I have enjoyed 26 years of an exciting, fulfilling, and at times, challenging career in nursing.  I entered the profession years ago as a CNA, obtained my LPN, and a few years later completed my ASN, followed by my BSN at University of South Florida.  I recently completed my graduate degree in nursing education at Florida State University.  Throughout my nursing career, I have worked in many areas/specialties including long term care, home health, orthopedics, neurology, day surgery, emergency services, neuro ICU, and cardiac ICU.  I am currently a CNIII on a cardiovascular surgical ICU, and love it!!  Throughout my experiences, I have realized that there are certain characteristics needed to be successful in the nursing profession.  First, nurses must possess a solid foundation of scientific knowledge of the human body, including normal physiology and pathophysiology, and an understanding of the psychosocial development and health of their patients.  In addition to these cognitive skills, nurses must possess the psychomotor skills required to perform safe and appropriate patient care while also understanding the evidential basis for these interventions.  Likewise, nurses must possess interpersonal skills that allow them to interact effectively with their patients and colleagues in order to optimize patient outcomes.  They must also be able to interact with their patient while appreciating and respecting their patient’s individuality and free will. 

My goal as a nurse educator is to facilitate the formation of the student nurse into a competent practitioner that possesses a solid foundation of scientific knowledge and judgement, a competent skill level, and ethical comportment to practice in today’s diverse and challenging health care environment.  Additionally, I aspire to ignite the desire within my students to actively participate in the advancement of the profession through research, scholarship, and leadership throughout their nursing career. 


I believe that the best way to achieve these goals is to promote an effective learning environment that actively engages the student in the learning process, to utilize strategies that build upon prior knowledge, and to provide opportunities that allow the student to apply theory to realistic scenarios during the educational process.  I believe nursing is an inclusive profession, and my classroom reflects this.   I appreciate the diverse learning styles, culture, life experiences, and backgrounds of my students, and incorporate these diversities in the learning environment.   I utilize various teaching methods in order to encompass all types of learners.  I encourage the sharing of experiences, backgrounds, traditions, and challenges by students in a nonthreatening environment so that we all may benefit from each other’s experiences, and learn from each of our perspectives.  I believe this helps to cultivate a culture of acceptance and an appreciation of the gifts that each of us brings to the nursing profession.

Most of all, I feel it is a privilege to be able to facilitate and encourage the development of our future nurses, and am honored to have the opportunity to do so.