Nursing school awarded curriculum fellowships

The New York-based John A. Hartford Foundation, a national leader in the funding of educational programs and policy development in geriatric nursing, has committed two training fellowships to future faculty appointees of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis.

The fellowships will allow faculty responsible for developing the baccalaureate-nursing curriculum at UC Davis to participate in training offered through the Geriatric Nursing Education Consortium. This national initiative from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing aims to educate 700 faculty at baccalaureate schools of nursing across the country on the fundamentals of geriatric nursing and undergraduate curriculum development. The faculty-development program is supported with a $2.4 million grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation.

In August, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation committed $100 million to UC Davis to launch the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. The grant will help found a professional nursing school on the Sacramento campus that emphasizes leadership, scientific rigor and multidisciplinary training. The goal is to graduate nurse leaders, educators and researchers who will make positive, long-term systemic impacts to health care in California and throughout the nation.

Mini medical school looks at aging process

Learning what to expect from and how to prepare for life's second half is the focus of the highly popular Mini Medical School at UC Davis, which started its sixth session on Feb. 2 on the Davis campus.

Geared toward those 50 and older, the Mini Medical School at UC Davis is one of more than 70 offered at medical schools and research facilities in the United States. According to the National Institutes of Health, there are only three mini medical schools in California.

The UC Davis version started six years ago with an enrollment of 250. The 2008 course already has enrolled its capacity of 500.

"People are realizing that successful aging is not just serendipity and genetics," said Michael McCloud, associate clinical professor of general medicine and founder of the program. "With knowledge of how and why the body ages and how to avoid the many pitfalls associated with aging, we can really assure we will have a more healthy and vibrant life into our 90s and beyond."

Conducted on six consecutive Saturdays, concluding March 8, Mini Medical School combines course work from the first two years of medical school, taught by UC Davis faculty, and includes practical tips and frank discussions. Two classes are taught each day, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the Sciences Auditorium.

Overhead pages in main hospital reduced

To reduce noise, improve patient satisfaction and enhance safety, health system administrators have decided to reduce the frequency of overhead pages in the main hospital for codes and other announcements.

There also is a new procedure for documenting overhead announcements submitted as emergencies by staff. Operators will document on the daily shift log the name of the requestor, the time of the request and the announcement submitted as an "emergent need."

The revised paging frequency was implemented Feb. 4.

IHOP 'flips' for UC Davis Children's Hospital

Sacramento-area IHOP restaurants will be serving free pancakes and supporting UC Davis Children's Hospital in celebration of National Pancake Day on Feb. 12.

From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., diners can receive a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes at participating restaurants. IHOP will ask diners to consider making a donation to Children's Miracle Network, which supports critical patient-care, research and education efforts at UC Davis Children's Hospital. One-hundred percent of the funds raised at Sacramento-region IHOP restaurants will go to Children's Miracle Network.

Pancake Day is a centuries-old tradition on the day before Lent, also known as "Shrove Tuesday" and Mardi Gras, observed by the English as preparation for fasting during Lent. Because strict rules prohibited the eating of all dairy products during Lent, the English made pancakes to use up their supplies of eggs, milk, butter and other dairy products

— UC Davis Health System