Full Leadership Council Video

Speakers: Grace Udoh, BSN to DNP Student at Regis College. Chanelle Pearson, ELMSN Student at Brenau University. Tyler Gaedecke, PhD Student at Columbia University

Tyler Gaedecke: Hi, my name is Tyler Gaedecke. I'm a second year PhD student at Columbia University School of Nursing.

Chanelle Pearson: Hi, my name is Chanelle Pearson. I'm an ELMSN student at Brenau University.

Grace Udoh: Hello, my name is Grace Udoh, and my degree program is the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner BSN to DNP track at Regis College.

Aimy Jakini: Hello, my name is Aimy Jakini. I am in the PMHNP BSN to DNP program at University of Cincinnati.

Akeeka Davis: Hi everyone. I am Akeeka Davis. I am currently studying at Villanova University. I am a third year PhD candidate and our focus is on the teacher-scholar model and also to become a nurse scientist and nurse in research.

Valerie Escamilla: My name is Valerie Escamilla and I am completing a BSN to DNP program in executive nurse leadership at Abilene Christian University.

Julia Black: Hello, my name is Julia Black. I am an MSN student with a concentration in midwifery at the University of New Mexico.

Otitolola Fletcher: Hello everyone. My name is Otitolola Fletcher. I go by Otit. I am currently in the PhD program at the Cizik School of Nursing at UT Health Science Center in Houston.

Farida Bibi Mughal: Hi, my name is Farida and I'm a second year PhD student at School of Nursing, University of Michigan.

Tyler Gaedecke: I was originally drawn to nursing because I wanted a profession that blended both my interest in science and in people. And I had thought about other professions, like teaching or medicine or other medical professions, but I hadn't really thought about nursing. And I remember in my first year dorm in college, I was talking about this with some friends, you know, we're all having these like career/life crises about like what are we going to do with ourselves? And one of them heard me saying all this and said, well, have, have you thought about nursing school? Have you thought about being a nurse? And no one had ever said that to me before? And I looked into applying to transfer into my university's nursing school for undergrad and the rest is history. That was one of the best decisions I ever made. And over time, what I've fallen in love with most about nursing is its capacity to really affect the health of populations, to affect more than just individuals. And I think a big part of that is the social justice capacity of nursing as well. That means so much to me.

Chanelle Pearson: I worked in the medical field for about 20 years, but what drew me to nursing was the opportunity to provide more holistic care.

Grace Udoh: I always wanted to be a nurse at a very tender age. As time went on, I encountered events that solidified that conviction in me. When my uncle was sick and required a surgery, it was a nurse in a village that worked in the hospital in the city that notified us about the missionaries that were coming to perform surgeries for free. And because of that, my uncle got the necessary surgery and thanks to the nurse, he is still alive today. So that has been my very good motivation, that I really wanted to become a nurse.

Aimy Jakini: So the reason I chose nursing, besides my mom being a nurse, was because of my strong desire to have a positive impact on patients' lives, especially during their most unique, vulnerable moments of their lives. I also noticed having a lot of empathy and compassion, and it made it easy too, and fulfilling to be a nurse.

Akeeka Davis: What drew me to nursing was being able to go out in the world and make a difference. As nurses, we train heavily and focus on how to take care of human beings, preserve health, and concentrate on better health outcomes. And that's very special. Nursing is an art and a science in which you have to obviously go through rigorous training and learn a tremendous amount of science and math and statistics and social sciences as well to go out and apply what we've learned from a scientific perspective, but also from an art perspective, being able to have that human touch, the fact that we are giving holistic care to really save lives. And that is, to this day, I've been a nurse for over a decade and to this day, you never get tired of it. It's so exciting to wake up every day and figure out new ways of doing things, better ways of doing things. And that for me was what drew me to nursing.

Valerie Escamilla: One of the reasons that I became a nurse was because I wanted to work in an environment where I could provide care to patients. Being a nurse is, is very special because you can, you know, work with patients in their most vulnerable stages while they're at the hospital and not feeling well, and you really get to develop that rapport with them and advocate for them and make sure that they're comfortable and that they have good experiences. I think nursing is just a a very rewarding profession overall. And another part of the reason as to why I became a nurse is because my mom is actually one as well. She has been a nurse for over 20 years, and I feel that just seeing her do her job every day, making such an impact on those patients and being recognized for her hard work has really been a source of inspiration for me and she has been just such a great role model. And I can really, you know, really thank her for, you know, being where I am today. And you know, I'm so glad that I did choose this field.

Julia Black: I've always known that I wanted to become a nurse. I started my nursing career as an LPN, which was a great start into nursing and I got a lot of really good experience. I went back to school, got my RN and my BSN, and I knew pretty early on that midwifery was gonna be the course that I was eventually going to pursue. And I am in my second semester now and I am so excited that I'm on my way and now I get to care for people in a different capacity, and it is really thrilling and very exciting and I can't wait to get started.

Otitolola Fletcher: So what drew me to nursing? Well, I knew from a young age that I definitely wanted to be in health care. My mom was a nurse and so I would definitely say that that inspired me. But what really solidified, my choice of the nursing profession was in 1999 when my mom got sick. She unfortunately contracted meningitis and she was in the ICU for about 3 to 4 months. And I remember she went from one hospital to the next and she probably had what I would consider the worst nursing care that anyone could ever have. And I remember thinking that I wanted to become a nurse so that nobody else's family member would have to go through what I went through, and that I wanted to give the best care possible and to make sure that my patients were well taken care of.

Farida Bibi Mughal: I was always passionate about working from a community. And I was most importantly inspired by my elder sister who was pursuing nursing. This is how I got into nursing program.

