#MeetUsMonday - Meet Professor Emily Evans
Meet Emily.
Piano and tennis player who loves gardening, reading, roller skating, as well as hiking, snowshoeing, and skiing. Mother of five, a Utah native, and a long-time labor and delivery nurse. Has occupied every role across nursing—began as a CNA, then became an LPN, an RN, an NP whose “insatiable thirst for nursing knowledge” compelled her to earn a nursing PhD. Now an assistant professor who teaches nursing courses to undergraduates, graduate students, and RN to BSN students.
HER PATH TO NURSING
“When I was little, my mom had Lou Gehrig’s disease. I was the youngest of five, and our family did a lot of her care. When I was in 6th grade, her lung collapsed after she got pneumonia. I remember seeing my mom on a ventilator in the ICU and remember a nurse there secretly ushering us into her room. I don’t know what the rules were, but she was bending them so I could be there. It was obvious to me then that the nurses were the ones who could make or break the experience for my family. I also learned that I enjoyed taking care of people and being there for their critical moments."
“My high school offered a nursing assistant course, and, by the end of my senior year, I became a certified nursing assistant. From that day on, I’ve always had a foot in nursing across a huge number of roles: as a CNA, an LPN, and RN, as an NP, and now as a nurse with a PhD.”
FROM LABOR AND DELIVERY NURSE . . .
“I’ve worked in rest homes, in community health, public health, pediatrics, and loved all those roles but lost my heart to labor and delivery. That’s where my work experience really has been. When I have a family come in in labor, it’s just us: it’s super intense and intimate. I like that and the deeper connection I get to have. I enjoy thinking on my feet, adapting on the fly. It’s such a vulnerable time for people; there’s nothing quite like it. The emotional gymnastics you have to do in a short window of time . . . That’s absolutely exhilarating for me."
. . . TO NURSE RESEARCHER . . .
“My research focuses on obstetrics and women’s health. I studied depression during pregnancy and nursing interventions to help that. Antepartum depression is just as prevalent as postpartum depression, and in some ways, it’s more dangerous. Everyone worries about mother-baby attachment, but as the baby grows inside a mom, all the hormonal changes altered by depression can exert a biological impact on the fetus. And pregnant women are usually in regular care, so that’s the best time to catch depression.”
. . . TO NURSE EDUCATOR
“I’m finding in my role as a faculty member I have the same feeling with my students, given that they have such a variety of personalities and backgrounds. I like finding the right spot for each one and meeting everyone where they are, assessing where their skills lie, what resources they have, and helping them on their journey. I love getting to know what they think, getting to know them, and giving them assignments that allow them to look through a different lens, and maybe inward, a bit.
“In my Lifespan class, I just finished grading an assignment for students to interview an older person and write a response to some of the concepts we’d discussed in terms of psychosocial development. Students wrote things like, ‘I never saw my grandmother as a real person with interests,’ and, ‘This totally changed my views on aging, which can be happiness and growth, rather than stagnation.’ For a generation that’s often considered to be pretty self-centered and entitled, it was a delight to read these stories. I saved some of them because they were so moving. I think assignments like these can be powerful in helping future nurses know what it’s like to sit in someone else’s shoes.”
UVA SCHOOL OF NURSING IN A WORD?
“STUDENT-CENTERED. I think UVA is incredibly accommodating for students. We offer programs for students to move through and at the pace and level they’re at . . . and in a way, the whole school is a reflection of what I truly want to do: meet people where they are and help them get to where they want to be. The School is like a roof: it’s protective of the students, supportive around them, and gives them a safe space on their educational journey and as much help as they might need.”
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