Nurse Educator, Developer of the DEU, to Present 2010 Bullough Lecture

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Kay Edgecombe, RN, BN, MN, known internationally for her development of the Dedicated Education Unit (DEU), will present the University at Buffalo School of Nursing's 14th Annual Bonnie Bullough Lecture at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 28 in the Adams Mark Hotel in downtown Buffalo.

The lecture, "Dedicated Education Units -- Authentic Collaboration," is free and open to the public.

Edgecombe, a lecturer at the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Flinders University, Australia, has focused her academic research on the transfer of learning from theory to practice having developed the conception and initial implementation of the Dedicated Education Units in 1996.

The DEU is an innovative approach to nursing education that combines the academic expertise of faculty educators with hospital staff nurses. Students, faculty and staff nurses become part of a team for teaching best practices in nursing care to undergraduate nursing students. Since 1996, this model has been used in a number of countries. Edgecombe is exploring further development of the DEU via a current tour of a number of schools of nursing throughout the U.S., culminating in her visit to UB.

A specialist in infection control and wound management, Edgecombe maintains Australia's longest-running infection control course for nursing clinicians.

Her most recent publication, "The Ongoing Search for Best Practice in Clinical Teaching and Learning: A Model of Nursing Students' Evolution to Proficient Novice Registered Nurses," appeared in Nurse Education in Practice in 2009.

Also in 2009, Edgecombe's contribution to nurse education was recognized with a national Australian Learning and Teaching Citation for the DEU as "an internationally acknowledged strategic, sustained collaboration utilizing the attributes of patients, nurses, academics and students to provide an optimal clinical learning environment for undergraduate students."

Edgecombe received her diploma of teaching (nursing), and her bachelor's and master's degrees in nursing from the South Australian College of Advanced Education (Sturt Campus), which was joined with Flinders University in 1991.

Edgecombe is a member of the Australian Nurse Teacher's Society, the Infection Control Association of South Australia and the Wound Management Association of South Australia.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system that is its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities. The School of Nursing is one of five schools that constitute UB's Academic Health Center.