Meet Three of Chatham’s Newest DNP Graduates
A group of Chatham University Doctor of Nursing Practice students, in the home stretch of their online program, stepped onto campus for the first time last week. Some came from Pittsburgh, others traveled from across the state. One flew in from Hawaii.
Attending the two-day residency is the one time these students are required to come to Chatham’s campus. Pulse@ChathamU spoke to three of these students, all of whom are working nurses, about their experience in the yearlong program, their work as nurses, and their final projects.
April Woofter, DNP ’23, gives her presentation at Chatham University’s DNP on-campus residency. (Mick Stinelli)
April Woofter, DNP ’23, was jetlagged and cold when she arrived in Pittsburgh from Honolulu, but she was excited to present at the on-campus residency.
Woofter didn’t think she would have been able to obtain a doctorate-level degree until a childhood friend convinced her of it. A DNP seemed untouchable.
“I will not lie to you, I was nervous the whole time,” said Woofter, who works at the Fertility Institute of Hawaii as their chief compliance officer. “I didn’t know what to expect.” But her longtime friend, who’d taken a different asynchronous online program, convinced her to stick with it.
“I think, since technology is so advanced, the hours spent at the library don’t happen anymore,” Woofter said. “Everything is right at your fingertips, which made it really easy and super convenient to obtain this degree virtually.”
By the end of the program, she felt like she had developed a relationship with several of the professors in the program. “They knew me, and I felt like I knew them,” she said.
Woofter said everything she learned in the program has gone towards helping her in her job. Her capstone, which focused on finding ways to increase genetic testing for patients despite the high price tag, has already improved her clinic’s ability to educate patients about the benefits of the procedure.
She said she hopes her capstone allows her colleagues to see nurses’ work in the same light as physicians’. “I definitely want to promote the nursing discipline as one that is equal in providing care, and problem-solving, and trying to better patient and clinical outcomes.”
Dan Graves, DNP ’23, poses next to his pasteboard presentation in the living room at Mellon Center. (Mick Stinelli)
Dan Graves, DNP ’23, a certified registered nurse anesthetist at St. Luke’s Health Network in Bethlehem, Penn., knew he wanted to pursue a doctorate. But it wasn’t until he talked to colleagues about where he should go that he decided to come to Chatham for it.
“You could get your doctorate at hundreds of schools in the country online,” he said. He searched for a year, looking at cost and program structure. Chatham stuck out because he could obtain his DNP in just a year.
Graves’ job currently sees him in the operating room with patients and working administratively as a program director. He hadn’t been in school for 17 years when he signed up to get his DNP from Chatham.
Even with two master’s degrees under his belt, he was surprised at how much writing he did. “You can’t mail it in like you could in undergrad,” he said. “You have to actually do the work, every bit of it.” By the end of the year, he was glad he did it.
“I loved Chatham’s program for what they gave,” he said. “They do an amazing job of not only giving you the full experience of what you need to get your doctoral degree, but doing it in a short time frame, it’s very organized, there’s consistency across all the professors.”
His project covered pediatric airway management for infrequent providers. He said he wanted his project to show how seriously he took the program and how much he learned from it. “I want to move this project forward still and see if I can create some better outcome possibilities for anybody in our valley where we live.”
Carrie Vincett, DNP ’23, poses for a photo at December’s DNP on-campus residency. (Mick Stinelli)
Carrie Vincett, DNP ’23, has worked at UPMC Children’s Hospital for over 30 years. As the senior director of critical care medicine, she helps oversee the pediatric intensive care unit. Furthering her education was always a personal goal. Colleagues at the hospital recommended Chatham to her.
“I felt like the program really fit my needs,” Vincett said. She liked completing it in a year and felt it was reasonably priced.
And despite having a demanding job and kids, Vincett felt she was able to add schoolwork to her load and still have time for life. “When I had an event or a family function that I needed to go to, I planned that out,” she said. “I knew when I needed to get my schoolwork done in order to attend things that I wanted to do.”
The faculty was communicative, she said, and wanted to connect with students despite the program being online.
Her project, a tool aimed at standardizing patient handoff between the ICU and other departments, came together after she noticed communication causing issues in quality of care. She saw improved satisfaction and communication in the process after implementing her project at Children’s.
“I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off of me,” she said. “But also, I feel very proud of the accomplishment that I made and the learning that I was able to obtain through the classes.”
Learn more about Chatham University’s online Doctor of Nursing Practice program, designed for professional nurses who hold master’s degrees. Students in the program use evidence-based practices to advance their knowledge in their clinical specialty areas.