Two Nursing Grads Selected for Public Health Residency Program

Public Health Nurse Residency Program group photo

Last year Belmont University announced the creation of a Public Health Nurse Residency Program in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Health. This is the the first program of its kind for new graduates in the state and one of only a few in the country. For the inaugural year of the program, recent Belmont alumnae Acqueline Caine and Kaitlin Malick were selected for the residency program.

Dr. Cathy Taylor, dean of Belmont’s College of Health Science and Nursing, said, “This has been a dream of mine for more than 10 years, and we are so proud of Acqueline and Kaitlin. PHN practice requires confidence, extensive preparation and a broad skill set, so only experienced nurses have been eligible for these positions in the past. But with enhanced coaching and orientation, we believe those eligibility restrictions can be lifted for our graduates, and more patients can receive the care they need.”

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Belmont’s College of Pharmacy Designated as HIMSS Education Partner

As a result of meeting the Healthcare Information and Management System Society’s (HIMSS) rigorous standards for quality health IT or healthcare education, Belmont’s College of Pharmacy has been named as a HIMSS Approved Education Partner (AEP).

The College joins an exclusive group of organizations authorized to offer HIMSS-approved review courses and training programs to prepare candidates for advanced knowledge in health IT or healthcare. Additionally, this curriculum serves as a solid foundation to prepare students for the Certified Associate in Healthcare Information & Management Systems (CAHIMS) or Certified Professional in Healthcare Information & Management Systems (CPHIMS) exams. HIMSS sponsors both certifications.

As a HIMSS Approved Education Partner, Belmont becomes the only pharmacy school in the nation with a Healthcare Informatics concentration leading to an internationally recognized certification in Healthcare Informatics which may be obtained before the students’ experiential rotations, residency inquiries and job searches begin.

CAHIMS is a new health IT certification designed for emerging professionals within the industry. CPHIMS is a professional certification program for healthcare information and management systems professionals with more than five years’ experience in health IT.

Belmont’s program sponsor is Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Informatics and Analytics in the Department of Pharmaceutical, Social and Administrative Sciences Anthony Blash, Pharm.D., BCompSc, CPHIMS. Blash has created a four-course, web-based sequence of classes to prepare Belmont student pharmacists for the CAHIMS certification. The college saw its first two students certify at the CAHIMS level last month and expects twenty to thirty students to certify each year moving forward.

“Nashville is considered by many to be home to the U.S. healthcare industry, with nearly 300 companies providing healthcare synergies found in few other places,” said Blash.  “If your interests lie in pharmacy and informatics, our program stands apart. With experiential rotation sites at the headquarters of the largest healthcare organizations in the world, faculty with experiences in the corporate boardrooms of many American healthcare companies and a Pharmacy / Healthcare Informatics experience facilitated by the current national chairman of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ Educational Steering Committee on Informatics and Technology, our faculty represents the pinnacle of teaching experience.”

Belmont will expand the CAHIMS certificate program in both self-paced and accelerated formats to professional pharmacists and other healthcare or IT professionals in the very near future.

“We are pleased to welcome The College of Pharmacy at Belmont University as a HIMSS Approved Education Partner,” said JoAnn W Klinedinst, M.Ed., CPHIMS, DES, PMP, FHIMSS. “By earning this AEP designation, The College of Pharmacy has demonstrated that its  educational development activities meet the rigorous standards for quality as identified by HIMSS.”

Hare Selected as Candidate for National Award

Senior men’s basketball student-athlete Justin Hare has been selected as a candidate for the 2007-08 Lowe’s Senior Class Award. This is the latest national honor for Hare in his decorated Belmont career. A 2007 Second Team Academic All-American and twice Academic All-District selection, the Cleveland, Tenn. native was named Atlantic Sun Conference Male Student-Athlete of the Year this past June. Hare sports a 3.86 GPA in his chosen major of exercise science and health promotion.
Hare is one of 30 senior male college basketball student-athletes to be nominated for the prestigious award. The Lowe’s Senior Class Award is presented annually to the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete of the Year in eight sports, focusing on the “Four C’s” of classroom, character, community and competition. From the list of 30 nominees for each gender, a national media committee will select 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in January 2008. Those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot for a nationwide vote during the NCAA Tournament in March. Fan balloting will be coupled with votes from coaches and media to determine the male and female recipients. Lowe’s, an official corporate partner of the NCAA, will award the winners with trophies during the respective men’s and women’s NCAA Final Four weekends.
Now in its seventh year for basketball, the award has developed into the nation’s premier tribute for college seniors. The award was conceived by legendary sportscaster Dick Enberg, who continues to serve as Honorary Chairman.