Tyler Gaedecke: I'm on this journey to get my PhD because I want the skills that it takes to do research that really makes an impact on the health of communities and populations, in particular, marginalized folks. I have a particular focus on sexual and gender minorities, especially transgender and gender diverse individuals. And for me, my career plans once I've completed my PhD are to go on for further training to become a independent nurse scientist and a tenure track faculty member at a research-intensive nursing school so that I can build a career mentoring nurses, but also doing work that impacts policy, impacts health systems, and creates transformational change for the communities that need it most.

Chanelle Pearson: My ultimate goal is to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist. So once I finish this program, I'll start in ICU.

Grace Udoh: I would like to be at the forefront of the decision-making table to advocate for nurses at the bedside and to advocate for access to healthcare for all. I would also like to open my own practice and make the healthcare facility accessible to people in the community.

Aimy Jakini: Once I've completed my degree, hopefully, first pass the board, but then practice as a PMHMP and hopefully continue my leadership roles within mental health organizations and continue advocating, improving mental health services hopefully at the state level by working with professional nursing associations to shape mental health policy.

Akeeka Davis: When I complete my PhD program at Villanova University, I'm definitely gonna be in a classroom. I'm gonna be a nursing professor, but also I want to be a nurse executive. I'm definitely going the executive track. I see myself in the boardroom making those important decisions and advocating for our profession as a whole. There is a tremendous amount of things that are going on within our profession and we need more nurse leaders. So the leadership council is preparing me for that and I cannot wait to both be in the classroom and also be in the boardroom where I can be a part of the important decision making that needs to take place for our profession.

Valerie Escamilla: Once I've completed my degree, my hope is that I can utilize the education and the knowledge that I've obtained and to hopefully share that with other nurses throughout the organization. I would like to be a mentor in evidence-based practice and my goal would be to hopefully make that process a little bit more simpler and attainable for them to understand when tackling, you know, different EBPI projects or initiatives. I think it's so important that, you know, nurses have a good understanding and feel confident and competent with working on the EBP process as far as tackling certain issues or problems that they come across in their units. And that is something that I think probably needs improvement in a lot of different organizations. So overall, I think that being able to provide that support is something that's super important to me. And I'm hopeful that I can continue to grow in the organization and be an asset in that capacity so that the nurses will continue to make those impacts on their units and help to improve those patient experiences and those patient outcomes.

Julia Black: After I've completed my degree and passed boards and become a licensed midwifery provider. I would hope to find a great position that allows me to practice midwifery, you know, provide care to my patients, but also gives me a great support network so that I have somebody to refer to and provide, you know, any additional support or questions that I may have as a new provider taking care of my first set of new patients. And really, I just want to establish great work habits and learn how to best provide care for my patients and be the best provider that I can possibly be.

Otitolola Fletcher: Once I complete my PhD, I would like to continue building upon my program of research on the nursing workforce and the challenges that nurses face. I also hope to secure nursing faculty positions that I'm able to continue to pour into the nursing profession and mold future nurses.

Farida Bibi Mughal: Once I complete my degree, I want to be a nurse research scientist and an advocate who can raise the voices of domestic violence survivors. I'm sure by being a researcher, I will be able to add to the scientific body of knowledge.

Tyler Gaedecke: Originally my answer to this was sushi. But I think that that actually would get old to me after a minute. What has never gotten old my entire life is cereal. There are so many different kinds. I mean, definitely Captain Crunch shredded wheat. Those are up there. Those are incredible. Reese's Puffs, anybody? But I, you could just have that for any meal of the day, breakfast, snack, dessert, dessert is a meal and you can have it for that meal. I think that it's probably the best food ever and it's the most reliable, most varied. I could eat it forever.

Chanelle Pearson: If I could eat one food for the rest of my life, it would be Panda Express.

Grace Udoh: If I could eat one food for the rest of my life, that food will be rice. I can eat rice all day and night. I can make rice in so many different ways. I am not tired of eating rice. So rice is my go-to food.

Aimy Jakini: If I could eat one food the rest of my life, it would have to be Mexican food because of the diversity, the various flavors, and how they're all created from diverse traditions. And it brings people from all diverse backgrounds and we're all able to indulge in yummy Mexican cuisine.

Akeeka Davis: If I can eat one food for the rest of my life, I swear, would it be a French fry? I know it's not healthy. I am on this nutrition kick right now, but that is my guilty pleasure. My ultimate healthy food that I would eat for the rest of my life is spinach. So I am torn between two worlds.

Valerie Escamilla: So, if I could eat one food for the rest of my life, I would probably have to pick shrimp cocktail. I can make an amazing shrimp cocktail and I could see myself eating that on a daily basis. Now, I don't know if this is the only food that I would have. If so, I probably would skip breakfast for the rest of my life, but definitely lunch and dinner. I can see that occurring.

Julia Black: If I had to pick one food that I had to eat for the rest of my life, I suppose I would pick fruit, and if I had to pick a specific fruit? Oh, dear. I couldn't, I would just pick fruit. How about fruit salad? I feel like that's a good way to get around that one.

Otitolola Fletcher: Ok. So if I could eat one food for the rest of my life, what would it be? That's a tough one considering that I'm a foodie, and so I love all food. But if I had to choose just one thing, it would be curry chicken with buss up shot, which originated in Trinidad because that's where I'm from. So definitely I can eat curry chicken and buss up shut all day, every day of my life.

Farida Bibi Mughal: So food that I can have for the rest of my life is nihari. This is one of local Pakistani food which is very yummy, spicy, and delicious. So I can have it for the rest of my life.