Dr. Janene Luther Szpak, DNP, PMHNP-BC
Associate Professor
Biography
Dr. Janene Luther Szpak is an associate professor at Robert Morris
University with over 21 years of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing
experience and seven years as a Nurse Educator. She received her Doctor of
Nursing Practice Degree (DNP) from Robert Morris University, where her
research included “Simulation Decreases Nursing Student Anxiety Prior to
Communication With Mentally Ill Patients.” Dr. Szpak’s work in the area of
simulation and Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing has been published in peerreviewed journals to include Clinical Simulation in Nursing and Journal of the
American Psychiatric Nurses Association. In the area of simulation, she has
utilized both high-fidelity methods and the use of standardized patients. In
the courses she teaches across the curriculum, Dr. Szpak authors and
incorporates various psychiatric mental health simulation scenarios that are
used to enhance student learning outcome objectives. She has contributed
as a content reviewer and debriefer and has had a role in the development
of various interprofessional simulation training videos with her colleague, Dr.
Kirstyn Kameg, Director of the Access to Interprofessional Mental Health
Education (AIME) Health Resources and Services Administration grant. Dr.
Szpak presents internationally, nationally, and regionally. Most recently, she
and Dr. Kameg were invited by the Domestic Violence Task Force of Magee
Women’s Hospital of UPMC where they created and presented an
interprofessional simulation training video, “Strategies for Assessment and
Management of Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence with Traumatic Brain
Injury.” Dr. Szpak serves as a member of the North Stars Advisory Board
and advocate to decrease violence in the greater Pittsburgh area. She is
also a faculty liaison, and Train-the-Trainer for the End of Life Nursing
Education Consortium (ELNEC) in Palliative Medicine. In this capacity, she
incorporates how to provide care for our nation’s veterans and active
military through nursing curriculum. She has participated in an NLN pilot
project in which she conducted a standardized patient simulation on PostTraumatic Stress Disorder.
In addition to her academic appointment at Robert Morris University, Dr.
Szpak is in private practice as an Adult Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse
Practitioner at Palliative Care Associates, Sewickley, PA, where she provides
management of care to those patients and families who are experiencing
life-threatening disorders empowering them to live as well as they possibly
can within the limits of their illness.
Publications
2015
Kameg, K.M., Szpak, J.L., & Richardson, L. (2015). Pediatric Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder: An Update for Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nurses.
Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing. Accepted manuscript
with revisions submitted. Manuscript ID: JCAPN-15-0006.R1.
2014
Kameg, K. & Szpak, J. (2014). Utilization of Standardized Patients as a
Teaching Methodology for Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Education.
Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 20(1), 68.
Kameg, K. M., Szpak, J. L., Cline, T. W., & McDermott, D. S. (2014).
Utilization of standardized patients to decrease nursing student anxiety.
Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 10(11), 567573. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2014.09.006http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.e
cns.2014.09.006
2013
Kameg, K.M., Szpak, J.L., Woods, A., & McCormick, M. (2013).
Identifying and managing nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior in the primary
care setting. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse
Practitioners,(25),4. 167-172.
2011
Szpak, J.L., & Kameg, K. (2011). Simulation Decreases Nursing Student
Anxiety Prior to Communication with Mentally Ill Patients. Clinical
Simulation in Nursing. e1-e7. (doi:10.1016/j.ecns.2011.07.003).
2008
Howard, V., Englert, N., Perozzi, Szpak, J. (2008). Implementation of
Simulation Across the Nursing Curriculum: Student and Faculty Perceptions.
Book Chapters and Reviews
2015
Textbook reviewer: Essentials of Psychiatric Nursing, 1st Edition, by Mary
Ann Boyd. Wolters Kluwer.
Peer reviewer: Clinical Simulation in Nursing research journal.
2014
Peer reviewer: Clinical Simulation in Nursing research journal.
2013
Szpak, J. (2013). Ri L. Dementia. Simulation Learning System for
Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing (Scenario 10). Available
from https://evolve.elsevier.com.
Szpak J. (2013). Tessa W. Borderline Personality Disorder. Simulation
Learning System for Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing (Scenario 11).
Available from https://evolve.elsevier.com.
Other Scholarly Work with Simulation
2015
Content reviewer: Test item questions, script writing, and debriefing
content of medical residents and psychiatric nurse practitioner students for
simulation. Part of the Access to Interprofessional Mental Health Education
project (AIME) funded by a Health Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA) grant. Interprofessional workshop held in March, 2015.
