Every year, we develop a theme that will guide our efforts and focus at the College of Nursing. Previous themes have included diversity and inclusion and innovation. This year, our focus landed on transformation. Simply “keeping up” with the changes in health care is not an option. At the College of Nursing, we choose not only to “keep up” but to “transform” ourselves and advance the nursing profession.
Transformation is not an easy process, but it is one that we take pride in on a daily basis. Every day, we evaluate not just “what” we are doing but “why” we are doing it. This evaluation led us to the determination that the BSN curriculum required a transformation in order to continue to graduate nurses who will use clinical reasoning skills and become leaders in health care. This issue’s cover story details the 14-month process our faculty undertook to revise and transform the curriculum into what we have deemed the “Care, Lead, Inspire Curriculum,” or CLIC.
I have been told numerous times by College of Nursing faculty, staff, students and alumni that my favorite word is “grateful.” Well, here it is again! I am so grateful for the Gator Nursing family for the camaraderie and efficiency that our faculty have demonstrated throughout the entire process of transforming the undergraduate curriculum. I am impressed by the care and leadership that took place among the faculty members of the transformation and implementation teams, the teams that were selected to spearhead and facilitate this mission. These faculty members took on this challenge in addition to their full-time roles as educators, clinicians and researchers.
As you’ll discover throughout this issue, our faculty and students have been extremely busy shattering the status quo. Take, for instance, Dr. Paula Delpech, who was co-leader of the Curriculum Transformation and Implementation Teams in addition to teaching in the undergraduate program and leading students through international service learning trips to Grenada and Coventry, England. And Dr. Leslie Parker, who was involved in the Curriculum Transformation Team while also serving as a nurse practitioner in the NICU, mentoring a UF McNair Scholar and conducting groundbreaking research that earned her a $2.4 million R01 grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research. I am so impressed!
And I continue to be impressed by our students and alumni. I hope you will take the opportunity to read in this issue about the many accomplishments that are taking place in the world of Gator Nursing.
The fall is upon us! Let’s make it a season to remember.
Anna M. McDaniel
Dean and the Linda Harman Aiken Professor