Eileen Mahler, PhD, RNC-OB, NE-BC, a resident of Oceanside, NY, was honored for her 45 years of service as a nurse at Mount Sinai South Nassau with a surprise retirement celebration. Hundreds of hospital staff attended the event, and Mahler was given a chauffeured ride home in a BMW convertible escorted by the Oceanside Fire Department Fire Engine.
Daily Nurse has named Eileen Mahler Nurse of the Week for her illustrious 45-year nursing career and lifetime dedication to the nursing profession.
Mahler began her nursing career in 1979 at South Nassau Communities Hospital (now Mount Sinai South Nassau), where she served on the Maternity Unit. She worked at the hospital for the entirety of her nursing career. She steadily rose through the ranks of nursing leadership, concluding her career as Director of Nursing Education: Professional Development, Practice and Research. Mahler assisted the hospital through numerous challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic; the conversion from hand-written patient medical records, patient triage and admissions; pharmacy orders; inpatient census; and discharge orders to Electronic Medical Records; automated patient triage; admissions and inpatient census;computerized pharmacy order entry; and electronic discharge orders.
As the Director of Nursing Education, Mahler played a pivotal role in the hospital’s journey to earning the prestigious American Nurses Credentialing Center Nurse Magnet designation and re-designation for three consecutive four-year terms, starting in 2014. Her certifications by the American Nurses Credentialing Center in nursing professional development and as a nurse executive are a testament to her expertise and dedication to the profession. Notably, she pursued her PhD while working as a nurse, demonstrating her commitment to continuous learning and professional growth.
Dr. Mahler’s exceptional contributions to the nursing profession have been acknowledged with several prestigious awards, including the Town of Hempstead’s Pathfinder Award and the DAISY Foundation Lifetime Achievement and Leadership awards. The DAISY Foundation’s recognition is a testament to her impact throughout her career, inspiring others in the nursing profession.
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Adelphi University’s College of Nursing and Public Health’s nursing program has been granted accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education’s (CCNE) Board of Commissioners. Adelphi’s undergraduate and graduate nursing programs met all four CCNE accreditation standards and are accredited for ten years through December 2033.
The prestigious accreditation follows a comprehensive self-study and review by a peer-review team of CCNE examiners, then a review by the commission. The 10-year accreditation is the maximum awarded to a nursing program.
Recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a Best Undergraduate Nursing Program – jumping an unprecedented 19 spots in a single year in the 2024 rankings – Adelphi is also ranked a Best Grad School for Nursing by U.S. News.
“We are thrilled to have received the maximum accreditation by CCNE for our nursing programs,” said Deborah Hunt, PhD, RN, dean of Adelphi’s College of Nursing and Public Health. “The Commission’s approval is a testament to the quality and strength of our faculty and staff, who play such a vital role in our innovative and highly ranked nursing programs. The CCNE accreditation team was professional and supportive throughout the visit.”
Adelphi’s hands-on BS in nursing is designed to prepare students for rewarding, critical roles in the expanding healthcare field, promoting wellness throughout their lives. Graduates go on to work in hospitals and healthcare facilities, in various community-based settings and can practice in any number of specialty areas. In addition to the traditional program, Adelphi also offers an Accelerated Nursing Program, which gives students the chance to achieve a BS in Nursing in just 14 months.
Ranked one of New York’s top online nursing graduate programs, this flexible, online degree program prepares students for much-needed nurse training and education roles. Students in the program will build skills in instruction, performance evaluation, and the implementation of innovative approaches to nursing education. Graduates go on to work in higher education, educating nurses in clinics and hospitals, taking on a clinical supervisor role in healthcare settings, or working as a consultant for teaching institutions.
This advanced nursing practice post-master’s certificate entails an in-depth study of adult-health nursing. The curriculum integrates theoretical knowledge and practical skills while exploring the issues and forces within the healthcare delivery system that affect the roles of the advanced practice nurse.
This post-master’s advanced practice concentration entails an in-depth study of psychiatric-mental health nursing across the lifespan. Designed for students who are already licensed NPs in another specialty, the curriculum integrates theoretical knowledge and practice skills to prepare nurses at the graduate level for the care of psychiatric-mental health clients, individuals, families, and communities.
