Bidwell Nominated for UK Libraries Award
BIDWELL NOMINATED FOR UK LIBRARIES AWARDMadisonville Community College President Dr. Judith L. Rhoads is pleased to announce the nomination of Jeffrey Bidwell, of Muhlenberg County, for the University of Kentucky Libraries Award for Intellectual Achievement. The award recognizes high intellectual achievement and promotes education and creativity throughout the commonwealth. Community colleges play an important role in our nation s economic recovery and Mr. Bidwell has displayed exceptional use of his intellect and leadership skills in support of community college education, specifically in his contributions to the development of career pathway programming in the field of Surgical Technology. Currently, he serves as coordinator of the college s Surgical Technology and Surgical First Assistant programs. In that capacity he has positioned the First Assistant program at the forefront of surgical technology education. The Surgical First Assistant program is one of only a few Surgical First Assistant programs in the nation, and due to his efforts, it was the first such program - fully accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs - to be delivered online in a hybrid format. Today it serves as a model career pathway program, providing convenient access to currently employed healthcare professionals. Students obtain didactic instruction online, and through clinical rotations coordinated by Mr. Bidwell and use of web-based instructional technology, complete those clinical rotations close to home while remaining employed. In fall 2013, 83 students from 20 different states nationwide were enrolled in this innovative program.
In addition to creating this innovative mode of program delivery, Mr. Bidwell played a critical role in establishing standards by which Surgical First Assistants are certified within the state of Kentucky. In 2004, he authored the legislation for Senate Bill 206, sponsored by Senator Brett Guthrie, which placed Surgical Technologists and Surgical First Assistants under the jurisdiction of the Kentucky Medical Board, a ground-breaking accomplishment in the field of Surgical Technology. The certification process set a standard of professionalism within the industry in order to enhance patient safety through regulatory oversight. Mr. Bidwell continues to serve in an advisory capacity to the Kentucky Medical Board s Surgical Assisting Committee, and currently serves on the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting Assessment and the Core Curriculum Committee of the Association of Surgical Technologists. The Core Curriculum Committee is instrumental in establishing nationwide competencies and learning outcomes for associate degree programming. He has also served on the Accreditation Review Council in Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting which is responsible for the accreditation of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting programs throughout the United States. Currently he serves as Vice-President of the Kentucky State Assembly of Surgical Technologists and is a member for the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical First Assistant certification item writing committee.
On top of being an effective program coordinator, classroom instructor, and advocate for his profession, Mr. Bidwell is a published author in his field. His article Total Knee Arthroplasty was the lead article in April 2006 issue of The Surgical Technologist: Official Journal of the Association of Surgical Technologists (Vol. 38, No. 4), and in March of 2012, he contracted with F.A. Davis Company - an independent nursing, medicine, and health sciences publisher since 1879 - to co-author Surgical Procedures for Surgical Technologists and Surgical Assistants, scheduled for publication in summer of 2014. It will be the first textbook in the field to address content and instruction from the perspective of surgical anatomy and to address all aspects of surgical assistant s role in the operating room.
Award nominations will be reviewed and a recipient selected by the UK Libraries National Advisory Board during their fall meeting and presented during the Board s annual spring meeting.
