From left: Alyssa Ramkissoon, Jessica Jurgens, Kathryn Cole, Aliza Ben-Zacharia PhD, DNP, ANP-BC, FAAN
Three aspiring nurses studying at the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing (PSON) were accepted into the 2024 Phillips Evidence-Based Practice/Quality Improvement (EBP/QI) Fellowship Program earlier this year and presented their projects along with nurse researchers at The Mount Sinai Hospital’s annual Nursing Research Day on Friday, November 15.
The Program, also known as the Phillips Fellowship, at PSON was developed in 2017 to increase pre-licensure nursing student experience in evidence-based practice and nursing science. Under the direction of Aliza Ben-Zacharia, PhD, DNP, ANP-BC, FAAN, and supported by lecturing professors, selected fellows undergo the development and implementation of an EBP/QI project. All projects are submitted to the review committee at the Mount Sinai Health System’s Center for Nursing Research and Innovation (CNRI) for ethical approval before implementation. At the end of the fellowship, students present their projects along with nurse researchers at The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Nursing Research Day; this year taking place on Friday, November 15. Alyssa Ramkissoon, Jessica Jurgens, and Kathryn Cole are the 2024 fellows.
The objective of Alyssa Ramkissoon’s project, Enhancing Nursing Communication in Palliative Care by Empowering Nurses Through the COMFORT Model’s Connect Module, is to increase palliative care knowledge by nurses and nursing students. Alyssa, who worked at the Mount Sinai Health System for six years as a Cardiology Research Associate and in the Department of Neuropathology/Manhattan HIV Brain Bank before enrolling in PSON, explains that in palliative care, effective communication is essential to the efficacy of nursing interventions. “Palliative care is frequently a difficult subject for new nurses to understand, and occasionally even for seasoned nurses. In their conversations with patients at the bedside, nurses frequently encounter challenging questions from the patients. Knowing how to adequately answer these questions is crucial since it affects the patient’s course of treatment. Further, hospice and palliative care are sometimes confused. It is critical to bridge this informational gap and promote confidence in nursing communication.”
Jessica Jurgens also focuses on communication for her project, Bridging the Communication Gap Between Nursing Students and Spanish Speaking Patients. She explains, “Effective communication is the cornerstone of patient care. But miscommunication between providers and patients can result in insurmountable problems, and a language barrier can compound these consequences. The Hispanic population in the United States has grown to 65 million, so there is close to a one in five chance a provider will be treating a Spanish speaking patient. While Spanish translators are often provided by hospitals, there are times when knowing simple/common phrases, similar to those that a nurse would use in their daily practice, would benefit the nurse in providing expedited answers or care, without needing to take the time to reach a translator for every interaction. This project aims to teach nursing students basic medical Spanish phrases in hopes of building their confidence and self-reliance, while addressing the language barrier. This will also save time that might be spent locating a translator, at times when only a simple question might be asked.”
Kathryn Cole also worked at Mount Sinai prior to enrolling at PSON; she was a medical scribe for the Department of Urology. The goal of her project, Cloudy Judgment: Addressing Gaps in Awareness of Cannabis Use and Surgical Patients is to enhance nursing students’ and nurses’ understanding of cannabis, particularly regarding perioperative screening and its implications. She discusses the rationale for her initiative: “As more people use cannabis for both recreational and medicinal purposes, there’s a growing need to understand how this impacts pain management during and after surgery. However, current preoperative assessments often do not adequately address cannabis use, which could lead to less effective pain management strategies. Additionally, the opioid crisis remains a significant public health issue, with nearly 75 percent of drug overdose deaths involving an opioid in 2020. This crisis continues to affect communities nationwide and addressing potential interactions between cannabis and opioids is crucial in ensuring safer pain management practices. My project explores whether incorporating simple, standardized marijuana screening tools into the nursing curriculum can lead to better pain management outcomes for patients undergoing surgery, potentially mitigating the risks associated with opioid use.”
Dr. Ben-Zacharia is understandably proud of these student fellows. “We only choose two to three fellows each year, based on numerous highly selective criteria, including GPA, faculty and peer recommendations, and a personal interview. They do most of their work in the span of one semester, including literature searches, survey implementation, and analysis, and, of course, preparing their presentations. All while they are simultaneously doing their final semester requirements and clinical rotations. We are so fortunate to have these and many other students at PSON who are committed to improving the field of nursing.”