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Flynn FellowDescribes Workingwith ChildhoodCancer PatientsRachel Esposito ’21 witnessed many young patientsundergoing chemotherapy treatments during herfellowship at the Connecticut Children’s MedicalCenter. Seeing them again at their follow-upappointments doing much better made her happy.“I never imagined Iwould learn, see anddo as much as I did.6”Rachel Esposito ‘21,left, with another FlynnFellow from UConn.“It was hard to see children so ill, but beingthere for them and serving as a distractionor as a friend to them made my day,” shesaid. Esposito was one of two fellowschosen to participate in the Susan D. FlynnOncology Nursing Fellowship program thisspring. The program was created in memoryof Susan D. Flynn, who died of ovariancancer in 2013 at the age of 61. Duringher illness, her husband, Fred Flynn, wasimpressed by the quality of nursingcare she received at Greenwich Hospital. Hecreated the fellowship program in 2014 tostimulate nursing students to chooseoncology nursing as a career.The program is available to rising seniorsat Quinnipiac University as well as otherleading undergraduate nursing schools.Each school is aligned with a participatinghospital. The initial pilot included 13 fellowsand has since expanded to 32.Audrey Rosztoczy ’21 was the other nursingfellow and the first QU nursing studentselected by the Children’s Hospital ofPhiladelphia. Unfortunately, the fellowshipat CHOP was canceled due to COVID-19restrictions. Previous Flynn Fellows fromQuinnipiac include Alexandra Ford ’19 andEmily Smith ’20, who both completed theirfellowships at the Connecticut Children’sMedical Center.Students selected for the fellowship areprovided with comprehensive clinicalexposure to oncology nursing with specificemphasis on best practices and experttraining in compassionate care during aneight-week summer internship at a leadingcancer care hospital. They are competitivelyselected by the host hospital based on arigorous evaluation of their academic andpersonal credentials and their interest inoncology nursing. Other partners includeBoston Children’s Hospital, Children’sHospital of Philadelphia, Children’sNational Medical Center, ConnecticutChildren’s Medical Center, GreenwichHospital, Hartford Hospital, Hospital ofUniversity of Pennsylvania, Johns HopkinsHospital, Massachusetts General Hospital,New York Presbyterian Hospital, StamfordHospital, UCONN Health Center, andWentworth-Douglass Hospital.Esposito said the fellowship provided herwith amazing nursing experiences, first inthe outpatient hematology and oncologyclinic for four weeks and after, the inpatientoncology and hematology floor.“At first, I observed what the nurses didin a typical day. Over time, I was able toreplicate what the nurses were doing undertheir supervision, similarly to how it worksat clinical rotations,” she said.Unlike her previous clinical rotations, thediagnoses she encountered sometimes werenew to her, but she quickly acclimatedherself to the floors and the patients.“Seeing children with serious illnesses andmaking sure they were happy, comfortableand doing the best they could just fueledmy desire to be a pediatric oncology andhematology nurse even more,” she said.During her eight-week fellowship, she andanother Flynn Fellow from UConn Schoolof Nursing researched non-pharmacologicalmethods for pain relief, and morespecifically methods that can be used duringthe time of COVID-19. They presented theirresearch in July with the goal of makingpatients feel less isolated and improvingtheir quality of life.I never imagined I would learn, see and do asmuch as I did. It was an absolutely amazingexperience and I am so thankful for all ofthe nurses and other employees, and eventhe patients for taking the time to motivate,teach and inspire me!”

Northwell Health Golden Ticket NursingShowcase 2020Junior and senior BSN students attended the12th annual Northwell Health student nursenetworking reception, the Golden Ticket NursingShowcase, in January at Crest Hollow CountryClub in Woodbury, New York.The students had the opportunity to meetNorthwell’s chief nursing executive, seniorleadership and corporate recruitment teamand received information about the highlycompetitive summer nurse externship,residencies, fellowships and other newgraduate employment opportunities.The summer nurse extern program providesjunior nursing students with an eight-weekpaid preceptorship experience, which oftenleads to full-time employment offers. Thisis an incredible opportunity to complementtheir clinical experience and supportthem as they transition into professionalnursing practice. Fellowships are offered incritical care, oncology, emergency medicine,pediatrics and perioperative services.Northwell Health comprises 23 hospitalsand over 700 outpatient practices acrossLong Island, Queens, Manhattan, StatenIsland and Westchester, New York.Northwell is proud of its 90% RN retentionrate, which it attributes in part to theculture of support for academic progressionand the many career opportunities offeredacross its organizations.7The opportunity to attend this event isextended to a select group of high-rankingnursing schools and their students.Northwell has remarked upon the highcaliber of QU students, whom it describesas “demonstrating exceptional professionalpractice in many clinical settings.” “QU students demonstrateexceptional professional practice”in many clinical settings.

