Nursing Faculty Member Dr. Deedra Harrington: Helping Nurses Enter Specialized Cardio Practice

Headshot Dr. Deedra HarringtonCardiovascular care has long been at the heart of Dr. Deedra Harrington鈥檚 practice and research.

She began her nursing career in the cardiovascular unit at Lafayette General Medical Center (LGMC). Today, she maintains her nursing practice as an acute care nurse practitioner through the .

Dr. Harrington joined the 欧美三级片 College of Nursing and Allied Health as a faculty member in 2005, and currently teaches the three courses that comprise the six-month online .

The certificate program prepares nurses who already have a graduate degree for specialized practice.

Dr. Harrington says cardiovascular care can be intimidating for nurse practitioners. One of the goals of the cardiovascular certificate is to help nurse practitioners understand the dynamics of cardiovascular health and disease processes.

It鈥檚 just like anything else 鈥 caring for diabetes, or hypertension. If you learn and understand the system and the diagnostic tools you have to care for the patients, it doesn鈥檛 have to be a scary patient focus group.鈥

鈥淭hey can feel comfortable when they go out to practice, or, hopefully, pursue cardiovascular care so that we have nurse practitioners who are skilled and seasoned and have a passion to care for that population,鈥 she says.

With the addition of the specialized graduate certificate, Dr. Harrington says she hopes the 欧美三级片 will be able to create additional opportunities for other specializations.

鈥淲hat I hope is that the cardiovascular certificate will open doors for the department to offer more certificate programs in different specialties 鈥 oncology, emergency room nursing 鈥 so we can provide that education and students can get clinical experience in those focused populations.鈥

PUBLISHED

Topics:

Keep Exploring

Previous Blog Post

If you鈥檙e new to the graduate school experience, you may not yet be familiar with the phrase 鈥済raduate assistantship.鈥

PUBLISHED
UL Lafayette doctoral graduates walking through the quad in regalia
Next Blog Post

Rade Pavic began pursuing his career in business when he came to the U.S. from Pancevo, Serbia, to earn his bachelor鈥檚 degree in business administration. After graduating from Louisiana State 欧美三级片 in Alexandria in 2019, he decided to prolong his stay in the Pelican State.

PUBLISHED
UL Lafayette doctoral graduates walking through the quad in regalia