By Amanda E.H. Pritchard
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing postdoctoral fellow and alumna Courtney E. Sullivan, PhD, RN, CPNP-AC, CPHON (MSN 2013, PhD 2021), is co-leading the baseline nursing standards project for the International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) in Lima, Peru.
As part of the project, Sullivan, who currently chairs the SIOP Nursing Network, recently was invited to speak at a ceremony the Peru Ministry of Health hosted for nurse leaders at its National Cancer Institute in Lima in recognition of their progress implementing the six SIOP Baseline Nursing Standards for Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Those standards consisted of nurse staffing, orientation for new nurses, continuing education, multidisciplinary team communication, adequate clinical supplies, and evidence-based procedures with the aim of improving the care of children and adolescents with cancer.
“The goal of the project was to assess the standards on the children’s unit, provide feedback to the leaders there and develop a collaborative plan with nursing, medicine and administration to support the achievement of those six standards. Ultimately, we aimed to establish the institute as the first Center of Pediatric Oncology Nursing Excellence in Latin America to achieve the standards," Sullivan said. “In preparation for the visit, my colleagues and I validated a Spanish survey of the Standards and designed an on-site assessment instrument and methodology, furthering the baseline nursing standards program of research.”
Sullivan said the project began before she started her postdoctoral fellowship at UAB,when she was the Global Nursing Project Coordinator at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the Department of Global Pediatric Medicine. The Global Nursing Project is a joint effort of the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, St. Jude Global, the International Society of Pediatric Oncology, World Health Organization Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer and the Peru Ministry of Health.
While the project is now on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges, such as staffing and leadership transitions, it remains a priority for her, her colleagues and the National Nursing Committee for the Peru Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer.
“We are engaging their new nursing leadership and exploring what this project may look like moving forward,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan earned her PhD in 2021 with a research focus of assessing and improving nursing quality through the development of quality measures for international pediatric oncology nursing practice. She now works as a postdoctoral scholar at UAB under the mentorship of the UAB School of Nursing’s Dr. Patricia Patrician with an interest in measuring, improving and generating evidence for pediatric cancer nursing outcomes globally.
Encouraging others called to serve globally, Sullivan advises, “think global, act local.” Adding, “There’s much diversity and need in your own community. It’s a great place to start to open your eyes and mind to the needs of other people, different cultures and ways of thinking that will help you to gain cultural awareness and appreciation.”
An international outreach experience after high school led Sullivan to pursue a career in nursing.
“That was the first time I was exposed to great disparity in resources and living conditions in many limited resource countries,” Sullivan said. “I was drawn to working with children because I saw a great need. I viewed nursing as a practical way to meet that need through my international work.”
