Bachelor of Science in Nursing Department

Bachelor of Science in Nursing Department

Image

Kim Lottes is the new Department Supervisor for Pre-Licensure Programs. She is returning to USF’s SONHP after taking four years to work in the mental health field, gaining her hours to become licensed as a therapist. Kim's passion combines lifelong learning, growing, healing, and helping others. Her path has taken her from elementary school teacher to clinical placement coordinator to admissions counselor to therapist. All these roles have given her the skills and tools needed to arrive here as Department Supervisor. She is excited to support students in their learning process as they set out on their journey to become nurses and health professionals who change the world from here. Welcome Kim!

VA Nursing Academic Partnership (VANAP)

Summer began with a bang! After a three-day break, students began their Junior 1’s with a debrief session of the VANAP program. The overwhelming responses from students indicated how much they appreciate VANAP professors and the support they receive from their peers. Constructive feedback, which included improving communications, streamlining orientation, and increasing skills practice, will be further integrated into the program.  Students met with all new faculty and clinical instructors, received their summer survival kit, and destroyed the HESI Minion.  

Over the summer, students did rotations in a variety of veteran-centric community mental health experiences across the community, including:

• Addiction Recovery Treatment Services (ARTS) is a comprehensive interprofessional recovery program that provides Veterans with support for recovery from addiction.
• Care of Disruptive Patients, full-day course with all students facilitated by experts in the field at the VA.
• Caregiver Program, family caregivers providing crucial support in caring for Veterans. The VA recognizes that family caregivers in a home environment can enhance the health and well being of Veterans under VA care.  
• Home Based Primary Care (HBPC) is an interprofessional team that provides assistance to those whose care is better served in the home environment.  The team provides case management for older adults with end-stage chronic illness; the focus is quality of life and, for those near end-of-life, palliative care. HBPC’s goals are the increased ability for Veterans to remain in their homes, reduced hospitalizations, transitions from HBPC to hospice, and increased community services to improve quality of life.
• Homeless Veterans Patient Aligned Care Team (HPACT) provides coordinated "medical home" tailored to the needs of homeless Veterans that integrates clinical care with delivery of social services with enhanced access and community coordination. Implementation of this model is expected to address many of the health disparity and equity issues facing this population, with will result in reduced emergency department use and hospitalizations, improved chronic disease management, and improved "housing readiness" with fewer Veterans returning to homelessness once housed. 
• Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit, an eleven-bed unit providing a safe environment for those requiring short-term intensive therapy.
• Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Program provides grants and technical assistance to community-based nonprofit organizations to help Veterans and their families stay in their homes.
• Telehealth, a medical program that provides care through telehealth services for retinal and dermatology services.