Growing Simulator Family EnhancesClinical ExperiencesAn impressive performance by Pediatric Hal, one of the newest members of our simulator family,was a moving experience for one student’s parents last year.Hal is a school-aged child simulator,which Quinnipiac acquired in2019. He blinks, breathes, emits heartand breath sounds and exhibits apulse like a real child. Unlike any ofour other simulators, he also has theability to simulate emotion throughspeech and facial expressions thatconvey sadness, worry, anger andfear. This groundbreaking element insimulation technology challenges ourstudents to practice fundamental clinicaland critical thinking skills but also toconnect with their simulated patients onan emotional level.Kristen and Kurt Orlofski, parents of JuliaOrlofski ’20, were visiting the simulationlab in the Center for Medicine, Nursingand Health Sciences in December 2019and participated in a simulation as theparents of Hal. With monitors soundingalarms and Hal fearfully complaining ofdifficulty breathing, it took only momentsfor them to engage in the scenario withtheir daughter as Hal’s nurse.The Orlofskis later made a generousgift after experiencing the power andpotential of simulation as a teachingand learning tool. The gift enabled theschool to purchase two more simulators—Victoria and Super Tory , which areproviding our students with ultrarealistic scenarios as they prepare forclinical rotations in pediatricsand maternity.Victoria is a labor and delivery simulatorthat allows students to practice allaspects of maternal care, from prenatalassessment and complications to laborand delivery, and postpartum assessmentand complications, such as breech deliveryand postpartum hemorrhage. Super Toryis a newborn simulator with realisticmovements, airway features, breathingpatterns and pulses. The pair made theirdebut in January 2020.During the spring semester, junior nursingstudents cared for Victoria during activelabor, assisted their physician assistantcolleagues during delivery and conductedpostpartum care for both Victoria andTory more than 50 times in Spring 2020during their Women, Children andFamilies clinical practicum.We are thrilled to have these threesimulators at Quinnipiac and look forwardto building many more opportunities forour students to learn with them. “One of the key objectives hereis to work on interprofessionalcommunication and teamwork.We offer our students thisopportunity to practice togetherin a safe environment toincrease their confidence andprepare them for their work inan actual clinical setting.”– Liana Kappus, Simulation Director,School of Nursing8

Alumna Garners PrestigiousNursing AwardCompassionate care — we know and appreciateit when we receive it. In these hectic times in healthcare, with technology making advances, we need to beable to recognize when compassion may be lagging inthe care we provide to patients.Sympathy and empathy are good, butthey fall short of compassion, which spursthe desire to help one in need; not to justfeel their pain or distress. Is this not theessence of nursing?Care with compassion was on display inOctober at The Patient Is U (TPIU)Foundation’s HALO awards gala, whereeight health care professionals werehonored, including Stephanie Paulmeno,MSN ’81, DNP ’19, president of theConnecticut Nurses Association. Thegala’s theme was “The Knowledge to Treatwith the Heart to Care.”Paulmeno received the first TPIU awardbestowed upon a nurse. In heracceptance speech, she noted that shewould accept the award on behalf of allnurses because treating patients as thoughthey were family members is an ingrainedprinciple of nursing practice and hasbeen for her since her first day of nursingeducation in 1965. Following the event,she was asked to chair The Patientis U Foundation. She is a member ofQuinnipiac’s Alumni Society and a memberof the International Honor Society of9Nursing: Sigma Theta Tau InternationalTau Rho Chapter.The School of Nursing was wellrepresented at the gala by its dean,associate dean, professors and alumniassociation. Professor NicholasNicholson introduced Paulmeno for theaward. During her speech, she recognizedthe attendees from the School of Nursingand praised them for the way in whichthey infuse the concepts of compassionatecare throughout the curriculum and theway professors demonstrate compassion intheir teaching.The TPIU Foundation devotes itself tosupporting compassion in the education,training and practice of multidisciplinaryhealth professionals and support staff. Thefoundation will sponsor a student essaycompetition with a monetary award thisyear on the topic of compassion inhealt

Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing MSN Nurse Practitioner (either FNP or AGNP) Doctor of Nursing Practice (online) Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Total Enrollment 2020. 1,130. . Hospital, UCONN Health Center, and Wentworth-Douglass Hospital. Esposito said the fellowship provided her wi