Page 10 - Back-To-School-10-19-2017

DAVE SCHMIDT

MSN GRADUATE

Twenty-five years ago, Dave Schmidt earned a bachelor’s degree
in psychology and history and began his career at an inpatient
behavioral health unit. “It was such an interesting area that I wanted
to get more education, but as I researched ways to do so, I found that
nursing was the best pathway,” says Dave, a native of New Jersey who
has lived in Pennsylvania since college.
So, on he went to Lancaster General Hospital’s School of Nursing for a
diploma, which he received in 1998. Dave worked as a travel nurse for five
years, gaining experience in emergency care and intensive care. He took a
full-time job at Lancaster General Hospital’s open heart intensive care unit.
There, he met his future wife, also a nurse, whom he would marry a year
later.

Community Health Systems

In 2007, Dave joined Brandywine Hospital, an affiliated facility of
Community Health Systems (CHS), one of the nation’s leading operators
of general acute care hospitals. He was the emergency department
director, while also serving as the deputy coroner for the Lancaster County
Coroner’s Office—a role in which he put his nursing and psychology
backgrounds to good use.

When the chief nursing officer position opened up at a CHS-affiliated
hospital, Jennersville Regional Medical Center, Dave was encouraged by
one of his mentors at work to apply for the job. He was hired in 2011, “It
was a big leap for me and an eye-opening experience to deal with division
leadership and all of the aspects that you face as a hospital administrator,”
he says.
MSN Required

One of the stipulations of getting hired was that Dave would need to get
his MSN within four years. So, he immediately began looking for an online
MSN program that would fit his busy life and help him meet his goals.
“The name that kept popping up was American Sentinel University,” he
says. “I heard many good things and liked the curriculum of the nursing
management and organizational leadership specialization.” In 2012, Dave
enrolled in the MSN program.

www.americansentinel.edu

10 | Transforming Healthcare Through Education