CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2019 - 14

Many people see addiction
as something wrong with a
person or a character defect
rather than the product
of their life experience."
- Linda Driscoll Powers

RESEARCH
Creepy Creatures,
Dangerous Stigmas
& Deadly Oversights

PREMIERE POSTER PRESENTATION COVERS IT ALL
By Debra Melani

his is the hardest thing I've done
in years."
Those were the words of one of four
judges tasked with choosing three
winners from two dozen posters
lining the Ed2 North-South Bridge
on the Anschutz Medical Campus.

All student tracks were represented
at the event, which kicked off the first-ever College of Nursing's
Research and Scholarship Symposium on Sept. 6. CU Data Science
to Patient Value (D2V) co-sponsored the symposium.
About 75 attendees milled about the poster-lined bridge, including Dean Elias Provencio-Vasquez and the next day's keynote
guest speaker: Thomas Clancy, health informatics expert from
the University of Minnesota.
Here is a snapshot of the students' work:

COMBINING CREATIVE ART WITH CHEMOTHERAPY
Jennifer Raybin, MSN, RN, CPNP
Pediatric palliative care program leader, Children's Hospital
Colorado - PhD Program
A 10-year-old girl smiles for the camera as she holds her artwork

CU College of Nursing | Fall/Winter 2019

Nasser
Al Salmi
explains his
research into
HIV drug
adherence.

- a picture of a dangerous-looking creature - in front of her
chest. Plastic tubes poke out from behind the masterpiece, covering her lap. Peach fuzz tops the little girl's head as she beams
up from her hospital chair.
Called a 'Narwhal-a-saur,' her creation "might look a bit mean,"
the little girl explained in a narrative on the other side of the
research poster bearing her photo. "But he is really nice. His
sharp teeth and horns contain healing powers," said the girl,
a cancer patient. "When he bites or pokes a person, it doesn't
even hurt."
After two decades in pediatric oncology, CU Nursing PhD candidate Jennifer Raybin has seen her share of suffering, watching her
little patients struggle with pain, illness and the concept of death.
As a lifelong dancer and lover of the arts, Raybin also knows
creative work makes people feel better.
"It started with out-patients coming to the infusion center

CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2019

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