The Glen Taylor Nursing Institute for Family and Society at Minnesota State University, Mankato, USA, focuses on educational scholarship that aims to advance nursing practice with families. As the Founding Director, Dr. Eggenberger guides multiple educational initiatives in academic, healthcare, and community systems.  Early in her academic career, she discovered that telling her personal family story helped nursing students gain understandings of the family experience with illness.  She has now moved this educational tool to practice and community settings. Recently she employed nurse stories of families as implementation strategies to transfer family nursing practice knowledge in academic-practice partnerships. Current research findings with colleagues (Dr. Patricia Beierwaltes, David Clisbee) suggest digital stories have the potential to transform nursing care of families by cultivating understandings and com­passion.  

In addition, another team (Dr. Tammy Neiman, David Clisbee, Lynn Kuechle, and Dr. Patricia Beierwaltes) recently designed innovative technological ways to capture stories of nurses during the pandemic through interviews and journals. Providing nurses with the opportunity to tell their stories during this global pandemic crisis has been therapeutic and meaningful for nurses in practice. These findings will provide educational opportunities to learn from the trauma of these nurses to support healing, nurse retention, and growth.

At the present time, Dr. Eggenberger is also collaborating with Doctor of Nursing Practice students (Sarah Ogilvie and Chesli Esqueda) and faculty colleagues in nursing and family science (Dr. Gwen Verchota, Dr. Patricia Beierwaltes, and Dr. Seonwha Lee) to design a family-based program for school-aged children listening to families living with a child’s Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. This program will be implemented at Health Commons at Pond, a nurse-managed school-based clinic launched by Taylor Institute and College of Allied Health and Nursing at Minnesota State University Mankato that serves students, families, and communities in an underserved diverse community. Dr. Sandra Eggenberger and colleagues remain committed to education with a family focus in multiple settings. As Dr. Eggenberger and her colleague Dr. Marilyn Swan have stated, nurses’ ability to translate family-focused knowledge to practice can be supported through educational innovations.

Dr. Eggenberger is also an active member of the IFNA Acute Care Research Cluster focused on family nursing in acute care settings. The IFNA Acute Care Research Cluster is the first IFNA research group to publish a peer-reviewed manuscript that highlights their collaborative efforts (see recent Naef et al. publication below).

Dr. Sandra Eggenberger dedicated efforts are making a significant impact on advancing family nursing education and she and her colleagues remains committed to change in educational and practice systems that will influence the health of families and society.

Recent publications related family nursing education:

Beierwaltes, P., Clisbee, D., & Eggenberger, S. K. (2020). An educational intervention incorporating digital storytelling to implement family nursing practice in acute care settings. Journal of Family Nursing, 26(3), 213-228. https://doi.org/10.1177/1074840720935462 

Naef, R., Brysiewicz, P., McAndrew, N. S., Beierwaltes, P., Chiang, V., Clisbee, D., deBeer, J., Honda, J., Kakazu, S., Nagl-Cupal, M., Price, A. M., Richardson, S., Richardson, A., Tehan, T., Towell-Barnard, A., & Eggenberger, S. (2021). ICU nurse-family engagement from a global perspective: A qualitative multi-site exploration. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing. Advance online publication. 

Swan, M. A., & Eggenberger, S. K. (2020). Early career nurses’ experiences of providing family nursing care: Perceived benefits and challenges. Journal of Family Nursing, 27(1), 23-33.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1074840720968286

For more information, contact IFNA member Dr. Sandra Eggenberger.

Nicole Osborn, BSN, is a recent graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato, USA. Her research focuses on increasing the prevalence of skin-to-skin contact immediately post-delivery for one hour uninterrupted, or the Golden Hour. She graduated with a major in Nursing and a minor in Child Development and Family Services and hopes to work in labor and delivery after becoming an RN in the near future.

Nicole will be presenting her research at the virtual 15th International Family Nursing Conference. 

For more information, contact IFNA member Nicole Osborn.

Rachel Howe, RNT, RCN, RGN, MSc., is an assistant professor in Children’s Nursing and a PhD candidate at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, University College Dublin, Ireland. Her research focuses on animal-assisted interventions in the children’s hospital setting. She hopes to co-design an intervention with children, young people, and their families at a later stage in her research.  Rachel has been a nurse for over 25 years in both general and children’s hospitals in Ireland. 

She will be presenting her research protocol and scoping review methodology at the virtual 15th International Family Nursing Conference.

Rachel is a member of the IFNA UK/Ireland Chapter.

For more information, contact IFNA member Rachel Howe.