Students like Sommer Eagle (’03) may one day help the state of Michigan eliminate its shortage of nurses. Eagle, already a registered nurse and Eastern Michigan University alumna, decided to give herself more career options by continuing her education in a master’s program in nursing and through a unique, grant-funded certificate program: “Teaching in Health Care Systems.”

Michigan has an estimated 117,000 licensed registered nurses, but is facing a shortage of about 70,000 registered nurses in the years ahead. To meet that challenge, two things need to occur: more students need to pursue careers as nurses and more classrooms and professors need to be added to prepare them.

Recently, EMU collaborated with Dearborn, Mich.-based Oakwood Healthcare System to introduce more current nurses to careers as teachers in the field. The program was funded by a $61,091 grant from the Michigan departments of Community Health and Labor and Economic Growth. EMU provided an additional $47,453.

Fifteen nursing students, who had already earned bachelor or master degrees in nursing, were recruited to participate in the 12-credit (four courses) certificate program, said Naomi Ervin, director of EMU’s School of Nursing.
“We know there’s a shortage of nurses nationwide,” Professor Ervin said. “That’s alarming. Even more alarming is the shortage of nursing faculty to train more nurses. It is nothing short of critical.”
(To further meet those challenges, EMU recently approved a new doctoral program. Graduates will be awarded a Ph.D. in educational studies with a concentration in nursing education or urban education.)

In the certificate program, students developed skills in curriculum development, teaching strategies and curriculum evaluation. They also had to complete 135 practicum hours with a nursing faculty member as a way to gain hands-on teaching experience.

“I really like to teach,” said Eagle, who earned a bachelor of nursing degree from EMU in 2003 and who works for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in the area of disease management. “The exposure I had as part of this four-course program has given me a greater appreciation for teaching, and a greater interest in pursuing it as a career.” She expects to complete her master’s in nursing with a focus on adult health programs, in April.

During the program’s practicum hours, Eagle was assigned to student-teach a health-assessment class of EMU undergraduate nursing students. Her practicum hours included time preparing and giving lectures as well as working in a lab associated with the class. Additional hours were met by grading quizzes and tests and attending meetings and conferences. Professor April Bigelow was her preceptor; her supervisor was Professor Betty Beard. Both are from the School of Nursing.

Through student teaching, Eagle learned to work with students at various experience levels. The experience helped her own development, too, by giving her the chance to apply lessons from her classes to those she taught. The certificate program also broadened her understanding of the work involved in preparing and giving a lecture. Essentially, she was allowed the opportunity to try on the life of a professor.

Nurses in the certificate program were recruited from the Oakwood Healthcare System, local hospitals, health-care systems in the area and schools of nursing. Classes were conducted in traditional and non-traditional settings through weekend workshops and online lectures at Oakwood facilities, EMU and clinical settings.

Eagle began her bachelor’s studies in 1999 and has always appreciated the University’s alternative education methods. Working and attending school full time was possible due to evening, off-site and online courses. She joined BC/BS in December 2002 and also worked at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital from 2003-05 in the cardiac/coronary intensive care unit.

She credits Professor Beard as a key influence in her decision to continue her studies through the post-bachelor’s certificate and the master’s programs. The certificate program has allowed her to develop new skills and enhance existing ones. With this program, she has more options in the nursing field – and more chances to succeed.

“No matter what age we are, I believe we all have something to learn from each other. I appreciate that EMU also promotes that same philosophy throughout all my classes,” Eagle said.

EMU professors Beard, Barbara Scheffer (’01), Lisa Wiswell, Sandra Nelson and Michael Williams taught all the required courses for the certificate and have been instrumental in preparing students for the field of teaching.

“Developing a cadre of nurses who are prepared for clinical teaching will be a resource for all schools of nursing in southeastern Michigan,” Professor Ervin said. “We’ll have a prepared pool of instructors available for when faculty begin to retire in greater numbers in the next decade.”