Nursing and Medical Education Research Area

Dr. Terri Gaffney’s research interests are in strengthening the nursing workforce. She has led research studies focused on teaching and learning strategies as well as error recovery and political engagement. She convened leaders across the Commonwealth of Virginia to explore innovative strategies for clinical nursing education. Now formally established as the Virginia Task Force on Innovative Clinical Education Models, Dr. Gaffney continues to lead this group which launched the Earn While You Learn program to accelerate practice readiness among new nurse graduate nurses.

Dr. Maureen Moriarty’s research focuses on innovative strategies in educating primary care clinicians on topics related to primary headache diagnosis and management. Works include publications in print and electronic media on pathophysiology of migraine, alternative strategies in headache treatment, and identification of knowledge base in primary headache from graduate education. Current work centers on national assessment of knowledge gaps in graduate education of nurse practitioners and physician assistants with planned standardized educational intervention addressing these identified needs.

Deborah Smith’s research focuses on evaluating the different facets of a student nurse’s experience in learning medication administration: confidence, teaching strategies, remediation, and simulated experiences.  She also is involved with virtual prenatal care and works with Virginia Hospital Center’s OB/GYN clinic in evaluation of their program.  She is also interested in using different technology platforms and integrating technology based assignments in nursing education.

Dr. Maryann Valcourt’s research agenda is designed to advance nursing knowledge in the area of clinical practice and nursing education of the baccalaureate and advance practice nursing student, with a focus on the pediatric population. Currently, I have conducted research on teaching strategies to improve students’ confidence and competence with dosage calculation.