Waynesburg nursing instructors win poster award
WAYNESBURG – Amanda Machesky and Danielle McGinnis, instructors of nursing at Waynesburg University, recently attended a Robert Wood Johnson conference and won first place for their poster presentation.
They presented their poster, “Integrating the Movie ‘Wit’ to Depict Therapeutic and Non-Therapeutic Communication into a First Semester Nursing Course for Second Degree Nursing Students,” at the New Careers in Nursing Sixth Annual Summit in Washington, D.C.
McGinnis, who serves as the co-faculty adviser for the university chapter of Student Nurses Association of Pennsylvania, said the pair won the Innovative Program Design for Accelerated Students Award because their poster “truly depicted what it means to be innovative.”
For the conference, the pair created an abstract, submitted work online and developed a poster, which they also submitted online.
“We worked on the abstract for several months and once this opportunity presented itself, we tied up loose ends and tailored the abstract to conference requirements,” McGinnis said.
In addition to presenting their poster at the conference, Machesky and McGinnis attended breakout sessions, networking events, panels, the keynote address and workshops.
“There are many different roles you take on and responsibilities that many are not aware that are required of you as a nurse educator; this award has helped to validate what I do,” Machesky said. “It gives merit to my teaching strategies and methods. Having earned this award as a peer-voted award helps me to recognize that things I am doing are highly valued and respected by notable nurse educators from across the country.”
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) New Careers in Nursing (NCIN) program is a national program of RWJF and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). The program is designed to help alleviate the national nursing shortage, increase the diversity of nursing professionals, expand capacity in baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs and enhance the pipeline of potential nurse faculty.