“We appreciate the support of President Riordan and Provost Storm and the entire Adelphi University community, including our CNPH faculty, staff, students, alums, administrators, advisory board, and clinical partners who helped to make this visit so successful,” said Hunt. “I would also like to recognize the leadership of the Steering Committee chairs, Vera Bender, Professor and PhD in Nursing Program Director, Dr. Patricia Donohue-Porter, and Associate Dean, Dr. Mary Hickey, who guided the process. This was truly a collaborative effort.”
Kimberly Glassman, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAONL, FAAN, has been appointed as the new Dean of the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing (PSON) and Vice President for Nursing Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City.
“I am delighted to join the expert faculty, administrators, staff, and students at PSON,” says Dr. Glassman. “The unique, integrated relationship between PSON and the Mount Sinai Health System supports our nursing students with combined classroom and clinical experiences, providing a rich foundation for their entry into clinical practice and their nursing career.”
Dr. Glassman has been an outstanding leader in higher education administration and health care throughout her career at New York University (NYU) Rory Meyers College of Nursing. Her roles there included clinical professor, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Associate Dean of Partnership Innovation, Senior Vice President for Patient Care Services, and Chief Nursing Officer of NYU Langone Medical Center.
“We are honored and excited to welcome Dr. Glassman to our leadership team. Her strategic vision will propel our academic programs, grow our future cohorts, and provide our nursing students with an excellent foundation that prepares them for a rewarding nursing career,” says Beth Oliver, DNP, RN, FAAN, Chief Nurse Executive and Senior Vice President, Cardiac Services, Mount Sinai Health System.
“I look forward to working with her closely to continue the momentum at the School,” says Dr. Oliver. “We have invested in infrastructure and programs with innovative classrooms and simulation programs in upper Manhattan with close proximity to The Mount Sinai Hospital and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and have created partnerships with our Harlem community to create bridge programs for youth with interest in nursing careers. These efforts will grow a robust pipeline of nurses and nursing leaders who are mission-driven in bettering the health of all people and all communities.”
Dr. Glassman will create a dynamic and strategic road map for the school’s future, including:
-identifying new areas of growth and innovation
-establishing PSON as a leader in nursing education in New York City
-developing a regional model for addressing the critical shortage of front-line nurses
-identifying new avenues for attracting, retaining, and developing outstanding faculty
-providing fiscal solid management of PSON
-building solid relationships across the Mount Sinai Health System and community.
Additionally, Dr. Glassman looks to design and advance interprofessional education alongside health system nursing leadership and ideate strategies to ensure best practices for clinical rotations and retention of graduates.
On the heels of a study finding 100% of New York State hospitals reporting unmitigable nursing shortages, Queens-based Plaza College was awarded a prestigious national accreditation for its Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program.
The Plaza College School of Nursing received formal accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education as one of the most rigorous programmatic accreditation programs in the U.S.
The CCNE accreditation process is the culmination of years of preparation, including developing a self-study report and a three-day site visit during which CCNE representatives meet with students, staff, and clinical partners to determine the program’s effectiveness at meeting all outlined standards.
“To achieve CCNE accreditation illustrates the remarkable quality of the programs at Plaza College. Our esteemed faculty and I are extremely proud of the level of attention and access to advanced resources our program provides our students. Coupled with the clinical rotations at our affiliate hospitals and healthcare centers, the nursing education experience at Plaza is top-notch,” says Dr. Abdur “Raheem” Nizar-Moses, PhD/MSN/RN, the program’s Chief Nurse Administrator and Dean of Nursing at Plaza College.
Each Plaza nursing program cohort is made up of 40 students enrolled every other semester. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards recognized its ethnically diverse student body at its 2021 ribbon-cutting ceremony as “a true representation of the borough, which is one of the most ethnically diverse urban areas in the world.”
