Diane Wise, MSN, RN
Rank: Assistant Professor
E-mail: dwise@westga.edu
Office #: 678-839-5633
Office: #282
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Teaching Philosophy:
The biggest challenge for nursing students in the first semester of school is that of transitioning their attitudes about interactions between people. They enter the program viewing these interactions as social encounters where personal questioning is taboo and must develop the ability to perceive them as information-gathering, problem-solving learning experiences. As an instructor for these beginning nursing students, it is my goal to help them through this transition, and to challenge them to develop vital critical-thinking skills that will be the foundation for the rest of their nursing careers.
The means of achieving this goal will vary depending on the student’s previous experiences in health care and the hospital setting. For those who come with some level of comfort in clinical areas, the transition has already started and I will focus more on challenging them with more complicated patients, thus moving them into the critical-thinking component quite quickly. However, for those true novices, I search for patients who are less critical and able to communicate easily so that the student has a better opportunity to develop history-taking skills in a less-threatening, difficult situation. Their clinical work is supported by my classroom teaching, where assessment principles are learned and practiced weekly.
The effectiveness of my teaching methods becomes evident not only in weekly quizzes but also in post-conferences when students are asked to “debrief” their clinical experience that day. As the weeks go by and their questions become more involved and thoughtful, and also because they are beginning to be able to answer each other’s questions, it is then that I start to see the reward for all the early weeks of preparation, instruction, and encouragement. I know that my classroom teaching has made sense and been applied to the clinical setting, and that the clinical assignments have been appropriate and educational.
To me, there is no greater reward in teaching than the knowledge that I have helped a student grow from an insecure, nervous, scared individual into a caring, capable, safe nursing student. I have had students who came under my instruction unsure if they wanted to continue along in nursing due to feelings that had been fostered by previous faculty at other institutions. Made to feel incompetent and vulnerable by harsh criticisms, they are like frightened deer, unsure where the “safe place” is. By a careful implementation of closely-supervised actions balanced with an appropriate amount of independent actions, even the most insecure have developed confidence in themselves. This happens slowly at first and then, quite spontaneously and practically overnight, they become like butterflies released from a cocoon, racing around the unit, full of confidence and the thrill of knowing they are, indeed, contributing members on the floor. These are the successes that thrill me the most because they have had the most to overcome and, with my help, they have done it!
Courses Taught:
- Health Assessment & Professional Nurse Practice
Education:
BSN from Michigan State University, graduated December 1975
MSN in Nurse-Midwifery from University of Illinois at Chicago, December 1984
Areas of Expertise or Professional Interests:
As a Certified Nurse-Midwife, my focus has always been obstetrics and gynecology. I have delivered over 2000 babies in my career as a CNM.
Professional Memberships and Certifications:
Sigma Theta Tau
American College of Nurse-Midwives
Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses
Certified Nurse-Midwife since 1984
Personal Interests:
I usher at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta several times a year.
Spending time with my 3 grandchildren is a true joy for me.
I love to travel, read, and do interior decorating.
The most unique thing about our program is…
The true sense of caring among the faculty, and this caring focus extends to our students. One of the priorities in our curriculum is that of experiencing caring as an active, concrete activity via small groups, called “Caring Groups”. It is through these Caring Groups that students receive the much-needed release they need from the stress of such a demanding, intense curriculum.
