This June, the Indiana University School of Nursing will celebrate its 100th anniversary. The year will also mark the 10th year for Marion Broome, Ph.D., serving as the dean. An IBJ “Woman of Influence” in 2011, Dr. Broome began her nursing career in the Army, where she was stationed at Fort Gordon in Georgia. She was assigned to a pediatric unit and knew instinctively this would be her career focus. It was there that she met her husband, Capt. Carroll Broome. He was a member of the signal corps and is a Vietnam veteran.
Dr. Broome received her master’s degree in family health and her Ph.D. in child and family development from the University of Georgia. Her dissertation topic was how parents’ child-rearing practices and behavior and children’s medical fears influenced children’s responses to pain. For a part of that study, Dr. Broome interviewed 125 children and their parents. As a result, she developed a questionnaire to measure children’s fears. One such conclusion was that children who had high levels of fear reported more pain from medical procedures. The results of this study created the “Child Medical Fear Scale.” This scale created by Dr. Broome has been translated into five different languages.
The IU School of Nursing has a lot to celebrate for its centennial: its consistently impressive national ranking, groundbreaking research, international outreach and, most important, its students.
Nursing, like any profession, has experienced changes over the last 60 years. Back in the 1950s, the Associate in Science degree was created to address a nursing shortage. There were not many schools that offered a nursing baccalaureate at that time. Every decade or so since that time, the industry experiences a shortage, proliferating the number of nurses with an associate degree, obtained mostly through community colleges.
In a recent study released by the Institute of Medicine, one recommendation was that 80 percent of nurses should have a baccalaureate degree. Not only that, the study emphasized the future trend in nursing care would involve a baccalaureate as a minimum requirement to meet the needs of the changes occurring in health care.
Nurses will have to keep up with the increased complexity of their profession. They need to understand the impact of technology and informatics, as well as realize an increased need for a scientific background. IU’s nursing school has maintained an impressive national ranking in the top 20 of 700-plus nursing schools. A leader in research and education, its highly competitive programs have expanded.
Student enrollment has increased by 20 percent to 30 percent over the last 10 years, and the numbers remain strong. The IU School of Nursing offers a full range of degree programs and has the infrastructure in place to meet the needs of the future in health care.
“Health care is shifting to the community,” indicated Dr. Broome. She further explains that hospitals will have fewer beds, with increased capacity for intensive care, surgical care and emergency departments. “The shift will see growth in community care,” states Dr. Broome, “with increases in wellness, preventive care and a stronger focus on more holistic chronic illness management.”
Forecasting health care trends indicate that patients will spend shorter periods of time in the hospital, increasing demand for home health care, wound care, some post-surgical, rehab and hospice. With the Affordable Care Act, more people who have insurance who previously would only go to the emergency room are increasing the need for access to health care services and preventive care. Another factor is that there are fewer primary care physicians due to specialization, enabling an increased demand for nurse practitioners.
Chronic care management, for conditions such as diabetes and asthma, will focus on keeping patients out of the hospital by helping them to manage their symptoms. Nurse practitioners with advanced nursing degrees will find an increase in job opportunities with this shift in health care.
Research is an important component of IU’s nursing school. IU focuses on symptom management with studies focused on helping individuals maintain or improve their quality of life. Recently in the news, attention has focused on a current study of music therapy with teens experiencing chemotherapy. In an article by the BBC News, “Making Music Videos Helps Young Cancer Patients Cope,” IU music therapist nurse researchers, led by Dr. Joan Haase and Dr. Sheri Robb, found the patients gained resilience and improved relationships with family and friends. All the patients were undergoing high-risk stem cell transplant treatments. To produce their music videos, the young patients were asked to write song lyrics, record sounds and collect video images to create their story.
In another study, the nursing school is examining the experience of diabetic teens transitioning from high school to college. Dr. Kathleen Hanna’s study of these teens may help others transition to managing their own care independently. IU’s nursing school is also studying cognitive changes in women during and after chemotherapy. This study looks closely at women returning to work and how to best handle that transition as well as sleep, stress and quality of life after chemotherapy. There are many more studies, all important and relevant, whose findings may help benefit those with diabetes, those with cancer, stroke victims and their caregivers, and teens.
The reach of IU’s nursing school extends across the Atlantic to Africa. In Monrovia, Liberia, IU has partnered with the University of Liberia to establish the first public baccalaureate program in nursing and midwifery. Students currently enrolled at the Tubman National Institute for Medical Arts at JFK Medical Center will complete their degree at the University of Liberia. An IU nursing alum, Wvannie Scott-McDonald, Ph.D., who is Liberian, received her master’s degree and her doctorate at the IU School of Nursing at IUPUI. It was through Dr. Scott-McDonald’s efforts and initiative that this school liaison was achieved. Dr. Scott-McDonald’s cousin is the president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.
Abroad or stateside, Dr. Broome indicates that preparing their students for their careers in nursing is the single most important role of IU’s nursing school. With the dynamics in health care continually changing, creativity and flexibility of health care providers is a must. Dr. Broome, throughout her tenure, has witnessed changes in nursing care as well as foreseen changes to come, adapting as necessary to meet demands and to be ahead of the curve.
Little known fact: Audrey Geisel, (widow of Theodore “Dr. Seuss” Geisel) is a graduate of IU’s nursing school and received her honorary doctorate in 2005.
Not only is June the 100th anniversary of the nursing school, Dr. Broome and her husband, Dr. Carroll Broome, have another major event to celebrate: their daughter’s wedding. Drs. Broome have two grandsons from their son and daughter-in-law.