On the second floor of the College’s Queens Boulevard campus, the unique Center for Healthcare Simulation includes an advanced suite of four training laboratories featuring innovative simulation technology that allows students to practice skills on medical manikins that mimic emergency room, labor and delivery, elder care, and other high-risk, patient-hospital care scenarios. The Plaza Nursing students use these skills to complement their studies with clinical rotations at specialized New York region healthcare hospital systems, including:
Jamaica Hospital Medical Center
Catholic Health
Flushing Hospital Medical
NYC Health + Hospitals Corporation
Mount Sinai Health System
NY Presbyterian
St. Mary’s Hospital for Children
Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center
Little Neck Care Center
In April 2023, Plaza’s first nursing program cohort completed their program of study while achieving a 90% graduation rate and National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX) pass rates of 84.62% first-time and 100% overall. Completion of an approved program and passing scores on the NCLEX are required to become a Registered Nurse in the State of New York.
“The number of openings for Registered Nurses – and many other related healthcare positions – in our area is truly concerning, but our graduates are exceptionally equipped and eager to help fill the voids. We’re immensely proud of our graduates and the differences they’re already making in the community and workforce,” says Regina Pokidaylo, Director of Career Services at Plaza College.
Plaza’s other associate and baccalaureate-level healthcare-focused degree programs include Dental Hygiene, Medical Assisting, Health Information Technology, Healthcare Management, and Surgical Technology (Coming Fall 2024).
A new study reveals the importance of integrating patient-nurse verbal communication data into patient risk identification models for home health care.
Home health care is a critical service for over 6 million patients in the U.S., many of whom are 65 and older and suffer from chronic conditions. Unfortunately, one in three patients being cared for at home eventually requires an emergency department visit or hospitalization. Existing patient risk identification models, which primarily rely on electronic health record data, have only modest success detecting these high-risk patients.
The research team, led by Maryam Zolnoori, PhD, at Columbia University School of Nursing, audio-recorded 126 patient-nurse encounters involving 47 patients, eight of whom later experienced emergency department visits or hospitalization. The team reformulated the risk model to include three essential components: structured data from the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS), clinical notes, and verbal communication features.
Using advanced natural language processing methods to analyze patient-nurse interactions, the integration of verbal communication data improved risk models by 26%. The analysis also unveiled that high-risk patients tended to exhibit more risk-associated cues, expressions of “sadness” and “anxiety,” and extended periods of silence during conversations.
“This development highlights the need for an evolved clinical workflow that routinely records patient-nurse verbal communication within the medical record,” says Zolnoori, “potentially improving patient care, reducing hospitalization rates, and enhancing health care provider’s ability to identify and address risks promptly during hospitalizations and emergency department visits.”
To facilitate this innovative research, Columbia Nursing collaborated closely with VNS Health, one of the nation’s largest home- and community-based healthcare nonprofits, where Zolnoori conducts clinical research.
Other study authors include Maxim Topaz, PhD, associate professor, Columbia Nursing; Zoran Kostic, Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University; Kathryn H. Bowles, School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania and Center for Home Care Policy & Research, VNS Health; Margaret V. McDonald, Sridevi Sridharan, and Sasha Vergez, Center for Home Care Policy & Research, VNS Health; and Ali Zolnour, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tehran.
The Rockland Community College (RCC) Nursing Program demonstrates its commitment to excellence, with its students achieving a remarkable 100% pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) in the third quarter of 2023.
This accomplishment contributes to an impressive overall pass rate of 98% for the year, nearing a record-breaking number. Such consistent success is not an isolated achievement; over the last five years, RCC Nursing students have consistently maintained pass rates in the 90th percentile, reaching a peak of 99% in 2020.
The College’s accredited associate degree in nursing (ADN) program prepares nurses to meet the community’s needs. It incorporates philosophical beliefs, scientific discipline, and concepts from nursing research to prepare nurses for careers in the ever-changing healthcare system. Tuition costs at RCC are about one-third of other colleges in New York, making it an affordable choice for future nurses.
“This is a testament to the dedication of our faculty and staff and a reflection of the exceptional caliber of students we are honored to nurture at Rockland Community College. We don’t just teach; we inspire excellence,” says Dr. Maureen Kroning, Dean for the School of Nursing, Health and Wellness at Rockland Community College.
