'Future of Nursing' town hall

The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing is among the sponsors of a town hall meeting next week to discuss the “Campaign for Action” stemming from last year’s national report, "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change and Advancing Health."

The town hall, Partner with Nurses for a Healthy California, is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, starting with lunch, in the auditorium at the UC Davis Cancer Center, 4501 X St., Sacramento. The lunch and program are free; advance registration is required by Thursday (July 28), by telephone, (916) 734-2145, or online.

The federal government’s Institute of Medicine issued the nursing report in October, exploring how nurses’ roles, responsibilities and education should change significantly to meet the increased demand for care that will be created by health care reform and to advance improvements in the country’s increasingly complex health system.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation sponsored the report, and, in partnership with the AARP’s Center to Champion Nursing in America, appointed the California Action Coalition as one of five such “Campaign for Action” coalitions nationwide to lead the implementation of the report’s recommendations.

The foundation and the AARP are co-sponsors with the School of Nursing in sponsoring next week's town hall. The organizers said the program will include presentations by nurses, as well as a panel discussion with health care leaders to identify priorities in efforts to improve California’s health.

The organizers said the panelists will include Susan Hassmiller, senior adviser for nursing at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Jeannine English, a member of the AARP national board of directors; Terry Hill, a physician who specializes in long-term care; Helen Thomson, a registered nurse and former state assemblywoman and Yolo County supervisor; and Anita Creamer, a Sacramento Bee reporter who covers older adults and aging issues.

Shared service brown bag July 25

The Shared Services Implementation Team is hosting another in a series of brown bag meetings, Monday (July 25), offering an update on the campus’s shared service center project.

The next update after that is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 25.

All employees are welcome to attend, with no preregistration necessary (seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis). Both meetings are scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. in the Hamilton Room at the Heitman Staff Learning Center.

Each program will include a question-and-answer session, the organizers said.

More information.

Reduction-in-time program expanded

Human Resources announced that employees in six bargaining units may now be eligible for the Employee-Initiated Reduction In Time program.

The bargaining units:

• CX — Clerical unit, including administrative assistants, key entry operators and dispatchers, represented by the Coalition of University Employees, or CUE.
• EX — Patient care technical unit, including hospital assistants and dental assistants, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME.
• HX — Residual health care professionals, including clinical laboratory scientists and dieticians, represented by the University Professional and Technical Employees, or UPTE.
• RX — Research support professionals, including staff research associates and clinical research coordinators, also represented by UPTE.
• SX — Service employees, including custodians and groundskeepers, also represented by AFSCME.
• TX — Technical unit, including computer resource specialists and computer operators, also represented by UPTE.

The Employee-Initiated Reduction in Time program, or ERIT, took effect July 1, allowing eligible staff to voluntarily reduce their work time from 5 percent to 50 percent (full-time equivalent), for a minimum of one month to a maximum of 12 months, or until June 30, 2012.

Participation is voluntary and subject to supervisory approval. Even then, employees can opt for reduction in time only if their departments or units choose to participate — and for represented employees, only if their unions agree to the program, as is the case with the units listed above.

ERIT allows for reduction in work time from 5 percent to 50 percent (full-time equivalent), for one month to 12 months, or until June 30, 2012.

The program is not open to the Senior Management Group or academic appointees. The health system and the School of Medicine are not participating.

More information.

UCOP and police reach labor accord

The UC Office of the President announced that the Federated University Police Officers Association, representing the UC system’s 249 officers, has ratified a new contract with the university, effective July 1.

The agreement includes no wage increases; however, every officer who for at least one year has been maxed out on pay — i.e., he or she is at the top of his or her pay scale — will receive $100 a month for 15 months. Each officer will stop receiving this payment if he or she moves up a step in the pay scale due to longevity.

Police officers agreed to pay UC’s new health premiums starting in January and to make contributions to the UC Retirement Plan at the same level as other employees.

Chancellor to meet with health system staff

Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi plans to talks about a variety of of initiatives during a town hall meeting with health system employees on Monday (July 25).

The meeting is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Matsui lecture Hall, 1222 Education Building, on the Sacramento campus, with health system staff on the Davis campus invited to participate via teleconference in 6202 Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility.

The program includes a question-and-answer session after the chancellor’s presentation.

Among the initiatives that she plans to address:

• “Innovation Hub” — to better connect UC Davis research with entrepreneurs, accelerate the transfer of campus discoveries into commercial products, and develop the local and regional economy. Earlier coverage.
• Budget Ideas — suggestions gathered from faculty, staff, students and administrators for generating more revenue, increasing efficiency and cutting costs. Check out the ideas.

Read more about UC Davis initiatives.

Merced med students start in Davis

The UC Davis School of Medicine will soon welcome its first cohort of students in the UC Merced San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education, or PRIME.

The five students’ medical education will begin with two years at UC Davis, apart from some educational and research projects in the San Joaquin Valley, according to a UC Merced news release. In years 3 and 4, the students will conduct clinical rotations in the valley.

Four of the students are from the valley — Modesto, Fresno, Fowler and Bakersfield — and the fifth is from Salinas, in Monterey County. The Modestan, Sidra Ayub, is a graduate of UC Davis; the others graduated from UC Berkeley, Merced and Santa Cruz, and California State University, Long Beach.

They were at UC Merced this week for orientation, and are due to start their classes Aug. 1.

UC Davis and UC Merced announced their medical partnership last September, to begin medical education in the valley. UC San Francisco’s Fresno program also will help in training the PRIME students.

PRIME is supported in part by a United Health Foundation gift to UC Merced.

“The San Joaquin Valley-PRIME represents the University of California’s efforts to expand medical education and train physicians who will care for residents in underserved parts of the state, including our valley,” said Dorothy Leland, chancellor of UC Merced.

Read more.

New blog, new name for athletics PR unit

Aggie Athletics insiders are “Thinking Outside the Boxscore” — in a new blog that goes by that name.

“Over the course of the year, we'll bring you musings that don't always make it into the box scores but are hopefully just as interesting,” said Mike Robles, assistant athletics director, in his opening post July 7.

The next day, Mark Honbo blogged about his unit’s new name: Athletics Communications, replacing Athletics Media Relations, which replaced Sports Information. The new name more accurately encompasses what we do, said Honbo, assistant director of Athletics Communications, led by Robles.

Said Honbo: “The rise of the Web-based new media, coupled with the economy-induced shrinkage of newspaper and television sports departments, means our office no longer serves as a mere liaison for print and broadcast outlets.

“Instead, we have become yet another of those outlets. With all due respect to my friends on Third and G Streets in town, when most fans want news about the Aggie student-athletes, not only do they check the pages of The Davis Enterprise but they will also visit the official ucdavisaggies.com website.”

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