As a scholar and teacher, I remain committed to building strong relationships with my students and faculty colleagues so we can collaboratively pursue our goals of quality, cost-effective, evidence-based healthcare, and knowledge development. Through teaching students how to critically think, they are better prepared to apply the scholarship they are gaining to areas of their current and future work. I teach from a social cognitivist approach, incorporating strategies which fosters modeling knowledge, to facilitate student’s knowledge uptake and incorporation in their clinical practice. I desire to awaken student’s curiosity about science while providing them with tools to be actively informed consumers of science and knowledge generators for the future. Whether my audience is prelicensure nursing students, advanced practice nurses, other experienced health care providers, or the general population there are various approaches I take to partner with them for increased knowledge and preparedness.   

My clinical practice informs my research; and, my research informs my clinical practice, teaching, and mentorship. I am committed to generating new knowledge through research, but I also recognize that my impact through teaching is a strategic investment in the scholars and knowledge base of the future. Clinically, as a dually certified family nurse practitioner and psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, I have provided education on eating disorders and developmental disabilities at numerous local, regional, national, and international conferences as well as through invited lectures. My students have been at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral level and for practicing health care providers.

Teaching Experiences and Approaches for Graduate Students

As a clinical instructor in the UNC School of Medicine, adjunct faculty at the UNC School of Nursing, and doctoral student at the Duke School of Nursing, I have taught Master of Science in Nursing students, preparing to be family nurse practitioners and family psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners, and Doctor of Nursing Practice students.  At UNC, the substantive knowledge my students seek is the medical and psychiatric evaluation and treatment for individuals across the lifespan. These students have acquired competency as nurses and now are seeking to expand their clinical scope including acquiring prescriptive authority. One strategy I utilize to awaken student’s curiosity which resonates with students, is case studies designed to synthesize key health management principles providing students familiarity with complex contexts within which they will be providing care. For master’s and doctoral students, within the interdisciplinary Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities program at the University of North Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, my co-facilitators and I complement didactic lectures with case study and role play approaches. This content includes the effects of aging in the context of Down syndrome and the similarities and differences from aging among adults who are typically developing, and important treatment implications.

I co-developed and co-led, the Nurse Practitioner Education in Developmental Disabilities (NPEDD) curriculum through the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry and the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council. We recruited, organized, and coordinated a diverse panel of national experts (e.g. advanced practice nurses, PhD researchers, medical doctors, social workers) to deliver webinar-based clinically focused knowledge. I co-taught the module Clinical Pearls in the Assessment and Management of Behavioral Health for Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities seeking to help student acquire additional knowledge uniquely required for the psychiatric evaluation and treatment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We developed the webinars to address the needs of individuals with disabilities across the life-span and across biopsychosocial needs (e.g. primary care, sexual health, ethical considerations, psychiatric, neurology, aging). This approach generated content suitable to be implemented within each nurse practitioner specialty track. Upon completion of the webinar development, we collaborated with two Florida-based NP programs to support their faculty in the successful implementation of the NPEDD curriculum within each of their nurse practitioner tracks of their MSN programs.

During my doctoral studies at Duke, as a teaching assistant, I co-facilitated a doctoral level nursing statistic course and a pediatric nurse practitioner management course. We used innovative strategies including, asynchronous didactic approaches and simulation activities to meet the scheduling demands of students from across the country and Duke School of Nursing’s rigorous standard. Duke’s Excellence has been recognized by the U. S. News and World Report, with Duke School of Nursing’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program and Master’s program ranked #2 for 2020. The doctoral level nursing statistic course Quantitative Methods for Evaluating Health Care Practices contained 70 students. I co-developed “jings” which are research-based case studies with the additional layer of the statistical methodology our students are acquiring. This provides students the opportunity to synthesize research design and statistical analysis plans through scenario approach. Within the Duke pediatric nurse practitioner course, Advanced Practice Nursing Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Primary Care Clinical Management (N644) and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Mental Health (N524), I co-taught a combined 50 graduate nursing students. In each of the courses I have taught, using case studies and simulations, learners consistently communicate their appreciation for these strategies that facilitate their appraising and accessing the educational content in the complex contexts within which this new knowledge will be employed. When I see students lean in and their affect brighten, I know they are beginning to own the content. These Duke teaching roles provided me with training experiences in online teaching methodology and innovative use of on-campus intensive sessions.

Teaching Experiences and Approaches for Health Care Professionals Continuing Education

Through NPEDD, my collaborators and I leveraged the virtual webinar format this continuing education opportunity would be accessible to practicing nurse practitioners to increase their capacity to provide evidence-based disability informed care. We achieved accreditation for NPEDD through The American Association of Nurse Practitioners for continuing education credit. Subsequently, I co-founded and co-lead the North Carolina Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities Health Fellowship for Advanced Practice Professionals at the UNC Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities. In this capacity, I also incorporate distance and in-person teaching methodology and clinical mentorship to nurse practitioners within this year-long fellowship. Across each of these settings and through these teaching methodologies, I remain committed to integrating technology and implementing experiential approaches (‘jings’, case studies, simulations) to engage all types of learners in synthesizing what they are learning and honing their clinical decision-making skills. By asking learners to reflect on their own experiences with the subject being taught (e.g. individuals navigating life with disability) personally and professionally, students can contribute unique experience they have that further enriches the sessions exploration of health disparities and strategies to improve equity and inclusion.

Professional Development and Future Goals

As a Duke doctoral student, in addition to my PhD program of study, I pursued formal pedagogical training and received a certificate in college teaching. This additional education has helped me learn innovative teaching approaches that leverage current evidence-based approaches, technology for learners with diverse needs. The knowledge I gained through this elective study has poised me to provide greater clinical training and convey research insight for those desiring to become future nurses, nurse practitioners, and nurse scientists. My expertise as a researcher and advanced practice nurse equips me to incorporate classroom teaching methodologies as well as mentorship through research activities. I am prepared and experienced in teaching introductory as well as advanced practice courses. My future teaching goals include developing a graduate nursing course on the treatment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the lifespan as an effort to reduce the significant health disparities they and their families experience. By forging collaborative training efforts and engaging innovative teaching approaches with new groups and associations, my students, colleagues, fellow researchers, and patients have the opportunity for enriched learning and improved delivery of quality healthcare.