VCU School of Nursing hosts inaugural Feierstein Lecture on advancing nursing image and practice
The nature and scope of innovation, as well as taking an idea and advancing it from research and practice to implementation was the focus of the inaugural Feierstein Lecture that drew 150 students, faculty, alumni and other health care practitioners recently to the VCU School of Nursing. Nationally renowned nurse leader Michael R. Bleich, Ph.D., RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, president and CEO of NursDynamics, LLC, presented on the topic “Galvanizing the Advancement of Nursing Image and Practice.”
Bleich discussed how nurse caregivers, educators, and scientists observe the best and problematic clinical practices that make them ideal innovators.
“The unique perspective of nurses — caring for individuals, in the context of family, and further, in the context of community — gives the profession great depth and breadth,” Bleich said. “Innovation is another level of caring and impacting lives.”
Bleich recently joined the school part time as a visiting professor for one year. A recognized scholar and thought leader, he has held clinical, consultative, service, academic, and association leadership positions. Among his many contributions important to the advancement of the discipline is his engagement as one of the five nurses on the committee that wrote the seminal report, “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,” issued through the Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The Feierstein Lecture was made possible by the Feierstein Leadership and Innovation Fund established by alumna Lisa Feierstein, M.B.A., RN, (B.S.‘78/N), and her husband, Steve, with a gift in December 2016. A registered nurse who went on to become a pioneer in her field, Feierstein is president and co-founder, along with her husband, of Active Healthcare, a premier provider of medical equipment located in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Feiersteins established the fund to support a lectureship series or other activities that propel nurses to influence health care through innovation, leadership and entrepreneurship by helping them gain confidence and a broader vision of themselves as innovative change agents.
View a photo album from the lecture on the school’s Facebook page.
Left to right: Dean Jean Giddens, Dr. Marianne Baernholdt, Dr. Michael Bleich, Lisa Feierstein and Steve Feierstein
