Shalala delivers 2010 Littlefield Leadership Lecture

Donna Shalala, former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will deliver the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing‘s annual Littlefield Leadership Lecture on Friday, Oct. 15.

Shalala, now president of the University of Miami and former chancellor at UW–Madison, will present highlights from the Institute of Medicine/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing.

Shalala serves as co-chair of this initiative, which was organized to find solutions to the continuing challenges facing the nursing profession and ways to improve quality and transform the way Americans receive health care.

The initiative’s recommendations were released on Oct. 5 in the report titled “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,” available at http://www.iom.edu/nursing. The recommendations include new ways to enlarge nursing’s scope of practice; develop seamless pathways to educational advancement; support and develop nursing leadership; and address nursing’s expanded role in the health care workforce.

Her lecture will be held in the Wisconsin Union Theater. Doors open at 8 a.m., and the program begins at 9 a.m. Following Shalala’s presentation, a response panel — including Katharyn May, dean of the UW–Madison School of Nursing; Carolyn Krause, president of the Wisconsin Nurses Association; and Richard Sinaiko, founder and CEO of Sinaiko Healthcare Consulting — will elicit audience discussion.

Admission to the lecture is free; however, a ticket is required. For further ticket information, call the Wisconsin Union Theater Box Office, 608-265-2787.

After lunch, the program will focus on examining the Future of Nursing report’s implications for Wisconsin. Highlights of the afternoon’s discussions will be published in the November issue of Nursingmatters. A longer report will be issued in the future.

More information about the Initiative on the Future of Nursing can be found at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Web site: http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=44748