Full Circle

Hello SPH Alumni Blog Readers!

It’s been a bit since I’ve last checked in, and quite a bit has happened!

Most of the first part of 2012 was spent taking on new projects within the Bureau of Health Promotion at KDHE, and also waiting for a new FOA to be released from the CDC Arthritis Program. The new projects kept me busy until the FOA was finally announced in March - and then I got to work providing narratives full of data to support Kansas’ application for continued funding for arthritis efforts in the state. A lot of BRFSS data and Arthritis Call Back Survey data was used to show CDC that Kansas not only is in need of this funding, but that what we plan to do with the funds is best suited for the population we serve. The grant was submitted – and now the program has continued with business as usual while it waits for CDC’s decision.

In April, I was offered a new position within the State of Kansas system – as an analyst for the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. I was excited about the new opportunity, and even more excited because the position was in Kansas City – where I lived for 6 years before deciding to pursue my master’s degree. Many people have joked that I had “come full circle”, and that I was finally coming back home. While it was difficult to leave KDHE and say goodbye to all of the co-workers I had enjoyed working with emmensly, I was excited for the new challenge.

It has been about 5 weeks since I started my new position with NDNQI, and I am amazed at how much I have learned. While there are many similarities between my former position and my current one, I can definitely see that I was trained as an epidemiologist and not an analyst. My position is a lot more statistics focused, and I am expanding my programming abilities in SAS. I am getting to know more about nursing quality, and what types of patient outcomes can be positively affected by high quality nursing care.

There is so much to this new position, I won’t be able to explain it all in one entry, so stay tuned for more! For those of you who can’t wait, feel free to visit the NDNQI public webpage at: https://www.nursingquality.org/.