Becky Neiduski, dean of the School of Health Sciences and professor of health sciences, defined a vision for this project. “Imagine if every healthcare provider we prepare at Elon had all of their educational resources at their fingertips and could access that information within moments to show their patient an anatomical structure, airdrop an educational handout to a patient’s device or create a real-time video recording of an exercise program,” Neiduski said. “Education is one of the most important things we provide as healthcare providers, and the more tools our students have, the better prepared they will be to optimize patient care and outcomes.”

Through the E-Connect initiative, faculty and staff in the Department of Nursing and Interprofessional Simulation Center have worked closely with colleagues in Information Technology and Teaching and Learning Technologies to build iPad resources, engage in professional development and plan strategic ways to use the iPad to create innovative pedagogies and maximize engaged learning. Deployment events, including immersive experiences during orientation, have been planned to help students build competency and fully access the multitude of resources the iPad offers.

Tiffany Morris, inaugural chair of the Department of Nursing, is excited about the alignment of the E-Connect Apple iPad initiative with the “The E-Connect initiative will transform nursing education by providing learning experiences that develop nursing students’ understanding of health equity and population health,” Morris said. “The iPads will facilitate students’ development of technical competencies, digital health tools and data analytics to support community- and population-focused nursing care. All these skills are mentioned in the Future of Nursing 2020-2030 Charting the Path to Health Equity report by The National Academy of Medicine and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.”

Aswani Volety, provost and vice president for academic affairs, supports the E-Connect Apple iPad initiative and looks forward to seeing the results of the pilot with nursing students. “The iPad initiative will provide an excellent learning platform for all nursing students, where they can access learning materials and engage in simulation in one place,” Volety said. “This effort also prepares them to meet the needs of an increasingly technological world.”

Using key performance indicators, leadership in the School of Health Sciences will assess the outcomes of the project and explore expansion to the departments of Physical Therapy Education and Physician Assistant Studies.

The change follows the department’s successful completion of the provisional accreditation process with the awarding of “Accreditation – Continued” by the Accreditation Review Commission for the Education of the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) in fall 2016.

Murfin, a graduate of the University of Florida with doctor of pharmacy and master of physician assistant studies degrees, has been a member of Elon’s Department of Physician Assistant Studies since 2012. Prior to that she worked clinically as both a physician assistant and pharmacist, as well as being a faculty member at the LECOM School of Pharmacy in Bradenton, Florida.

Since coming to Elon, Murfin has demonstrated her ability to be a stellar teacher and scholar and has had multiple publications and national presentations. While she has a wide variety of research interests, she is perhaps best known for bringing gaming and technology to the classroom and she is eager to embrace any teaching strategy that will actively engage the students.

Murfin has proven to be an adept administrator in the program’s academic coordinator role and as chair of the Academic and Professional Progress and Academic Curriculum Committees. Her service to the AAPA Commission on Continuing Professional Development and Education enables her to be at the forefront of changes in the profession.

Patti Ragan served department chair since 2013 and is stepping back to a full-time faculty role. She said she can’t think of a better candidate to take the Elon PA Program to the next level. “We are so fortunate to have Melissa stepping up to lead the program,” Ragan said. “Having worked closely with her the past five years, I am confident she has the talents and skills that will make her very successful in her new role. I look forward to seeing her implement her future vision for the program.” 

The 27-month Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies program includes 12 months of systems-based, academic coursework and 15 months of clinical practicum. The program began in 2013 and has graduated three classes of physician assistants under Ragan’s instrumental leadership. Elon PA graduates have an impressive 97 percent first time pass rate and 100 percent overall pass rate on the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination. 

According to Charity Johannson, professor of physical therapy education, who nominated Skillman for this award, “…she has quickly catapulted the Elon School of Health Sciences’ Standardized Patient program into national recognition, while she works equally diligently to advance the field of patient simulation through ASPE. I can think of no worthier recipient of APSE’s Emerging Leader Award for 2017.”

The Client and Standardized Patient Program within the School of Health Sciences brings members of the community into physician assistant and physical therapy classrooms to provide real and simulated case examples. Clients are people with actual health conditions, while standardized patients are trained to portray those with medical needs. Standardized patients and clients not only afford Elon students a rich, engaged learning experience, they also provide individualized feedback to help students hone their clinical and interpersonal skills. Skillman has been the driving force behind this program, from the original vision to implementation to marked growth within our school.

In addition to her work with ASPE and within the School of Health Sciences, Skillman has pursued scholarship, received an internal grant and award and continued her own education. She co-presented a research poster on the “Use of Standardized Patients to Teach Dementia Care” with Johannson at the 2016 American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting which is currently under review for publication.

Skillman has also presented locally at the N.C. Physical Therapy Association conference and regionally at the Best Practices in Advanced Simulation Conference. At Elon, Skillman has contributed to a funded, internal grant to support the use of technology with standardized patients; received the School of Health Sciences’ Excellence in Service Award in 2013-14; and completed her MBA in 2017.

Skillman was thrilled to win this award, stating, “Elon will now be widely known within the simulation community and I’m honored to be part of the wonderful team that made that happen.” ​