Why Should I Become a Nurse Practitioner?

This session will help you figure out if becoming a nurse practitioner is the right career path for you. Listen in as nurse practitioners from a variety of backgrounds discuss their experiences. These nurse practitioners had the same questions as you before deciding that becoming a Nurse Practitioner was their calling. Their stories will help open your eyes to the passion, dedication, love and joy that this career path entails.

The session video will be available on this page at the scheduled date and time. In the meantime, we invite you to click here for a video from Dr. Julie Marfell, Dean of Nursing at Frontier Nursing University, to learn more about FNU’s “Stories that Inspire: A Call to Action for Nurse Practitioners” virtual event.

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Speakers

Lisa Chappell, PhD, FNP-BC (Moderator)

Lisa Chappell is the Associate Dean of Family Nursing since January 2014. She has worked as faculty at Frontier Nursing University since January 2009.

Dr. Chappell has been a nurse for 40 years including 20 years as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Auburn University, a Master of Science in Nursing from University of Alabama in Birmingham as a Maternal-Infant Nurse Specialist and a second MSN as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She earned a PhD in Nursing from the Medical College of Georgia in 2007.

Her clinical practice experience as a nurse practitioner includes rural clinics, emergency medicine, student health, a psychiatric facility, and correctional medicine. Dr. Chappell has 17 years of teaching experience mostly at the graduate level with nurse practitioners.

James Corder, DNP, APRN, FNP-C

James Corder teaches PC 700 Introduction to Communication and Scholarly Writing. He has been course faculty at Frontier Nursing University since October, 2015. James started his journey as a nursing assistant in 1989. He received an Associate in Applied Science from the University of Kentucky’s Community College System. James obtained a Master of Science in Nursing through the Bridge Program in 2010 at Frontier Nursing University. He returned to the Frontier to complete his Doctor of Nursing Practice in December of 2014.

James began his practice as a registered nurse in medical surgical ICU in 1993. Since that time he has practiced in TCU, ICU, home health and rural primary care. Dr Corder now practices full-time in rural primary care seeing patients from 2 weeks of age to older adults.

Elena Prendergast, MSN, FNP-C

Elena Prendergast is a 2016 graduate of the ADN to MSN Family Nurse Practitioner program at Frontier Nursing University. She is currently enrolled in the companion DNP at Frontier and is scheduled to graduate in spring of 2017. While a student at Frontier, she has been inducted into the Chi Pi chapter of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society, graduated from the AACN Student Policy Summit in Washington DC, and is a recipient of the Frontier Nurse Practitioner Leadership Award.

Mrs. Prendergast has been a nurse since 2008 having received an Associate Degree in Nursing from Daytona State College. Her clinical experiences include primary care, medical-surgical, interventional radiology, critical care, and hospice. As a supporter of improving quality of life by incorporating complementary and alternative medicines, she currently works as a nurse practitioner at Action Medical Center, an integrative physical medicine clinic, in Augusta, GA.

A passionate advocate of palliative and end of life care, Mrs. Prendergast has completed both the Trainer the Trainer and Advanced Practice End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) courses. She is collaborating with the leadership at her regional burn center to achieve the goal of starting a palliative consult team at their facility. In response to the absence of education and networking opportunities in her area, she is in the initial stages of forming a palliative care provider coalition. Her long term goal is to work to develop palliative care curricula in advanced practice nursing education.