Katie McGill, a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student in the Nurse Anesthesia track at Millikin University, has been awarded the Palmer Carrier Student Scholarship in the amount of $3,000 from the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) Foundation.
The AANA Foundation received 1,007 competitive student scholarship applications in 2017 and 54 scholarships were awarded totaling $115,000. McGill will receive her scholarship award at the 2017 AANA Annual Congress Student Scholarship Conference in Seattle, Wash., in September.
"I'm very honored and was pleasantly surprised to have received the scholarship. It's a prestigious award," said McGill, from Tremont, Ill.
The Palmer Carrier Student Scholarship is an annual award for graduate students who are AANA members currently enrolled in an accredited Nurse Anesthesia Program. Applicants must demonstrate leadership ability, and selection is based on academic achievement and school and community activities.
McGill received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2008 from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and worked for eight years before starting the DNP Program at Millikin.
"I've always been interested in the anesthesia field of nursing and I tried my hand in a variety of different jobs before I was set for this calling," said McGill. "It's a neat field and I think one of the best tributes to the field is job satisfaction. It's a good field to go into."
Millikin University partnered with Decatur Memorial Hospital in the summer of 2010 to launch the Millikin University and Decatur Memorial Hospital Nurse Anesthesia Program. The Nurse Anesthesia Program is the first track within the Millikin University School of Nursing Doctor of Nursing Practice Program. A strong emphasis is placed upon Performance Learning opportunities focusing on advanced knowledge and technical skills required for unrestricted nurse anesthesia practice.
"The fact that Katie was awarded this scholarship says a lot about her application and the strength of it, and how Millikin can compete on a national level for these kinds of awards," said Dr. Elizabeth Gephart, assistant professor of nursing at Millikin and McGill's DNP advisor.
The Nurse Anesthesia Program consists of 88 credit hours and includes 2,400-plus hours of clinical practice and residency.
"Once I graduate, I want to get a feel for what I want to specialize in, but ultimately, I want to specialize in obstetrics and maybe be in a group that does rotations in that area," said McGill. "The Millikin DNP Program is a lot of work but it's very rewarding. I feel very privileged to be a part of the program because it's a very competitive program to get into."
DNP Nurse Anesthesia Program graduates are eligible to take the National Certification Examination administered by the National Board of Certification and Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists (NBCRNA).
"I've always been driven to take care of patients. It's a self-fulfilling role," said McGill. "I like to be in that role of interacting with the patient."
Dr. Gephart noted, "The DNP Program takes a clinical education for nurse anesthetists and helps students become nursing leaders as they move forward into their profession. The students are not just learning how to provide anesthesia at the OR bedside, but they will be prepared to be good leaders within their hospital and organization. The students are learning the tools to be able to lead quality improvement projects which is what we want in health care."
The nursing programs at Millikin University foster the development of women and men in a community of life-long learners who are able to envision and shape the future of health care and compose a personal life of meaning and value. The framework for the nursing curricula at Millikin incorporates the School of Nursing mission, goals, and outcomes under the core concepts of person, nursing, environment, and health. For more information about the Millikin School of Nursing, visit millikin.edu/nursing.