Page 8 - Student-Success-Stories-11-22-2017a

Thanks to luck and fate, Christina says it’s somewhat fortuitous that she
ended up in teaching. “There were four of us in my BSN class, so my
passion for education and active learning started then,” she says. “It was
a fun way to learn and it’s shaped how I try to approach the educational
journey for the nurses I work with today.”
Time for a DNP

In early 2016, Christina began to think more seriously about earning a
doctorate. “I work at an academic medical center,” she says. “Education
is a priority throughout the institution and many bedside nurses now come
in with master’s degrees. If I’m going to continue working as a nursing
practice leader, it seems important that I should be prepared at the highest
level.” The life timing was right—with her children ages five and three—and
Christina began researching practice-focused Doctor of Nursing programs
that would offer her the clinical application that a Ph.D. program might not.
Several of her fellow managers at UIHC were enrolled in American Sentinel
University’s Doctor of Nursing Practice Educational Leadership. “These
are people I respect, and they all told me about what a great program
American Sentinel’s DNP is, and I too, found it was the best fit to achieve
a good work-life-school balance—the time commitment, the number of in-
person residencies, and the program structure,” she says. She began the
DNP in July 2016. “It has proven to be a great program. Every week you
learn something new. The assignments are so great and so applicable. It
lights your fire to continue to learn more.”

Strengthening her resume

Christina plans to finish the Doctor of Nursing Practiced Educational
Leadership in late 2018. “My hope is to use this DNP to advance
professional education at the University of Iowa,” she says. “I want to
position myself as a reputable voice for the Department of Nursing as we
grow as an institution and expand the Nursing Clinical Education Center,
which we’re doing right now. What I’m learning today definitely applies to
the job I’m in, which I absolutely love, but if another opportunity opened up
one day, I know that having an advanced terminal degree will give me a
seat at the table.”

www.americansentinel.edu

8 | Transforming Healthcare Through Education