Professional Training Videos:
Development of a simulation training script/video on Intimate Partner
Violence (IPV) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) for presentation at Domestic
Violence Week at Magee Womens Hospital of UPMC. Participants included
physicians, APRNs, RNs, and Social Workers. October, 2015.
2014
Portrayal as a nurse practitioner in an educational video used for training
medical residents and psychiatric nurse practitioner students for medical and
psychiatric scenarios. The video series was part of the Access to
Interprofessional Mental Health Education project (AIME) funded by a Health
Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant. Video filmed, June,
2015, and June, 2014.
2013
Content Reviewer: National League for Nursing (NLN)
Coordinated and conducted standardized patient simulation on PostTraumatic Stress Disorder. Evaluation process completed after simulation.
Robert Morris University, April, 2013.
Grants
2013
“Use of Standardized Patients to Reduce Nursing Students’ Anxiety Related
to Communicating with Patients Experiencing Mental Illness.” ($5000)
Pennsylvania Higher Education Nursing School Association (PHENSA)
Received highest score for submitted proposals; March, 2012; Kameg,
Szpak, & McDermott. Presented at PHENSA, October, 2013.
International
Presentations
2014
Universidad Politecnica de Nicaragua (UPOLI), Managua, Nicaragua.
Psychiatric Mental Health presentation on depression, suicide, and anxiety.
Provided for nursing students, faculty, physicians, and community. Spoke
at request of President Lydia Zamora. November, 2014.
2012
International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and
Learning (INACSL) Conference. Poster Presentation: “The Effect of
High-Fidelity Simulation in Nursing Students’ Anxiety related to
Communicating with Patients Experiencing Mental Illness. Received 2nd
Place Award for poster. Saddle Up for Simulation: Lasso the Best Simulation
Ideas. San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter, San Antonio, TX. June 20-23,
2012.
National
2013
American Psychiatric Nurses Association, National Conference.
Podium presentation: “Utilization of Standardized Patients as a Teaching
Modality for Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Education.” Presented with
Kirstyn Kameg, DNP, PMHNP-BC. Leading Change, Advancing Mental Health
. San Antonio, TX. October 10-12, 2013
Elsevier Faculty Development Conference. Podium Presentation:
“Psychiatric Nursing: It’s Not About the Trauma…It’s All About the
Drama!”Overview on the use of standardized patients as a teaching
methodology in the psychiatric nursing specialty. Presented with Kirstyn
Kameg, DNP, PMHNP-BC. MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada. January
2-5, 2013.
Regional/Local
2015
Magee Women’s Hospital of UPMC-Domestic Violence Task ForceSpeaker. “Strategies for Assessment and Management of Survivors of
Intimate Partner Violence with Traumatic Brain Injury.” Presented with
Kirstyn Kameg, PMHNP-BC. Pittsburgh, PA. October 20, 2015. Created
simulation training video on IPV and TBI shown to nurses, physicians, and
social workers.
The Sixth Annual Rita M. McGinley Symposium, Duquesne University:
Exploring Social Justice for Vulnerable Populations: The Face of the
Person who has Experienced Violence. Podium and poster
presentations: “Educating Nursing Students on Intimate Partner Violence:
Knowledge Integration from Classroom Theory and a Standardized Patient
Simulation Experience.” Presented with Cora Koller, JD, Kirstyn Kameg,
PMHNP-BC, and Janet Barber, MSN, RN. October 22-23, 2015. Pittsburgh,
PA.
AWHONN PA Section Conference. “Educating Nursing Students on
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Presented poster with Kirstyn Kameg,
PMHNP-BC, Cora Koller, JD, and Janet Barber, MSN, RN. September 26,
2015. Robert Morris University, Moon Township, PA.
2014
Pennsylvania State Nurses Association (PSNA) Region #6. Speaker for
meeting: “Overview of Alcohol and Drug Use Disorder Assessment and
Options in Primary Care Setting.” Presented with Kirstyn Kameg, PMHNP-BC
and Luann Richardson, PhD., FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC. October 7, 2014.
Pittsburgh, PA.
American Psychiatric Nurses Association, Pennsylvania Chapter.
Podium presentation: “Utilization of Standardized Patients as a Teaching
Modality for Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Education.” Presented with
Kirstyn Kameg, DNP,PMHNP-BC. The State of the State: Current Issues in
Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing in PA. April 4, 2014. Friends Hospital,
Philadelphia, PA.