Ashelee Loewen – Nursing Faculty Profile, University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences
Ashelee Loewen, Nursing Faculty at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS), began her nursing career in the hospital before becoming a family nurse practitioner focused on preventative and outpatient care. She was drawn to primary care because of the opportunity to build lasting relationships with patients and their families and follow their health journeys over time.
Loewen especially enjoys working with graduate and doctoral nursing students who are often experienced nurses themselves. Returning to school can mean stepping back into the role of a learner, and she takes pride in helping students navigate that uncertainty and build confidence in their new area of practice.
She sees that growth firsthand during hands-on experiences, including the on-campus nursing intensive for family nurse practitioner students. These moments allow students to put their knowledge into practice while learning directly from faculty.
For Loewen, mentorship is about being there for students through the challenging moments and celebrating as they become confident, capable nurse practitioners.
Transcript
Ashlee Loewen – Nursing Faculty Profile, University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences
[00:00:00] Ashlee Loewen (Nursing Faculty): Well, it started with really wanting to pursue an option in healthcare. It’s a growing field. I knew that there was a place for me in, in healthcare caring for others. And so I decided to be a nurse, and I started out in the bedside nursing, caring for patients in the hospital setting. And then I wanted to do more. [00:00:18] Ashlee Loewen (Nursing Faculty): What I saw was patients needed care outside of the hospital, more of a preventative approach to medicine. And so I went into seeking to become a nurse practitioner, and I went down the family nurse practitioner route so that I could shift towards the outpatient setting and provide preventative medicine, better hands-on patient education and support. [00:00:39] Ashlee Loewen (Nursing Faculty): My favorite part is really getting to see a patient over time. It’s not in and out. It’s getting to grow with the patients, their families, all of the members of their families, getting to provide care and education, see a difference, getting to see them over time as they grow and mature, and as I get to be a part of their healthcare journey, whatever that is, whether it’s an acute problem or a chronic condition, and getting to help them you know, manage their chronic diseases, get healthier in many instances, and really just become part of the family for them. So that’s why I like this role in the outpatient setting as a family nurse practitioner. [00:01:16] Ashlee Loewen (Nursing Faculty): Getting to engage with the student and be part of their journey from that feeling of this novice, because really what we’re dealing with in graduate school and doctoral programs is that these are skilled nurses, and many of people have been nurses for a really long time. [00:01:29] Ashlee Loewen (Nursing Faculty): But to go back to school and to kind of go back to that feeling like a novice, it can be uneasy for some people. So I get to be this support on the journey as they kind of go back to feeling uncomfortable, and then as they progress and become more confident. It’s so rewarding to see that, that moment when they get something or they, they understand, or they get to experience the hands-on activities that we do at our on-campus nursing intensive for the family nurse practitioners. [00:01:56] Ashlee Loewen (Nursing Faculty): And so to get to be part of that journey and that experience with them as they’re growing into this new profession that’s part of their foundation of nursing, it’s very, very rewarding and exciting for me and the student, and I enjoy that.
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