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JENNY STEED

CURRENT STUDENT

After 36 years in nursing, Jenny Steed never planned to go back
to school. “I was actually required to go back for the BSN,” says
Jenny, who received a diploma nursing degree in 1980 from Roanoke
Memorial Hospital. She joined Sentara Hospital Systems and became
an acute renal dialysis nurse at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital,
medical center with over 500 beds and the primary teaching institution for
Eastern Virginia Medical School. Along the way, she became a Certified
Nephrology Nurse.
For 25 years, Jenny worked as a staff charge nurse and educator for
dialysis patients, but left Norfolk General in 2005 to try something new.
She joined Gambro, a global leader in renal products and therapies,
as an intensive care therapy specialist, having grown familiar with the
organization through her work at the hospital. “It was interesting to gain a
totally new perspective,” she says. “My job was to work with hospitals all
around the country and show them how to use Gambro’s continuous renal
replacement therapy machines to treat patients with kidney problems. It
was a great step for me.”

Returning to Sentara

When her former boss asked Jenny to return to Sentara Norfolk General in
2010 to become a leadership team coordinator for the acute renal dialysis
unit, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Within a few years of her return,
however, she was informed that the BSN was now a requirement for all
new nurses—and she would need to earn one herself within a few years.

“Norfolk General is a Magnet hospital and Sentara now hires only BSN-
prepared nurses going forward,” Jenny says. “So here I am with all this
experience and I’m faced with having to go back to school.” Admittedly,
however, Jenny has always wanted to further her education. Despite
some nerves about the life change and time commitment, she investigated
programs and learned about American Sentinel University’s online RN to
BSN program through another Sentara employee.

The right fit for her life

Jenny hesitated initially at the idea of online learning, but she was put at
ease by the program structure and the level of support. “The key thing that
stood out to me about American Sentinel was that every single person

www.americansentinel.edu

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