Campus Connection

Media Credit: www.komen.org

As part of a three year grant funded by the Maryland Komen Affiliate, the School of Nursing hosted a presentation by breast cancer survivor Deb Kirkland on September 23.

The event, which was held in the SON, included background information on breast cancer as well as Kirkland’s personal story.  When Kirkland was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 32, she found that there were few resources available to young women.  As a result, she began a networking group for young women affected by breast cancer and she now serves as the program coordinator for Breast Friends, a Komen for the Cure grant through LifeBridge Health.

Since her own diagnosis, Kirkland has become an advocate for breast cancer education.  She lectures whenever she gets the chance and attended a summit meeting on breast cancer awareness in Budapest, Hungary in 2007.  She is driven by her desire to educate other women with the facts, including how to perform breast self examinations.  Kirkland said emphatically, “Breast self examinations do save lives.”

Breast cancer has not been traditionally thought of as a disease of the young, and as a result, some young women are dismissed by health care providers.  However, more than 11,000 women under the age of 40 are diagnosed each year.  “It’s a young women’s disease now,” Kirkland said.  “It is the leading cause of cancer death in women ages 15 to 55.”

Kirkland’s presentation ties in with the goals of the Komen Maryland Affiliate Nursing Partnership.  The grant was awarded to the SON to create a sustainable, evidence-based resource to educate nurses about breast cancer.  At the core of the project are web-based modules.

The modules are designed and updated by SON professor Sandra McClesky, Ph.D., RN, the project director for the grant.  The modules are used as independent learning exercises that students are later tested on.  These modules became a part of the core class requirement for the nursing undergraduate program in the first year of the grant.

In the second year of the grant, the modules became a requirement for the graduate level nursing students.  They will continue to be a component of both the graduate and undergraduate curriculum after the grant expires.

Now entering its third year, the project has become more ambitious.  According to program manager Abby Plusen, the modules are now being made available to practicing nurses.  While the availability will begin with nurses in the state of Maryland, Plusen hopes that the modules will eventually be disseminated across the country.  Circulation of the web modules is still in its infancy, but universal access via the internet is planned for January 2009.

Plusen said, “Nurses are seen as community health experts.  It’s important to get [them] the correct information.”

Plusen and McClesky don’t want to simply stop there, however, and they are currently in the process of applying for a renewal of the grant for an additional three years.  If the grant is renewed, the SON will partner with other schools in the area including Coppen State, Bowie, and Salisbury.  These universities will similarly integrate the web based modules as part of the curricula.

Plusen has also discussed collaborations with other schools at UMB, particularly the School of Pharmacy and the School of Social Work.  Both programs produce professionals that could benefit from further education in breast cancer.

Beyond the development and perpetuation of the web based modules, the grant also established seminars to educate the university community about breast cancer, inviting distinguished speakers and visiting professors to present symposiums on recent advances in breast cancer research.  According to Adam Seufret, one of the organizers of the Sept 23 event and a student in the SON, the major purpose of such events is to raise awareness among students.

Additionally, the grant has allotted funds to provide a competitive travel award to students who are attending regional or national conferences on oncology.

The Sept 23 event was also used to promote the SON’s involvement in the upcoming Komen Race for the Cure.  The event will be held on October 19 in Hunt Valley, MD.  Kirkland has previously attended the event to celebrate her survival of a breast cancer diagnosis.  She said, “You look at life very differently. You live in the moment.”

For more information or to register for the Komen Race for the Cure, visit  www.komenmd.org.

Information on the web based modules can be found at http://coursedocs.umaryland.edu/Projects/Komen/webpages/index.htm.

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