College of Nursing & Health Care Professions

The One Foundation Lunch and Learns, which began Friday, offer a perfect opportunity for faculty members to learn more about teaching from a Christian perspective. “It sustains a conversation that is necessary,” said Dr. Jason Hiles, Dean of the College of Theology. Five more one-hour sessions are scheduled during the academic year, and the first 100 people to sign up get a free lunch.

Jerry Perkins emerged from a challenging childhood to become a foremost authority on radiation exposure as it relates to X-ray machines, medical lasers, etc. His students benefit greatly from that knowledge, but equally impressive is his hard work in battling a major community issue. And besides all that, he also is a triathlete.

The College of Nursing and Health Care Professions is always looking for ways to help students improve their skills. One way is by introducing actors, called standardized patients, to the college’s simulation lab. The inclusion of real, live actors — six of them this semester, including some GCU students — will help the college’s future nurses and health care professionals critically think through patient scenarios that replicate real-world situations so that they’re better prepared for their professional careers.

Alicia Shields is passionate about leadership. She writes about it. She reads about it. She speaks about it. But the new online instructor in the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions also has a fascinating background — check out what she does when she gets bored.

Photos by Elizabeth Tinajero and Enrique Lucha GCU News Bureau Thursday’s Welcome Week activities included socials for the Academic and Career Excellence (ACE) centers and transfer students, ROTC orientation and a welcome-back party for Worship Arts students.  

Move-In gets the year started off right for incoming GCU students, but it has the same effect on the volunteers who help them. Whether they’re helping for the first time or are seniors and have done it every year, they treasure the excitement. “It’s my third year, and it’s always the same energy,” said one.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Projections for 2016-2026, registered nursing is among the top occupations for job growth. Despite that growth in the field, the number of nurses emerging from higher education wont’ be enough. The bureau estimates the country will need more than 1 million registered nurses by 2024, and the outlook is even more dire for Arizona. Read how GCU and partner GCE are trying to alleviate the problem.

The new GCU Innovation Center now has a director (Robert Vera), a home (Building 66 at 27th Avenue), a slogan (“Create your purpose”) and a GCU-oriented goal — to provide opportunities for both GCU students and local start-ups. Dr. Randy Gibb, Dean of the Colangelo College of Business, calls it “a different way to approach this start-up world.” Vera certainly knows how to approach that world as well as a lot of other ventures. He’s even a best-selling author.

John Catania was close to completing his engineering degree, even landing an internship. But the deeper he dug into the program, the more he knew he didn’t feel a connection to what he was studying. He had no passion for it. So he switched his career track to nursing — a decision he hasn’t regretted. One moment comes to mind when he knew he was meant to be a nurse. It was when a patient suffered a heart attack while he was making rounds at the hospital, and he helped save the man’s life. Catania, a GCU online student from Port Charlotte, Fla., who is pursuing his master’s degree to become an acute care nurse practitioner, received the national DAISY Award this summer. The award recognizes exceptional nurses for the work they do.

For the second straight quarter, GCU’s nursing graduates have posted the highest first-time pass-rate among the state’s major universities on a national licensure examination. They exceeded a 98% first-time pass rate for each of the first two quarters of 2019 on the National Council Licensure Examination, which determines whether a student is ready to start working as a nurse. “The fact that we’ve been able to sustain those high first-time pass-rate numbers two quarters in a row shows that we’re doing the right things,” said Amy Leach, the college’s NCLEX Success Manager. “… We’re performing well compared to what the national and state standards are.”