The University of Toledo

The contributions of Janelle Tipton to the field of nursing have not only been judged meritorious, but also exceptional.

The book the oncology nurse specialist at The University of Toledo Medical Center co-authored with Linda Eaton, a research project coordinator at the University of Washington School of Nursing, titled Putting Evidence Into Practice: Improving Oncology Patient Outcomes, recently received an APEX Award of Excellence. The award was in the One-of-a-Kind Health and Medical Publications category.

The APEX Awards program recognizes excellence in published work by professional communicators, and the honors are awarded to entries that display overall communications excellence with quality graphic design and editorial content.

With 3,700 entries, competition for the APEX Awards is “exceptionally intense,” according to a Writing That Works newsletter, the organization that sponsors the APEX Awards. Writing That Works publishes subscription newsletters that serve as a resource for those who professionally write, edit and manage business communications.

“I did not know our book was submitted for an award — it was a nice recognition and honor,” Tipton said. “We believe the book is ‘one-of-a-kind’ in that no other book exists on evidence-based practice interventions for oncology nursing.”

The book serves as a guide for such intervention and features 16 chapters on common oncology clinical problems, such as nausea and vomiting, depression, infections, and anorexia.

According to Tipton, each chapter “reviews the definition of the problem, its incidence, assessment, clinical measurement tools, updated putting-evidence-into-practice intervention methods weighted according to the level of evidence, and case studies using the resources and references.”

The book is the culmination of years of work for Tipton with the Oncology Nursing Society. She has been furthering this initiative since 2005, serving initially as the team leader on nausea and vomiting resources and then as project team leader on other clinical issues.

“Tipton has been critical in teaching UT nurses about how to administer chemotherapy safely and preparing them for chemotherapy certification,” said Dr. Roland Skeel, UT professor of hematology and oncology. “Her receipt of the 2010 APEX Award is but a further confirmation of the outstanding, internationally recognized staff and faculty we have at UTMC.”

“Receiving this award speaks to the growing recognition of the importance of evidence-based interventions for patient care,” said Lisa George, managing editor for the publications team of the Oncology Nursing Society.

“Nurses play an integral role in managing patients’ symptoms during the cancer experience, and the Oncology Nursing Society is proud of the work that these expert contributors have done to advance nurses’ understanding of how to apply evidence to clinical practice.”

This entry was posted  on  Friday, August 13th, 2010 at  5:01 am and is filed under  News, UToday.
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