Posted: 2/17/2010
Two Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON) faculty members, assistant professors Sarah “Jodi” Shaefer, PhD, RN, and Mary Terhaar, DNSc, RN have been selected as scholars for the Health Information Technologies Scholars (HITS) project for 2010. The project is sponsored by a five-year, $1.5 million grant provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and is a cooperative effort with the University of Kansas School of Nursing, the schools of nursing at the University of Colorado Denver and Indiana University, and the National League for Nursing (NLN).
Shaefer and Terhaar were two of only 30-50 applicants selected from a pool of approximately 25,000 to participate in the scholarship program, which lasts from February to December each year. The HITS program is in its third year, and is a project that JHUSON Associate Dean for Academic Programs Pamela R. Jeffries, DNS, RN, ANEF, FAAN, carried over from her time at Indiana University. Its purpose is to develop, implement, evaluate, disseminate, and sustain a faculty development collaborative to incorporate information technologies into a nursing schools curriculum and expand the schools capacity to educate students for the 21st century.
“The immediate goal of this program is to develop scholars with an extensive knowledge of informatics and technology-based education to better prepare students with the competencies required to practice in an information technology-driven healthcare system,” Jeffries said. “The long-term goal is to provide practitioners for the workforce who will use information technologies to enhance patient safety and drive improvement in the quality and cost of healthcare.”
In March, Jeffries, Shaefer, and Terhaar will attend the HITS onsite workshop in Denver, CO. The workshop will have a common core curriculum, breakout sessions presenting various technology-driven curricula, field trips to technology-rich environments, and networking opportunities.