Grimley, Chief Nursing Executive for UCLA Health, hosted a reception to introduce UCLA nurses to the Nurses on Boards Coalition (NOBC). NOBC is a national organization dedicated to improving the health of communities and the nation through the service of nurses on boards and other bodies.

Holli DeVon, Ph.D., RN, FAHA, FAAN

Dr. Holli DeVon is passionate about research, and she is excited to bring that passion to the UCLA School of Nursing as the new Associate Dean for Research.

Last winter quarter, eight nursing students(3 MECN and 5 BS) beautified the stairwells in the Factor Building to encourage staff and faculty and their fellow students to take the stairs instead of the elevator.

“We cleaned up the stairwells and added visuals on the inside of the doors and next to the elevators, from the A level to the sixth floor, with motivational and colorful signage,” said Lukas Smith, a second-year MECN student and one of the student researchers.

You know you were a good teacher when you get excellent care from your former students! Beloved lecturer Barbara Demman shared her recent experience at Ronald Reagan UCLA Hospital:

“I was admitted one month antepartum, and post C-section my newborn was admitted to the NICU for one month. During this time, my baby and I had the experience of receiving nursing care from several of my past nursing students.

For Dorothy J. Wiley and Dong Sung An, it was the rise of the then-mysterious disease called AIDS in the early 1980s that set them on their current research paths. For Wei-Ti Chen, it was her work in the 1990s as a nurse-midwife taking care of patients infected with HIV.

Now these three members of the UCLA School of Nursing faculty are at the forefront of research in their specialities, aiming to make a difference for those infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and, in Wiley’s case, human papillomavirus (HPV).

2,000 miles away in Havana, Cuba, our UCLA nursing students are plunged in a disparate landscape of vibrantly colored buildings, Caribbean music, vintage cars reminiscent of the 1960s “low-riders”, and an exceptional health care system.

Dr. Maria Elena Ruiz, adjunct associate professor, first traveled to Cuba with a prestigious group of delegates selected by the American Public Health Association in 2012. Impressed by Cuba’s health care system, Ruiz developed an academic travel program to Cuba in 2013.

Not long after Angelina Cordova started her studies at UCLA’s School of Nursing, she and a friend formed a fitness group aimed mainly at avoiding excess pounds. “We’d heard about the increased obesity rates among nurses and we wanted to take care of ourselves,” said Cordova, who graduated in June. “but we soon realized the problem was so much bigger, with issues of stress, lack of sleep, risk of burnout and leaving the profession,” Cordova said. “We realized we needed to broaden the scope.”

WHEN LECTURER BARBARA DEMMAN, RN, MSN, ACNP, CNS INTRODUCED A SIMPLE MINDFULNESS EXERCISE AT THE BEGINNING OF HER CLASS, THE STUDENT RESPONSE WAS IMPRESSIVE.

Mountains of health care data are being collected from many avenues—research studies, clinical trials, electronic medical records and even smart phones.

Researchers around the globe are then taking these data and mining the depths and details looking for patterns that can provide insights into the symptoms and causes of diseases that will allow them to enhance prediction and prevention.

But all the data in the world can’t solve problems unless the right questions are being asked. And researchers at the school of nursing are doing just that.

A FIRST-TIME VISITOR TO DEAN LINDA SARNA’S OFFICE CAN’T HELP BUT NOTICE THE MEMORABILIA—CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION, PHOTOS, FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE FIGURINES—THAT ATTEST TO HER LIFELONG DEDICATION TO NURSING AND HEALTH CARE.

Picturing Better Health For Latinas

Adrienne Martinez is a third-year PhD  and  first-generation college student. She earned her undergraduate degree from UCLA in Women’s Studies with a focus on African-American women’s literature and LGBT topics.

RESEARCHERS AT THE UCLA SCHOOL OF NURSING ARE ADDRESSING HEALTH CHALLENGES RELATED TO DISEASES OF THE HEART, THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH WORLDWIDE – FROM CHRONIC HEALTH CONCERNS FACED BY INDIVIDUALS BORN WITH CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE TO THOSE WHO ARE AT RISK OR HAVE DEVELOPED CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE.

AS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF NURSING IN HEALTHCARE DELIVERY CONTINUES TO EXPAND, THERE IS PERHAPS NO MORE CRITICAL ROLE IN DRIVING CHANGE TO IMPROVE PATIENT OUTCOMES THAN THE CLINICAL NURSE SPECIALIST.

The CNS is an advanced practice nurse with a Master’s degree who is behind the scenes, who is making a difference in patient outcomes and who knows what can be achieved when the entire healthcare team works synergistically.

IT WAS A MEMORY OF THAT MOMENT — HER FINAL SURGERY AND THE NURSE HANDED HER A CHOCOLATE KISS. BRENDA RECALLS THAT MOMENT WITH A BIG SMILE BECAUSE THAT MEMORY IS WHAT SHAPED BRENDA’S DESIRE TO BECOME A NURSE.

Brenda Garay had a long journey through the healthcare system. At the age of six, she was diagnosed with chronic otitis media — an infection from inflammation in the middle ear which causes hearing loss in children. This condition required annual ear surgeries for 11 years and continuous speech pathology therapy session — in two languages — for nine years.

In 1988, Dr. Anita Bralock, now program director, prelicensure programs, was a master’s student and one of three African-American students in the nursing program. Deciding they wanted to “give each other encouragement and lift each other up,” said Dr. Bralock, they formed the African-American Nurses Association.