A group of five honors students from the UAB School of Nursing attended the 45th Biennial Convention for Sigma in Washington D.C. this November. Sigma, the international nursing honors society, supports nurses’ efforts to improve the health of people worldwide.
At the conference, students attended poster presentations, special sessions discussing the latest nursing research, career advising sessions, and participated in a hackathon. During the hackathon, students collaborated to form viable solutions to a presented problem. The group with UAB School of Nursing students placed first in the competition.
“This conference was a great opportunity for our UAB School of Nursing Honors Students to attend their first professional nursing conference and to learn from nurses at all levels of their career,” said Assistant Professor Nancy Wingo, PhD, Director of Instructional Innovation in the School. “Sigma supports nurses as they create innovative solutions and advance health care, just as we aim to do at UAB through the UAB Solution Studios Presidential Summer Clinical Innovation Fellows program.”
The five Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students are the School’s first UAB Solution Studios Presidential Summer Clinical Innovation Fellows.
Over the summer, they worked alongside students from the School of Engineering and College of Arts and Sciences to develop two innovative approaches to reduce sepsis rates in clinical settings. The projects were funded by UAB President Ray Watts. The students’ projects included developing a virtual reality program to train nurses to identify the symptoms of sepsis and a wearable device for continuous monitoring of vital signs.
Ahead of this year’s Sigma Conference, UAB School of Nursing Dean and Fay B. Ireland Endowed Chair in Nursing Doreen Harper, PhD, RN, FAAN, proposed selecting two nursing honors students to attend. When they heard about the opportunity, however, the students worked together to create a proposal identifying ways they would supplement funding so that all five could attend the conference.
After discussing the proposal, Harper, along with Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Linda Moneyham, PhD, RN, FAAN, and the co-directors of the Honors program Sigrid Ladores, PhD, RN, PNP, CNE, and Allison Jones, PhD, RN, CCNS, decided to send all five students to the conference. They were able to fund the trip thanks to a donation from one of the School’s generous donors.
“It is encouraging to see our Honors students not only excel in creating innovative solutions to some of health care’s most prevalent and challenging issues, but also advocating for each other to attend the national Sigma Conference,” Harper said. “Conferences are a great opportunity for nurses at all stages to network and learn about the latest research, and we are glad to support this group of students.”
