Connie B. Scanga, PhD
Connie B. Scanga has been teaching — and developing — human anatomy and physiology courses since the early 1990s. When a Carnegie Foundation report highlighted professional education inadequacies in the 21st century, and an Institute of Medicine report called for nurses to take on more responsibility in the healthcare system, Dr. Scanga and colleagues were inspired to tackle these important issues in nursing education.
By 2010, Dr. Scanga and other nursing faculty were at work revamping the undergraduate nursing curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania to integrate basic science courses with clinical and laboratory work. Introduced in the 2011-2012 academic year, the new curriculum emphasizes an integration of theoretical knowledge and clinical experience, which fosters clinical reasoning ability. One of the new courses, developed and co-taught by Dr. Scanga, is Integrated Anatomy, Physiology & Physical Assessment. The integrated course provides the foundational science knowledge that underpins nursing physical assessment and is required to situate the understanding of health problems. Each week, students experience three hours of lectures, two hours of anatomy and physiology laboratory work, and two hours of clinical nursing to learn physical assessment skills.
“What we have done with basic sciences – teaching integrated anatomy, physiology and physical assessment to nursing students – is unique in nursing education.”
Education
- PhD, Temple University, 1994
- BA , University of Pennsylvania , 1974
Teaching
Students take Integrated Anatomy, Physiology & Physical Assessment during the second semester of their freshman year and the first semester of their sophomore year. As Dr. Scanga anticipated, the presentation of course content and information in three different settings — classroom, laboratory, and clinic — promotes the students’ grasp of the information and provides for better consolidation of course content.
Dr. Scanga often consults with other nursing schools about Penn Nursing’s successfully integrated course offerings, particularly in accelerated nursing programs. She has also developed a massive open online course (MOOC) entitled “Vital Signs: Understanding What the Body is Telling Us” that incorporates aspects of her integrated course. This course is designed as continuing education for registered nurses.
Opportunities to Learn and Collaborate at Penn Nursing
Though Dr. Scanga primarily teaches her course to undergraduate nursing students, every semester she also accepts non-nursing students who take the course for anatomy and physiology credits. Her positive impact on students throughout the Penn campus gives her tremendous satisfaction, and is one of the aspects of her career that she enjoys the most.
Selected Career Highlights
- Recipient, Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence by Non-Standing University of Pennsylvania Faculty
- Recipient, Dean’s Award for Undergraduate Teaching, School of Nursing
- Inaugural Member, Academy for the Science & Practice of Teaching in Nursing and
Clinically-Related Disciplines, School of Nursing
Selected Publications
- Scanga, C.B. (2007). Stress. In In D. Moser & B. Riegel (Ed.) (Eds.), Cardiac nursing: A companion to Braunwald’s heart disease. (495-515). Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier.
- Sayers, I., Severn, W., Scanga, C.B., Hudson, J, Le Gros, G., & Harper, J. (2004). Suppression of allergic airway disease using mycobacterial lipoglycans. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 114, 302-309.
- Marsland, B.J., Scanga, C.B., Kopf, M. & Le Gros, G. (2004). Allergic airway inflammation is exacerbated during acute influenza infection and correlates with increased allergen presentation and recruitment of allergen-specific T-helper type 2 cells. Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 34, 1299-1306.
- Scanga, C.B., & Le Gros, G. (2000). Development of an asthma vaccine: Research into BCG. Drugs, 59, 1217-1221.
- Ritchie, D.S., Hermans, I.F., Lumsden, J.M., Scanga, C.B., J.M. Robers, J. Yang, R.A. Kemp, and F. Ronchese (2000). Dendritic cell elimination as an assay of cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity in vivo. Journal of Immunological Methods, 246, 109-117.
- Scanga, C.B. & Youssouf, M. (1999). Acquired immune deficiency syndrome. In R.T. Cotton & R.E. Andersen (Ed.) (Eds.), Clinical Exercise Specialist Manual. San Diego, CA: American Council on Exercise.
- Scanga, C.B. (1999). Selected immunological/hematological disorders. In R.T. Cotton & R. E. Andersen (Ed.) (Eds.), Clinical Exercise Specialist Manual. San Diego, CA: American Council on Exercise.
- Scanga, C.B., Verde, T.J., Paolone, A.M., Andersen, R.A., & Wadden, T.A. (1998). Effects of weight loss and exercise training on natural killer cell activity in obese women. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 30, 1666-1671.
- Scanga, C.B., Verde, T.J., Paolone, A.M., Andersen, R.A., & Wadden, T.A. (1995). Effects of weight loss and exercise training on natural killer cell activity in obese women. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 27 (Supp), abs, .