Posted: 3/28/2011
Associate professor Benita Walton-Moss, DNSc, APRN, BC, and assistant professors Laura Taylor, PhD, RN and Sharon O’Neill, JD, MSN, CRNP, faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON), have been selected as scholars for the Health Information Technologies Scholars (HITS) project 2011.
The project is sponsored by a five-year, $1.5 million grant provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and is a collaborative 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).
Walton-Moss, Taylor, and O’Neill were three of only about 40 applicants selected to participate in the scholarship program, which lasts from February to December each year. The HITS program, now in its fourth year, is a project that JHUSON associate dean for academic affairs 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 school’s curriculum and expand the schools capacity to educate students for the 21st century.
“This program is designed to equip nursing faculty with the 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.
This year’s HITS workshop was held March 17-19 at the Mt. Washington Conference Center in Baltimore, MD and provided breakout sessions presenting various technology-driven curricula, field trips to technology-rich environments, and networking opportunities.