Following the Clinical Leaders: Dr. Lynne Jensen
Lynne Jensen, PhD, RN, APRN, associate professor, is a key member of the College’s clinical faculty and a leader in nursing practice, research and interdisciplinary education.
A nurse practitioner since 1979, Dr. Jensen is now medical director for clinical care at the Center for the Advancement of Women’s Health at UK and a founding member of the center’s popular women’s health clinic, where she sees patients three days a week.
And those aren’t the only patients she sees on a regular basis. Since 2001, Dr. Jensen has been working with standardized patients, actors trained in the patient role, and writing scenarios for simulations to evaluate student progress in several DNP tracks. BSN-DNP students in the primary care nurse practitioner track, for example, meet one-on-one with a standardized patient and must demonstrate competencies specific to the nurse practitioner role— taking histories, performing physical examinations, making assessments and developing care plans. “These are high-stakes exams,” says Dr. Jensen of the simulations students must pass each semester.
An early member of UK’s Center for Interprofessional Health Education (CIHE), Dr. Jensen was among its first fellows and developed the simulation piece for UK’s Interprofessional Collaboration and Teamwork Skills (iCATS) curriculum. Now in its second year, iCATS brings together medical students and undergraduates from nursing, pharmacy, dentistry and other UK health sciences for learning experiences modeled after today’s team approach to patient care.
In addition to her active clinical practice and role as a nursing educator, Dr. Jensen is also collaborating on two major research studies, one involving interprofessional collaboration and the other on the use of simulation in substance abuse education.
“Her passion and commitment to improving teaching using simulation is unmatched. She is an excellent and highly valued clinician who provides important leadership in advancing women’s health,” says Terry Lennie, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, professor and associate dean of graduate faculty.
