Shirley J. Farrah

PhD, RN, BC

Interest Area: Includes Continuing Nursing Education, Program Planning, Development, Implementation and Evaluation. Adult Learning Principles, Application of Theory to Practice, Impact of Continuing Education on Practice

A continuing nursing education administrator for 22 years, Dr. Farrah directs the Nursing Outreach and Distance Education (NODE) unit of the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. NODE is the primary educational outreach arm of the School of Nursing and has been nationally accredited and/or state approved as a provider of continuing education since its creation in 1957. NODE sponsors about 60 continuing education activities each year, and awarded CD credit to over 3100 Registered Nurses and other healthcare providers in 2005-06.

Although NODE hosts statewide, regional, and national CE activities, in keeping with the School's niche in rural health-care, most participants are from rural areas. In 2005-06, RNs from 81 (70%) of Missouri's 114 counties and the city of St. Louis attended educational programs sponsored by NODE. Nine out of 10 Missouri RNs attending NODE programs are from rural Missouri.

Dr. Farrah's prior experience includes teaching in both junior and senior colleges as well as at MU. Her practice experience includes positions as staff nurse, team leader, primary nurse, education nurse, research nurse, and staff developer, all in hospital-based settings, in both rural and metropolitan areas. Her research focuses on transfer of learning from the classroom to the practice setting. She serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing and has published in journals such as Nursing Educator and the Journal of Continuing Higher Education. She has been nationally certified in the area of continuing education and staff development through the American Nurses Credentialing Center since 1992. Over the last five years, Dr. Farrah has received $685,828 in competitive grants & contracts, serving as the Project Director for projects ranging from continuing education for school nurses, to maternal child health, to transferring geriatric research into practice.

Recipient of several awards including:

• Excellence in Nursing Award, Alpha Iota Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau, March 2006.
• Friend of the Missouri Association of School Nurses (MASN), April 2003.
• Division I Best Paper Presented by a New Investigator at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, April 2000
• Excellence in Research Award, Region IV, University Continuing Education Association, 1998-1999
• Excellence in Service Award, MU Sinclair School of Nursing, 1994-1995
• Provost's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Extension and Continuing Education, 1991
• American Nurses Association Council on Continuing Education and Staff Development Scholarship, 2991
• Research Award, National University Continuing Education Association, Division of Conferences and Institutes, 1989.
• First place winner (long-term category) for "The Practice of Gerontological Nursing within a Self-Care Framework," from the National University Continuing Education Association, Division of Programs for Women, Creative Programming Awards, 1989.

Publications

Grants and Contract

Press Releases:

Business Side of Nursing

Business Side of Nursing video

 

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