Erin Micale, MSN, RN-BC, CNL, is a full time faculty at an University located in Michigan and teaches a wide array of nursing courses. She focuses on psychiatric care and utilization of evidence based practices. Her research during her master’s education was focused on grief responses of nurses following the death of a patient and smoking cessation education in an inpatient setting. Micale is also pursuing her DNP at Yale University with a focus on addressing patient to nurse sexual harassment. She is an active member of the ANA, APNA, and NLN.
During this time, Micale’s role as a professor has transitioned from being in person to virtual classes. This has been quite an adjustment, but also an exciting opportunity to expand on leadership skills and to learn how to use innovation and resources more creatively to encourage learning. Micale has leveraged many opportunities to educate students, colleagues, and her community about the role of nursing, the pandemic, importance of maintaining one’s health during this time, and how to be a leader when times are uncertain.
The responses to the pandemic has been very emotionally draining for Micale. She often finds herself getting really overwhelmed, confused, and frustrated with the inconsistencies on the news, through social media, and from the government. Micale says, “A lot of what I’d hear and see was very different than what I was experiencing working in the hospital and it is still something that I am trying to process and understand.” Micale also felt that a lot of the responses by those around her were overwhelmingly negative or filled with fear when all she craved was positivity and hopeful messaging.
This desire for positivity and hope has motivated Micale to be more vocal and encouraging for my students, my family, and others. She finds that people suddenly wanted to hear nurses voices and that this was the opportunity to share her passion for all that nurses are capable of and all that they are doing at the front lines and beyond. Micale believes that nurses have such a unique perspective and way of thinking and understanding the big picture and they would be a great value to many different policy making committees. Micale encourages nurses to step into these opportunities bringing their experience, care, and dedication to improving the health of their patients.
