Nursing Dean Lang wins award

Nursing School Dean Norma Lang was named an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom at the organization's annual meeting in London last week. The fellowship recognizes Lang's work in quality assurance, which seeks to establish standards for patient care for the nursing profession. The prize came in the form of an elaborate, gold pin trimmed in royal blue. It presently occupies a place of honor on a table in Lang's office. Lang described the award presentation as "very ceremonious." "It's the English way of doing things," she said. Lang said she was especially honored to have been acknowledged in a foreign land. "It's a real honor to be recognized by another country," Lang said. "It's especially an honor, because sometimes in some of the other countries, they view things in the United States with some sort of distance." As a doctoral student, Lang developed a quality assurance model that concentrated on both the qualitative and quantitative measures of patient treatment. Lang's philosophy emphasizes the diverse array of practice settings within which nurses function, and how each is different. "What I encourage nurses to do is sit down and establish standards for their practice," she said. Now, 20 years later, the model has become an international standard that is used by nurses associations in five countries. The Royal College confers awards once a year in the form of either a fellowship or an honorary fellowship.

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