New TONL Membership Category – MSN Nursing Administration Students

By C. Plonien
 
For many reasons, 2020 has been a year of challenge for nurses. Nurses, who in this Year of the Nurse, have also become front-line “heroes” in heath care as they have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Time given and time taken during the pandemic has hit nursing on numerous fronts. Nurses at the “at the point of care” and nurses “behind the scenes” – as caregivers, managers, leaders, or administrators, have all sacrificed their time and energy to ensure high-level care of patients, often risking their own personal health. Consequentially, their responses in giving of time and energy has brought innovative ideas of positive change with applications to a new world of health care.

In 2020, many nurses in graduate programs have maintained their support to patient care as RNS, while continuing their time commitment to professional education. TONL has pushed beyond normal boundaries of professional organizations to support emerging nurse leaders, creating a membership category for nurses enrolled full-time or part-time in a graduate level nursing executive leadership program or nurse administration. The offer expires April 30, 2021, and the first year of Graduate Student Membership is complimentary. The Second and Third years of Membership will be 50% off the Full Membership Fee.

Since the membership offer began in May of 2020, 127 graduate students have joined TONL from numerous universities and health care organizations.  

Listed below are a few new members to TONL who have joined in the past few weeks who will be graduating from nursing administration programs in December 2020. It is but a sampling of the nurse leaders finding value in joining TONL, a professional organization that focuses focusing on supporting of nursing leadership throughout the span of careers, from novice to expert.

Introductions:  

	My name is Janet Smith. I am the Associate Director of Clinical Nursing and the ad interim Associate Director of Nursing on the Pediatric Inpatient Unit at MD Anderson Children's Cancer Hospital in Houston, Texas. I have been a pediatric oncology nurse for 26 years. I have been in leadership 8 years and am excited to finally be finishing my last masters prepared class in Nursing Administration. Obtaining my master's degree will allow me to pursue my long-term goal of becoming a Nursing Director in the next 3 - 5 years.   Janet
	I am Nancy Mindieta. Here is a brief summary of my trajectory as a registered nurse.  I switched careers from finance into nursing as an adult and became a nurse in 2013. As I gained experience caring for patients, I got involved with telehealth, and since 2015 I have been a virtual nurse. I currently work at IQVIA, a company that combines health information technology and clinical research. Even though I do not have a leadership position yet, I am working towards it as I gain knowledge and experience.   Nancy
	My name is Rania Rabie. I have 18 years of nursing journey experience that has started at Woodwinds Hospital, in Minnesota, as a Registered Nurse for 8 years then advanced along the way to work with new challenges overseas as a Nurse Manager in different departments for 9 years, in a tertiary care ophthalmic hospital in Saudi Arabia. Working abroad prepared me in innumerable ways to be a resourceful, resilient, compassionate, and cross-cultural aptitude nurse leader; building professional and personal relationship that last a lifetime. I am currently working at a Home Health Care company as a pediatric nurse in Dallas, while I am pursuing the MSN Nursing Administration degree at UTA. Reaching to the end of the tunnel of my master’s degree, nurtured with knowledge and executive leadership skills, I am ready to escalate the ladder to a new competitive edge in my career path. Rania
	Hello, my name is Bianca Carpenter, and I have been a nurse for a little over 13 years. I originally was introduced to health care and started as a PCT back in early 2000 and immediately fell in love with nursing. I continued to work as a PCT and pursued an ADN and later also my BSN. I consider my background diverse, initially spending many years in a Level 1 trauma center burn unit. There I learned to care for pts ranging from 4 weeks to geriatric at every acuity from ICU to floor status and even outpatient at a Magnet facility. My leadership journey began about 8 years ago, managing an outpatient dermatology clinic at two locations that were well known for its mohs cancer removal, pediatric dermatology, and challenging skin conditions, and I also managed a MS/Tele unit. Since relocating to Texas about 5 years ago, I have been a team member of Baylor Scott & White as a Nurse Manager II. I’ve managed a MS/Tele hybrid unit, Telemetry unit, RRT team, PCU/Oncology Unit, admission team, and now the Hematology and Solid Tumor Oncology units at Baylor University Medical Center. I chose to pursue an MSN in Administration at UT Arlington because I’m very passionate about the future of health care, wanting to help to mold nurses, and creating thriving work environments that promote positive patient outcomes. I knew that an advanced degree would prepare me for my goal of being visionary transformational leader in health care. My program has allowed me to further grow my competence as a leader and will be leveraged to meet my goal.
	My name is Leslie Williams. I am an Education Coordinator for the Texas Children's Pavilion for Women Hospital in Houston, Texas. I have been in nursing for 18 years. Prior to my job as an Educator, I was a Neonatal ICU nurse in a Level 4 NICU for 12 years.