Mission Possible: the vital role nurses play in the race to vaccinate

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

1 pm – 3 pm EST / 10 am – 12 pm PST

The event is in the past. The recording is available HERE.

Presented by:  

The country is looking to nursing and counting on us. Achieving the goal of widespread vaccination has demanded coordinated deployment of our nursing knowledge and skills.

Join the University of Washington School of Nursing and Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing for a virtual symposium at which leading experts will share their in-depth knowledge of the logistical, medical, and other details of the COVID-19 vaccination program.

• -How will nursing lead the administration protocols for each available vaccine?
• -Where will vaccination clinics most effectively be held?
• -What can nurses best do to reach underserved populations?
• -How will we encourage and track follow up vaccinations?
• -How do nurses lead the charge to build trust in vaccinations?
• -What does the availability curve for vaccine look like for the next 6-9 months?
• -What additional vaccines are in the pipeline, and how are they similar to or different from those now seeking emergency approval?

These and many other questions will be addressed at the symposium. This is an opportunity for the community and nursing professionals to coordinate information and inquiries, advocate for vaccination, and influence how we implement the vaccination program. There will be a question-and-answer period.

Speakers will include: 

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Schedule

Moderated by:
Dr. Anne Hirsch, PhD, ARNP, FAANP, FAAN, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Professor, Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing, University of Washington

Opening Remarks

Welcome Remarks
·  Dr. Azita Emami, PhD, MSN, BSN, RN, FAAN, The Robert G. and Jean A. Reid Executive Dean of the University of Washington School of Nursing
·  Dr. Patricia Davidson, PhD, Med, RN, FAAN, Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

Session 1: Operational Impact: Leading the Vaccine Rollout

Opening Remarks
·  Dr. Jason E. Farley, PhD, MSN, MPH, RN, FAAN, ANP-BC, AACRN, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Professor, Director of PhD Program / REACH Initiative, Co-Director Clinical Core of Hopkins Center for AIDS Research, Past President of Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC)

Speakers
·  Dr. Michelle Patch, PhD, MSN, RN, APRN-CNS, ACNS-BC, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Assistant Professor, Clinical Nurse Specialist Track Coordinator & Vaccination Volunteer Program Director
·  Jennifer Graves, RN, MS, Vice President, Safety and Regional Chief Nurse Executive, Kaiser Permanente Washington

Moderator Remarks & Questions
·  Dr. Anne Hirsch, PhD, ARNP, FAANP, FAAN, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Professor, Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing, University of Washington)

Session 2: Communication Across Communities: The Key to Success

Opening Remarks
·  Dr. Azita Emami, PhD, MSN, BSN, RN, FAAN, The Robert G. and Jean A. Reid Executive Dean of the University of Washington School of Nursing

Speakers
·  Dr. Phyllis Sharps, PhD, MSN, RN, FAAN, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Professor, Associate Dean for Community Programs and Initiatives, Elsie M. Lawler Chair
·  Patty Hayes, RN, MN, Director, Public Health — Seattle & King County
·  Jax Hermer, Public Health Nurse Consultant in Communicable Disease, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department

Moderator Remarks & Questions
·  Dr. Anne Hirsch, PhD, ARNP, FAANP, FAAN, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Professor, Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing, University of Washington)

Session 3: Alignment for Leadership and Science: The Present and Future of COVID-19

Opening Remarks
·  Dr. Patricia Davidson, PhD, Med, RN, FAAN, Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

Speakers
·  Sue Birch, Director, Washington State Health Care Authority
·  Dr. Jason E. Farley, PhD, MSN, MPH, RN, FAAN, ANP-BC, AACRN, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Professor, Director of PhD Program / REACH Initiative, Co-Director Clinical Core of Hopkins Center for AIDS Research, Past President of Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC)

Moderator Remarks & Questions
·  Dr. Anne Hirsch, PhD, ARNP, FAANP, FAAN, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Professor, Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing, University of Washington)

