Six faculty members in UBC’s School of Nursing received awards from the Registered
Nurses Association of B.C. recently.
School Director Katharyn May received the Award of Excellence in Nursing Administration.
Asst. Prof. Joy Johnson and Assoc. Prof. Sonia Acorn received the Award of Excellence
in Nursing Research. Asst. Prof. Anna Marie Hughes, Nursing Outreach Program
Director Cheryl Entwistle, and Assoc. Prof. Anne Wyness received the Award of
Excellence in Nursing Education.
May was recognized for her development of a strategic plan for the School
of Nursing which will guide it into the next millennium.
In addition to her work at UBC, she serves on the board of the Centre for
Excellence in Women’s Health and is president-elect of the Canadian Association
of University Schools of Nursing.
Johnson has received funding for 20 different research projects, but particular
mention was made of her work with those who try to quit smoking.
This research has led to negotiations to establish a smoking cessation clinic
at St. Paul’s Hospital which will be staffed primarily by nurses.
Acorn’s research projects have covered the impact of chronic illness and injury
on health-care patients and their families. She has also examined the mental
and physical health status of the homeless.
In addition, she conducted a survey of first-line nurse managers in B.C. to
study the impact of the re-organization of hospitals and health care on patients
and staff.
Hughes was honoured not only for her work as an educator but also for her
advocacy on behalf of people with Alzheimer’s disease and their families. She
established the Alzheimer’s Nursing Clinic at Mount St. Joseph’s Hospital which
she continues to operate.
The clinic is the only nurse-managed dementia clinic in the province. Hughes
utilizes the clinic for practicum placements for nursing students preparing
for both basic and advanced practice in gerontology.
Entwistle was honoured for her contribution to distance education in nursing.
As director of the Nursing Outreach Program for Registered Nurses at UBC, she
designed and developed resources to assist students who live outside the Lower
Mainland to study nursing.
She was instrumental in developing the UBC School of Nursing Learning Resource
Centre, which provides students with the opportunity to practise hospital procedures,
and access computers to complete lab modules and carry out course work.
Under her direction, the centre has become the pre-eminent facility of its
kind in the province and among the best in the world.
Wyness was recognized for her skill as a nursing instructor. She helped design
a unique course in HIV/AIDS that gives students first-hand experience with health
professionals caring for HIV patients.
Students also meet people living with AIDS and hear guest speakers who are
street-wise community practitioners. The course is the only one of its kind
in Canada.
Wyness is currently involved in planning for an interdisciplinary elective
in HIV/AIDS care in collaboration with the faculties of Medicine and Pharmaceutical
Sciences at UBC.
