Feb. 25, 2008
Presentation College Fairmont Campus nursing instructor
publishes research in national journal
ABERDEEN, S.D. --After more than a decade of work, a research study by Laura Rydholm, a nursing instructor at Presentation College Fairmont Campus, has been chosen for publication. Rydholm’s research, entitled "Care of Community Dwelling Older Adults by Faith Community Nurses," will appear in the April issue of the Journal of Gerontological Nursing.
Rydholm’s experience as a parish nurse in the early 1990s sparked her research. Living in a remote area where access to care was already difficult, Rydholm noticed that people were reluctant to seek treatment when they were sick.
"Prolonged hospitalizations and costly nursing home stays were averted by nudging people to seek care before lasting disabilities set in," Rydholm said. "I wondered if other parish nurses were having this same experience."
Her initial study, based on parish nurses in southern Minnesota, was published in Holistic Nursing Practice in 1997. A few years later, the Minnesota Department of Human Services asked Rydholm to replicate the study in the Minneapolis area. With a grant from Medica for the research, Rydholm worked with the Metro Agency on Aging and the Hennepin County DHS.
"It was a more collaborative endeavor and our findings were shared at a higher level," Rydholm said. "Our efforts had a far more visible impact."
The research has undergone vigorous interdisciplinary review to be accepted by the Journal of Gerontological Nursing. It was two-year process, but Rydholm believes seeing the work in print will be well worth the wait.
In addition, Rydholm has been asked to present the findings at the Westberg Parish Nurse Symposium in St. Louis this fall - for the third time.
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About Presentation College
Presentation College is an independent Catholic educational institution, sponsored by the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Founded in 1922, Presentation College is a specialty Health Science Baccalaureate Institution located in Aberdeen, SD, with branch campuses in Eagle Butte, SD and Fairmont, MN. Students at Presentation College are presented with unlimited opportunities to grow intellectually, personally, professionally, and spiritually. For more information visit our website at www.presentation.edu.
Media Contact:
Tarah Jahnig
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Presentation College
605.229.8378