Closing Remarks
·  Dr. Patricia Davidson, PhD, Med, RN, FAAN, Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
·  Dr. Azita Emami, PhD, MSN, BSN, RN, FAAN, The Robert G. and Jean A. Reid Executive Dean of the University of Washington School of Nursing

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Read more about our distinguished speakers:

Sue Birch serves as director of the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA), the state’s largest health care purchaser. Appointed by Governor Jay Inslee in January 2018, Birch oversees efforts to transform the health care system, helping ensure Washington residents have access to high-quality, affordable health care. HCA purchases care for nearly 2.7 million residents through Washington Apple Health (Medicaid), the Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) Program, and the School Employees Benefits Board (SEBB) Program. HCA also is responsible for the state community-based behavioral health system. A nurse by training, Birch is passionate about improving population health and reducing overmedicalization by focusing on the social determinants of health. She has led efforts to combat the opioid public health crisis through increased access to treatment and public education, eliminate hepatitis C through innovative value-based drug purchasing, and implement a Medicaid benefit for supportive housing and supported employment. Before joining Governor Inslee’s Cabinet, Birch served as the executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. She led the state’s successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which expanded coverage to more low-income Coloradans while focusing on cost containment and improved service delivery. She also has served as chief executive officer of the Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association. Birch has completed appointments to the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, and served as the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Livingston Fellow and the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow.

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Patricia M. Davidson, PhD, MED, RN, FAAN, Professor, Dean at the John Hopkins School of Nursing has been a registered nurse since 1980 and has clinical, teaching, and practice expertise in cardiovascular science and the care of vulnerable populations. Across her career, she has been committed to developing innovative models of person-centered care delivery and evidence-based teaching. Dr. Davidson is secretary general of the Secretariat of the World Health Organizations Collaborating Centers for Nursing and Midwifery, counsel general of the International Council on Women’s Health Issues, a member of Sigma Theta Tau International’s Institute for Global Healthcare Leadership Advisory Board, and a board member of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health. She also serves on the Board on Health Care Services for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She has co-authored over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles and 29 book chapters. Her H -Index is 40 (Scopus) and 58 in Google Scholar, and Dr. Davidson’s i-10 Index is 329. She has been the adviser for over 40 doctoral and 15 postdoctoral candidates. She is deeply committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and workforce development and interdisciplinary practice. Dr. Davidson is strongly focused on mentoring the next generation of health professionals and scientists, and in 2016 she earned the Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers, the most prestigious research mentorship award in Australia. She is associate editor of the International Journal of Nursing Studies and on the editorial boards of a number of other journals, including the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, and Heart Lung and Circulation.

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Azita Emami, PhD, MSN, BSN, RN, FAAN The Robert G. and Jean A. Reid Executive Dean of Nursing, at the University of Washington School of Nursing earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the renowned Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, where she grew up after emigrating from Iran. She went on to gain a master’s degree in international health care from Karolinska and the Red Cross College of Nursing; a nursing education degree with a teaching certification and a doctorate in medical sciences from Karolinska. Her academic leadership experience spans two countries and 25 years, including positions as the Dean of the College of Nursing at Seattle University, Head of the Division of Nursing in the Department of Neurobiology Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, and Academic Leader in the Division of Elderly Care in the Department of Nursing at the Karolinska Institutet. Dr. Emami’s research has resulted in more than 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals nationally and internationally. This body of work reflects her research interests in cross-cultural care, elder and dementia care, the development of cultural competence, and the evolving policy and clinical roles of nurses nationally and internationally. She maintains an active research schedule with collaborations around the world. In her role as Executive Dean, Dr. Emami has emphasized the increasingly global nature of nursing and the importance of educating nurses to deliver care in a wide variety of culturally and economically diverse settings. In 2016, she established the Center for Global Health Nursing at the University of Washington School of Nursing

