Child Health Nursing : Partnering with Children and Families

Jane W. Ball graduated from the Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Nursing, and subsequently received a BS from the Johns Hopkins University. She worked in the surgical, pediatric emergency, and outpatient units of the Johns Hopkins Children’s Medical and Surgical Center, first as a staff nurse and then as a pediatric nurse practitioner. This began her career as a pediatric nurse and advocate for children’s health needs. Jane obtained both a Master of Public Health and Doctor of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus on Maternal and Child Health. After graduation she became the Chief of Child Health Services for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Health. In this capacity she oversaw the state-funded well child clinics and explored ways to improve education for the state’s community health nurses. After relocating to Texas, she joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing to teach community pediatrics to RNs returning to school for a BSN. During this time she became involved in writing her first textbook, Mosby’s Guide to Physical Examination, and it is currently in its fifth edition. After relocating to the Washington, DC area, she joined Children’s National Medical Center to manage a federal project to teach instructors of Emergency Medical Technicians from all states about the special care children need during an emergency. Exposure to the shortcomings of the emergency medical services system in the late 1980s with regard to pediatric care was a career-changing event. With federal funding, she developed educational curricula for emergency medical technicians and emergency nurses to help them provide improved care for children. A textbook entitled Pediatric Emergencies, A Manual for Prehospital Providers was developed from these educational ventures. For the past 10 years she has managed the federally funded Emergency Medical Services for Children National Resource Center. As executive director, Dr. Ball directs the provision of consultation and resource development for state health agencies, health professionals, families and advocates about successful methods to improve the health care system so that children get optimal emergency care in all health care settings.

Ruth C. Bindler

Ruth Bindler received her BSN from Cornell University ― New York Hospital School of Nursing in New York. She worked in oncology nursing at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and then moved to Wisconsin and became a public health nurse in Dane County, Wisconsin.  Thus began her commitment to work with children as she visited children and their families at home, and served as a school nurse for several elementary, middle and high schools. Due to this interest in child health care needs, she earned a Master of Science degree in Child Development from the University of Wisconsin. A move to Washington State was accompanied by a new job as a faculty member at the Intercollegiate Center for Nursing Education in Spokane, WA. Dr. Bindler has been fortunate to be involved for 28 years in the growth of this nursing education consortium, which is a combination of public and private universities and colleges and is now the Intercollegiate College of Nursing/Washington State University College of Nursing. Presently she teaches the theory course in child health and a course on cultural diversity and health, as well as serving as lead faculty for the theory and clinical components of child health nursing. Her first professional book, Pediatric Medications, was published in 1971, and she has continued to publish articles and books in the areas of pediatric medications and pediatric health. Special research interests are in the area of cardiovascular risk factors in children, a topic that was the focus of her recent Ph.D. work in Human Nutrition at Washington State University. Ethnic diversity has been another theme in her work. She facilitates international and other diversity experiences for students, performs research with culturally diverse children, and volunteers for Habitat for Humanity. Dr. Bindler believes that her role as a faculty member has enabled her to learn continually, to foster the development of students in nursing, and to participate fully in the profession of nursing. In addition to teaching, research, publication, and leadership, she enhances her life by service in several professional and community activities.

Kay J. Cowen

Kay Cowen received her BSN from East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. and began her career as a staff nurse on the pediatric unit of North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem, N.C. She developed a special interest in the psychosocial needs of hospitalized children and preparing them for hospitalization. This led to the focus of her master’s thesis at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) where she received a MSN in Nursing Education with a focus in maternal child nursing.

Mrs. Cowen began her teaching career in 1984 at UNCG where she continues today as Clinical Associate Professor in the Parent Child Department. Her primary responsibilities include coordination of the pediatric nursing course; teaching classroom content and supervising a clinical group of students. Mrs. Cowen’s shared her passion for the psychosocial care of children and the needs of their families through her first experience as an author in the chapter “Hospital Care for Children” in Child Health Nursing: A Comprehensive Approach to the Care of Children and Their Families published in 1993.

In the classroom Mrs. Cowen realized that students learn through a variety of teaching strategies and became especially interested in the strategy of gaming. She led a research study to evaluate the effectiveness of gaming in the classroom and subsequently continues to incorporate gaming in her teaching. In the clinical setting Mrs. Cowen teaches her students not only the skills needed to care for patients, but the importance of family centered care, focusing not only on the physical needs of the child but the psychosocial needs of the child and family as well.

During her teaching career, Mrs. Cowen has continued to work part time as a staff nurse; first on the pediatric unit of Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, N.C and then at Brenner Children’s Hospital in Winston Salem, N.C. In 2006 she became the part time Pediatric Nurse Educator in Brenner’s Family Resource Center. Through this role she is able to extend her love of teaching to children and families.

Prior to joining the author team, Mrs. Cowen served as a reviewer for the first edition of this textbook and also developed supplementary materials. She authored two chapters in the 4th edition of Pediatric Nursing: Caring for Children. Through her new role with the author team Mrs. Cowen is able to extend her dedication to pediatric nursing and nursing education. Mrs. Cowen is married and the mother of two college age sons.