Veteran Academic and Nurse Receives Award for Journal Article

BY: .

UKZN’s BN Programme Co-ordinator Dr Jane Kerr has received the Tau Lambda Presidential Award for an article she co-authored and which appeared in the Africa Journal of Nursing and Midwifery.

Tau Lambda is the African Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) Honour Society of Nursing, established in the United States in 1922. The mission of STTI is: ‘advancing world health and celebrating nursing excellence in scholarship, leadership, and service’.

The article described the experiences of nurses managing a workforce which is HIV and/or TB infected in KwaZulu-Natal.

She was encouraged by her research supervisor and colleague, Professor Petra Brysiewicz, to submit the article in a competition.

Kerr said the award was unexpected, ‘I was shocked, excited and it really boosted my confidence as an academic and an author.’

She thanked her research supervisors and co-authors of the article for their continued support in her academic endeavours.

The authors each received a cash prize and a certificate.

Kerr has been a nurse for 38 years and is experienced in managing HIV/TB infected nurses. ‘I love sharing my extensive experiences with our younger nurses,’ she said.

Kerr, a Nursing Management Lecturer in the Discipline of Nursing, has over 15 years’ experience as a nurse manager.

While studying for her PhD which she completed last year, she received grants from the STTI and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. 

Nombuso Dlamini