Dr. Beth F. Hallmark, Director of the College of Health Sciences Simulation Center, was recently selected to be Belmont’s representative for the National League for Nursing. The NLN Ambassador Program was established in the fall of 2006 with an initial cadre of 126 members who teach in all types of nursing programs – practical nurse, associate degree, diploma, baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral. Today there are over 700 ambassadors representing schools of nursing in 50 states and 5 countries.
As NLN Ambassador, it will be Dr. Hallmark’s responsibility to keep Belmont’s nursing program informed about the NLN’s programs, grant opportunities, and member involvement initiatives.
Dr. Hallmark recently completed her PhD in Educational Leadership with a concentration in E-Learning at Touro University International. She also holds an MSN from Vanderbilt University in Child and Family Nursing. She has been at Belmont University since 1997 and was appointed as Director of Simulation for the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing in 2009.

Kristin Singh is one of Belmont’s many nursing students but she boasts an extra special extracurricular–for the past two years she has shared the sidelines with the Tennessee Titans as a Titans cheerleader.
She began her academic career as a marine biology major at the College of Charleston but through a series of major changes found herself in the neuroscience department. She moved to Belmont “because it was one of the only schools in the Nashville area that had a neuroscience major” and soon “started thinking about nursing after hearing how great Belmont’s program was.” Once in the nursing program she quickly formed a bond with Mrs. Keary Dryden, her clinical instructor her first semester. Kristin recalls, “I was so nervous for my first clinical, and she made it easy for me to relax and learn as much as I could. She still challenged me, but she did it in a way that made me comfortable.”

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Belmont University’s Nursing Program has been presented with another distinguished research opportunity. This one is comprised of the National League for Nursing (NLN) and the American Heart Association as they team up to “determine how pre-licensure RN nursing students best retain CPR knowledge and skills.” The study will include students from 10 different schools, among them are notably: Georgia State University, Kent State University, University of Evansville, Washington State University and Belmont University.
The experiment tested the effects “of monthly 6 minute practice sessions (2 minutes each of compressions, ventilations with bag, valve, mask, and single rescuer CPR) using a voice activated manikin (VAM) for up to 12months… 606 students from 10 regionally diverse schools of nursing from around the US were randomized into experimental or control groups. The control group did no further CPR practice. The experimental group practiced CPR skills on a Laerdal Resusci-AnneVAM® manikin for 6 minutes monthly, for up to 12 months. Twenty percent of participants were post-tested and dropped from the study at the 3, 6, and 9 month time points. Forty percent of the participants continued monthly CPR practice until month 12 of the study.” In short, the study was designed to prove that repeated exposure to CPR methods keeps nursing students refreshed and ready to deliver CPR effectively. The study proved exactly that. The conclusion of the study found that “CPR skills deteriorated significantly at the 9 month time point in this study, suggesting that the 2 year time frame for CPR renewal is too long, without practice. Brief monthly practice sessions with a VAM manikin improve or maintain CPR skills.”
What does this mean for Belmont? Beth Hallmark, Belmont’s NLN Ambassador, states that Belmont will be “adopting the VAM for our CPR training and that we will be offering to area health professionals.” In addition Martha Buckner, PhD, RN Director, Undergraduate Studies in Nursing says that Belmont’s “partnership with the National League for Nursing, Laerdal, and the American Heart Association in this national, multi-center trial will advance life-saving knowledge and skills related to CPR. Belmont’s School of Nursing is deeply committed to improving the quality and safety of patient care and this interdisciplinary project allows us to expand those efforts to a national level. We are delighted to be part of this effort.”