News Briefs

A bill that would have changed professional licensing procedures in Georgia was withdrawn by Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp in February.

Sen. Bill Hamrick, R-Carrollton, introduced Senate Bill 445, which was pitched as a way to streamline the system of issuing more than 450,000 licenses, including nurses and other health care professionals, and to speed up procedures to hear complaints against professionals.

“We got some really good feedback in the committee hearing, and even though there was some opposition, there was a lot of agreement on speeding up licensing times and the enforcement part of it,” Kemp said.

Kemp said the bill was too big to modify and get passed before the legislative session ended.

In Georgia, licenses are issued by more than 40 professional boards, who are appointed by the governor. Kemp supplies the staff for the boards. He proposed letting his staff and a new seven-member board take full responsibility for license approvals and disciplinary hearings, with the boards reduced to setting policies and advisory roles in licensing.

Many professionals who would have been affected were unhappy with the bill.

Barry Cranfill, an advanced-degree nurse who serves on the Georgia Board of Nursing, and others had expressed concern over the seven-member board having the expertise to make the call in some licensing or disciplinary cases. “We are pleased to see that the secretary of state has chosen to rethink the process, and the board is willing to work with him or any other agency to continue to improve the processes and efficiencies for patients and licensees,” Cranfill said.

The Georgia Nurses Association (GNA) also opposed the bill.

“GNA is pleased to see Secretary Kemp’s willingness to address the needs and concerns of those who would have been affected by this proposal,” said GNA’s CEO Debbie Hackman, CAE. “This pause has created an opportunity for the different licensed professions in our state to share ideas with each other and the secretary’s office to accomplish well-thought-out efficiencies in the licensing process. The withdrawal of Senate Bill 445 was the right thing to do.”

Kemp said he will take the criticisms he heard and try again with revised legislation in 2013.

$1.5 million grant: Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing has received a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to train nurse scientists to develop innovative clinical interventions for patients with chronic illnesses. Emory is one of 17 nursing schools in the nation to receive this competitive grant.

Led by cardiovascular nursing expert Sandra Dunbar, DSN, RN, FAAN, FAHA, the new program will train 18 predoctoral and postdoctoral nursing scholars during the next five years.

“With the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, it has become even more important to develop a cadre of nurse scholars who can reduce the burden of chronic illnesses through prevention and self-management,” said Dunbar, associate dean for academic advancement at Emory’s School of Nursing.

The program will be launched in July 2012.

Nursing awards: The Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta recently announced that Britney Eyster and Kim Metzler have won the Laura Snitzer-Boozer Nursing Award. The award, which honors nurses who have demonstrated professional excellence and leadership in pediatric cancer care, provides financial support for continued education in the field of oncology.

Eyster, RN, BSN, CPN, has worked as a nurse in the Aflac Cancer Center’s inpatient unit for two years. She volunteers with Jessie’s House and the United Methodist Children’s Home.

Metzler, RN, BSN, CPON, has been a nurse at the Aflac Cancer Center’s leukemia and lymphoma clinic for 23 years. She volunteers with Camp Sunshine, an organization that provides programs for children fighting cancer and their families.

Eyster and Metzler will receive a scholarship to attend a nursing conference of their choice.

In other news, Allison Cargal and Alyssa Kesselman won the 2011 Continuing Education Award. Cargal and Kesselman, who are both enrolled in the pediatric nurse practitioner program at Georgia State University, were recognized for their dedication to nursing.

Cargal, RN, BS, CPHON, has been a nurse for five years at the Aflac Cancer Center, providing care for hematology, oncology and BMT patients. Kesselman, RN, MSN, CNL, has been a nurse at the Aflac Cancer Center’s inpatient unit for three years.

New associate dean: Elizabeth Corwin has been appointed associate dean for research at Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. She began her new duties on March 1.

Corwin, Ph.D., RN, who previously served as a professor of nursing at Emory, is an experienced nurse researcher who focuses on the biological basis of postpartum depression and fatigue. She is leading a multisite, longitudinal study with funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Her research has been published in a number of leading journals. She also is the author of the “Handbook of Pathophysiology.”

Top nursing home: Piedmont Henry Hospital's Laurel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation facility has been named a "Top Nursing Home in America" by the Consumers' Research Council of America for the third consecutive year. Laurel Park's quality indicators were compared to 17,000 Medicare/Medicaid certified nursing homes throughout the nation.

Delta endowment: Delta Air Lines has donated $500,000 to Gwinnett Technical College to establish an endowed nursing professorship.

Earnings from the endowment will pay for a full-time faculty member, allowing Gwinnett Tech to expand its nursing program. In August, the college opened a new 78,000-square-foot building to train life sciences and health care students.

Health information exchange: Georgia Health Sciences Medical Center and the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon have partnered to launch an electronic health information exchange to improve the coordination, timeliness and safety of patient care.