University of Nebraska Medical Center - News

[Coyote]

UNMC College of Public Health now fully operational with new faculty being recruited, programs being developed

Less than six months after it was approved by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center is now fully operational. The announcement was made today at a news conference at UNMC.

Although there are 125 academic medical centers in the U.S. similar to UNMC, only 38 of these centers have accredited schools or colleges of public health. UNMC’s college will be the 39th when it is fully accredited. It is the first new college at UNMC since 1968.

As the College of Public Health has become operational, Dr. Noren said several key developments have taken place or will occur in the near future. These include:

• Bringing together all faculty, staff, programs, space and budgets of the Department of Preventive and Societal Medicine, the Rural Health Education Network, the Health Professions Tracking Center, Center for Health Services Research (including Centers for Rural Health Research and Rural Health Policy Analysis), Center for Health Disparities, and the UNMC components of the Center for Biosecurity and Center for Biopreparedness Education into the College of Public Health.
• The joint Master of Public Health Program involving UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha will transfer to the new college and continue as a joint effort of the two campuses.
• UNMC will assign initial space for the college in newly acquired facilities in the campus area.
• Within the next few years the college will be housed in a new building, which is the top priority on UNMC’s facilities expansion plan.    
• New, expanded relationships are emerging with the joint Environmental Toxicology Center involving UNMC and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
• Additional partnerships are developing with UNO faculty in Public Administration, Sociology, Gerontology, Social Work, Health Education, and other elements of the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation.  
• Enhanced partnerships with the Nebraska Health and Human Services System (HHSS).

Hopes high for College of Public Health graduates

The state's public health agencies should get a boost from a new college at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, university and public health officials said today.

The College of Public Health - the first doctoral program of its kind between Iowa and Washington state - is recruiting professors and preparing for its first class in August 2008, said Jay Noren, the college's dean.

The NU Medical Center's new college probably will boast a new building in the next five years, Noren said. A three-story, $15 million public health center is the school's top construction priority. The college's dean expects workers to break ground on the site by 2010 or 2011.

[UNMCStudent]

From UNMCs Campus Newsletter:

The following UNMC programs were recognized in this year's rankings:

   * the College of Medicine's primary care program (ranked 10th out of approximately 140 medical schools, up from 11th place);
   * the College of Medicine's rural health medicine program (tied for sixth out of approximately 125 schools, up from ninth place);
   * the College of Nursing's master's degree program (ranked 32nd out of approximately 260 schools, up from 39th); and
   * the School of Allied Health Professions' physician assistant program (maintained its position, tying for 14th out of approximately 40 schools).

In addition, these UNMC programs are included in the guidebook, although they were not freshly ranked for 2008:

   * the College of Pharmacy (tied for 27th out of about 60 schools);
   * the School of Allied Health Professions' physical therapy program (tied for 31st out of about 200 schools)

The complete listings can be found here: USNews: America's Top Graduate Schools

[psl25201]

Also, UNMC just acquired magnet status.  This is a very big deal for those of you who are not familiar with this status.  

"Magnet status is an award given by the American Nurses? Credentialing Center (ANCC), an affiliate of the American Nurses Association, to hospitals that satisfy a set of criteria designed to measure the strength and quality of their nursing. A Magnet hospital is stated to be one where nursing delivers excellent patient outcomes, where nurses have a high level of job satisfaction, and where there is a low staff nurse turnover rate and appropriate grievance resolution."

"The label 'Magnet hospitals' originally was given to a group of U.S. hospitals that were able to successfully recruit and retain professional nurses during a national nursing shortage in the early 1980s. Studies of Magnet hospitals highlight the leadership characteristics and professional practice attributes of nurses within these organizations... Hospitals selected met the following criteria: 1) nurses within the hospitals considered them good places to practice nursing, 2) the hospitals had low turnover and vacancy rates, and 3) the hospitals were located in areas where there was significant regional competition for nursing services."  These "nurse friendly" organizations benefit from reduced costs due to low turnover, which results in greater institutional stability.  Magnet-designated health care organizations consistently outperform their peers in recruiting and retaining nurses, resulting in increased stability in patient care systems across the organization.

If you would like to read more about the benefits of being a Magnet hospital, click the link: http://www.nursecredentialing.org/magnet/benes.html

Having Magnet status gives a hospital instant credibility not just locally, but also nationally.  It is extremely important to nurses, who as we all know, can truly make your stay at a hospital positive or negative.  

As far as I know, this news has not been released to the media yet.  UNMC will likely promote this soon.  The only other hospital in Omaha with Magnet status is Methodist.

[the1wags]

More great news for advancing UNMC's status.

$2.5 million tool will guide UNMC doctors

"Lift your finger, and a medical machine known as an MEG lets doctors see what part of the brain told your finger to move."

"Singh said UNMC will be one of about 10 locations in the country with one of the new machines."

Link to the full World Herald article.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1 ... id=2368052

[iamjacobm]

Cancer Center already attracting talent from places like Stanford and Vanderbilt.

http://www.unmc.edu/news.cfm?match=1612 ... top_talent

The Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, which will open in 2017, has added five new translational cancer researchers to its staff in recent months.
The recruits hail from some of the nation's top scientific and medical institutions. Collectively, they bring more than $5 million in cancer research funding to Nebraska. All have begun their work at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center during the past four months.

"When we launched this ambitious project to build the world's finest cancer center right here in Omaha, we believed that it would attract the very best minds in cancer research from around the world," said Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. "These recruits exemplify that vision. We are building a place where pioneering scientific exploration will shape the future of cancer science and medicine -- and these recruits are just the start."

[skinzfan23]

Great to hear. Sounds like the building is already reaping benefits for the community and it is less than 1/3 done.