Winners of 16th annual Collaborative Nursing Research Day announced

GREENVILLE, N.C.  —   Laura Gantt and Daphne Brewington were named winners of the Collaborative Research Award during the 16th annual Collaborative Nursing Research Day held March 2 at the East Carolina University School of Nursing.

The $1,000 award supports a research project between a nurse faculty member and a Pitt County Memorial Hospital clinician and is sponsored by the ECU School of Nursing and University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina.

Gantt is assistant professor and executive director of learning technologies and labs in the ECU School of Nursing. Brewington is an education specialist at PCMH and a doctoral nursing student at ECU. The title of their project was “Simulation: An Evaluative Approach to Teaching and Learning.”

The conference this year focused on clinical simulations in nursing education. This method allows students to safely practice skills on simulated patients in a controlled learning environment prior to working with real people.

The event was sponsored by the School of Nursing, UHS, Beta Nu chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International and the Eastern Area Health Education Center.

Eighteen research posters were presented by nurse faculty, graduate nursing students and clinical nurses. The posters explored topics from diabetes, bariatric care and mental health nursing to simulations, nurse retention, heart disease and more.

Keynote speaker was Janis Childs, associate professor of nursing and director of the Learning Resource and Simulation Center at the University of South Maine College of Nursing and Health Professions. Childs’ research and teaching is focused on the integration of simulation into nursing curriculum, nursing resource centers in nursing and service learning.