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Jason Farley, PhD, MSN, MPH, RN, FAAN, ANP-BC, AACRN is a professor of nursing, an infectious disease-trained nurse epidemiologist, and a nurse practitioner in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins Schools of Nursing and Medicine. His research seeks to streamline care approaches that optimize navigation, linkage, engagement, and retention in care for persons with infectious diseases, including studies designed to keep patients engaged in care over long periods of illness. He is the director and founder of the REACH Initiative serving Baltimore City residents living with and at risk for HIV and associated co-infections. He is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, most recently serving as chair of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Expert Panel. As a seasoned infection-prevention expert, Dr. Farley was part of a Johns Hopkins team evaluating the SARS response in China at an affiliated institution as well as country-level health system responses to tuberculosis and HIV. He maintains a clinical practice as a nurse practitioner in the John G. Bartlett Specialty Clinic for Infectious Disease. He has previously served as a nurse infection-control epidemiologist for the Johns Hopkins Hospital and was Past President, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC).

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Jennifer A. Graves, RN, MS has been a proud member of the health care community in the Pacific Northwest for her entire, multi-decade career. Before joining Kaiser Permanente as the Vice President for Quality and Safety in both the Northwest and Washington Markets and serving as the Regional Chief Nursing Executive in Washington, Jennifer was the Senior Vice President for Patient Safety and Quality at the Washington State Hospital Association where she was instrumental in creating a formal partnership for the nearly 200 hospitals across Alaska, Oregon and Washington whose exclusive focus was on reducing harm and improving patient outcomes. Prior to her role at WSHA, she completed a successful tenure as the Chief Executive at both Swedish Edmonds and Swedish Ballard, where she was actively engaged in leading all aspects of hospital and ambulatory operations and established a deliberate focus on quality and safety while also creating a thriving work and care environment. Jennifer also served as one of the Swedish system’s Nurse Executives, and her contributions include participating in the design and implementation of the enterprise-wide Culture of Safety initiative, launching high-functioning campus and unit-based staffing committees at Ballard and creating a multidisciplinary shared leadership council on the campus to promote positive relationships among the health care team and engage front line staff and clinicians in creating meaningful change. Preceding her employment at Swedish, Jennifer served on the leadership team at Virginia Mason Medical Center for nearly a decade, and after demonstrating a natural affinity for process improvement activities, she received one of the first fellowships of its kind and completed a 15-month intensive training program in the Toyota Production System as it applies to health care.

In addition to her two decades of work as a board-certified nurse practitioner, Jennifer has been a professor in the nursing programs at both Seattle Pacific University and Northwest University, teaching courses in pathophysiology, quality improvement and finance. Her focus on diversity and transcultural health care called Jennifer to provide nursing education in overseas programs in both Costa Rica and Taiwan. She has conducted clinical research in pulmonary and critical care medicine, with a special emphasis on venous thromboembolic disorders; participated on clinical teams investigating sleep patterns and nighttime hormone levels in women with irritable bowel disorders; and received grant support to implement evidence-based depression treatment delivered by nurse care managers in ambulatory care. Jennifer is passionate about serving her community in the Pacific Northwest and is the current Chair of the Northwest Healthcare Response Network Board of Directors, as well as Vice President of the Washington State Nurses Association Board and a member of the Board for Sound Generations. She also serves on the Advisory Committee for LifeCenter Northwest and multiple schools and colleges of nursing across the state.

Jennifer began her local career in health care more than 30 years ago. She received her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Portland, returned to Oregon once again to earn a Master of Science degree with a dual focus on clinical care and education and has also completed the Human Resources Management program at the University of Washington. Highlights of her career include receiving the Honorary Recognition Award in 2017 from the Washington State Nurses Association and attaining American Nurses Credentialing Center Pathway to Excellence Designation with her Ballard team in 2015, making it the first hospital in the state to achieve this prestigious acknowledgement. Most recently, in November of 2017, Jennifer received the Distinguished Nurse of the Year award from the March of Dimes, which was given in honor of her many years of nursing leadership across the region.

