School Notes: School of Nursing
November/December 2009

Study aims to improve HIV treatment in China

Improving patients' adherence to HIV/AIDS medication schedules and preventing drug-resistant strains of the virus are the goals of a new study being conducted by YSN professor Ann Williams and colleagues at the Central South University School of Nursing in Changsha, China. Funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, the new study will adapt a nursing intervention that was proven to increase the ability of AIDS patients in New Haven to take their medication correctly. (If AIDS patients fail to take their medications correctly, the virus may develop resistance to the medications, making them ineffective in the future and for other patients subsequently infected by the drug-resistant strain.) The project builds on a long-term collaboration in HIV/AIDS treatment and care among the Yale-China Association, YSN, and partners in Changsha, Hunan province. More details may be found athttp://nursing.yale.edu/News/Features/williams_china_hiv.html.

Professor receives international psycho-oncology award

YSN professor Ruth McCorkle received the Bernard Fox Memorial Award at the International Psycho-Oncology Society 11th World Congress in Vienna, Austria. She was honored for outstanding contributions to the field of psycho-oncology, which focuses on the psychosocial and behavioral aspects of cancer. McCorkle, who is the first nurse to receive this award, commented, "Very few nurses participate in this area; most experts come mainly from psychiatry, psychology, and social work." A pioneer in oncology nursing, McCorkle has spent 25 years researching the role of nurses in improving clinical outcomes in psychosocial oncology, and is the first Florence Schorske Wald Professor at YSN, named for the former dean and founder of hospice in the United States. For more information, please visit http://nursing.yale.edu/News/Features/mccorkle-ipos.html.