Making a Mark on Public Education
DNP Program Empowers IWU Student to Develop Innovative Virtual Residency Option
When Ashlie Pullen (DNP ’21) first landed on IWU’s webpage, it was by accident while trying to reach her work’s portal page; she now believes it was God’s providence.
Since coming across IWU’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, Ashlie has completed her program and the world of nursing has gone through major shifts and prolonged challenges.
“Obviously nobody intends to pursue an advanced degree during a pandemic. Certainly pursuing a doctorate during a pandemic is especially difficult.”
Despite graduating in the midst of COVID, Pullen has had great success and lives into the School of Nursing’s (SON) motto, Empowering Nurses, Changing the World.
And it isn’t just IWU who empowers nurses. Ashlie herself now trains, prepares, and empowers nurses as a result of her DNP. She credits the IWU SON faculty and her classmates for making the experience rewarding and encouraging despite the added challenge.
Her advisor, Rhonda Oldham, often called to check up, give her scripture, and guide her along as she completed her DNP project. Her colleagues in her cohort became friends–texting prayer requests and encouraging each other to continue.
“Just knowing I had a group of such supportive colleagues and people I could turn to during this really intense time was probably the reason I was able to make it through this program.”
Ashlie’s DNP project to complete her degree was developing and piloting a first of its kind virtual residency program for public health nurses in Georgia and Wisconsin. The goal of the CDC grant-funded project was to improve retention and job satisfaction and the success of the project led to it being rolled out nationwide.
This pilot program opened doors with leadership from the State of Georgia Department of Public Health who offered her the job of Deputy Chief Nurse for Emergency Preparedness for the State of Georgia.
With about 110 miles of coastline, Pullen says hurricane season is a major focus of her responsibilities. COVID magnifies these issues, demanding new plans and finding creative ways of facing emergency situations. Her job is to ensure the nurses are trained and prepared for emergencies. One of her first goals was training nurses on mass congregant sheltering protocol during the COVID environment.
Since beginning her new role, she has utilized her IWU coursework daily. She is constantly pulling resources, using evidence-based tools, teaching, training, and preparing all of Georgia’s public health nurses for emergency response.
“IWU has definitely opened up new possibilities. It’s given me this degree… but more than that it has given me the opportunity to realize that I am capable of doing more than I thought possible and that’s what is really important.”
Ashlie Pullen graduated from IWU with her Doctor of Nursing Practice in 2021. She now serves the State of Georgia as their Deputy Chief Nurse for Emergency Preparedness.
Written by Peter Troutner ‘18