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Patty Hayes is the Director of Public Health – Seattle & King County, a metropolitan health department of 1500 employees.  Public Health is one of the largest health departments in the country, serving the 2.2 million residents of King County, Washington. It provides a full complement of public health services including communicable disease control, environmental health services, jail health services, emergency medical services coordination, medical examiner services and a county-wide community health center system. Patty is a current member of the HealthierHere Board of Directors and serves on the Executive Committee and Finance Committee.  As co-lead in the development of the Best Starts for Kids Initiative, Patty provides leadership to the $65 million-dollar groundbreaking investment that focuses on prevention and early intervention strategies for children, youth and families in King County. Most recently, Patty has been responsible for the COVID-19 response for King County. In addition, County Executive Dow Constantine and Patty declared Racism as a Public Health Crisis.  The Executive asked Patty to co-lead the efforts in the county to address systemic and institutionally racist governmental policies and procedures, and to build pathways for community-led solutions.

Prior to her role as Director, Patty led the department’s largest division, Community Health Services, which delivers personal health services at locations across the county. With over 30 years of experience in public health, policy development and advocacy, Patty previously served as the Executive Director of WithinReach, a statewide non-profit that connects families to food and health resources. She also worked for the Washington State Department of Health in various positions including Assistant Secretary of Health for Community & Family Health as well as the Director of Legislative, Policy and Constituent Relations. Patty has a bachelor and master’s degree in nursing from the University of Washington, School of Nursing.

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Jax Hermer a public health nurse consultant in Communicable Disease with Tacoma Pierce County Health Department, is a lead for the department’s equity and community engagement work in their COVID response. They are a graduate of UW’s DNP in Population Health Nursing program.

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Anne Hirsch, PhD, ARNP, FAANP, FAAN is a renowned nurse educator. She is a member of the University of Washington School of Nursing’s executive leadership team and an associate professor in the Psychosocial and Community Health Nursing department. Clinically, she provides care to homeless families and teens as a family nurse practitioner. She has led statewide innovative programs to improve education access through online programs, co-chaired a design team to formulate a master plan for nursing education in Washington, co-chaired a sub-committee of the Washington Nursing Action Coalition to enact these recommendations, and was recently appointed by Governor Jay Inslee to serve on the coordinating committee to establish core performance measures for healthcare (the only educator or nurse practitioner appointed to this key policy setting committee).

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Michelle Patch, PhD, MSN, RN, APRN-CNS, ACNS-BC is a board-certified adult health clinical nurse specialist and coordinator of the Clinical Nurse Specialist Track in the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing’s DNP Advanced Practice Program. Dr. Patch maintains a clinical practice with Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Armstrong Institute and Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Department of Patient Safety. She has extensive practical experience in emergency management and disaster response, including former service as a U.S. Navy Nurse Corps officer and current efforts staffing the Johns Hopkins Unified Command Center. She has held progressive clinical, operational, and safety leadership positions in various inpatient, outpatient, emergency, and austere settings. She is a Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) instructor, a TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer, and lectures internationally on safety-related topics. Her scholarly interests include intimate partner violence, assault mechanisms, and workplace violence in health care. Dr. Patch is an active member of the national Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention’s Medical Advisory Board, research committee chair for the Academy of Forensic Nursing, faculty for the Armstrong Institute’s Patient Safety Leadership Academy, and has authored several peer-reviewed publications on violence and safety-related topic.

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Phyllis Sharps, PhD, RN, FAAN is an expert in maternal and child health nursing, a researcher, and a mentor to the next generations of Johns Hopkins nurses. She works at the forefront of community and public health nursing and at the interface of mental and physical health. As associate dean for community programs and initiatives, she directs three health and wellness centers operated by the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, provides care in a Baltimore shelter for homeless battered women and their children, and conducts ongoing community-based, participatory research. The overarching focus of her work is on the effects of intimate partner violence on the physical and emotional health of pregnant women, infants, and very young children. With a $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Sharps is testing the Domestic Violence Enhanced Visitation Program (DOVE), a promising intervention to keep abused women and babies safe from intimate partner violence. She shares new clinical knowledge gained through her research in numerous nursing and public health scholarly publications and as a consultant and speaker for such organizations as the Family Violence Prevention Fund and the National Institute of Justice. Dr. Sharps also consults on cultural competency in research conducted among African-American women and in African-American communities.