What sets Frontier Nursing University (FNU) apart from other online advanced nursing programs? The answer: many things, but one thing at the top of the list is our on-campus Clinical Bound experience for Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and Post-Graduate Certificate (PGC) students!
Clinical Bound is a five-day skills intensive experience in which students return to our Versailles, Ky. campus before they begin their clinical practicum. This unique, hands-on active learning experience allows students to feel validated as having acquired the skills necessary to begin their community-based clinical practicum. Clinical Bound also allows students to have face to face communication with their faculty members and peers. It is one of the signature events in every student’s time at FNU. Clinical Bound is the second time students come to campus. The first time is for Frontier Bound, which is a three-day orientation-style experience.
FNU held its first Clinical Bound on our Versailles, Ky. campus in August of 2021. Our new campus features labs, simulation rooms and classrooms with state-of-the-art technology that allows for innovative ways of teaching and learning.
“What we have done is enhance the experience for the student on campus to make it the most lifelike possible, prior to a real patient exam,” Innovation Coach and Simulation Coordinator Tia Andrighetti, DNP, APRN, CNM, CHSE-A, CNE said. Dr. Andrighetti. “We are training people who need to be very versed in primary care and interaction with the patient.”
The first group of Clinical Bound students on our Versailles, Ky., campus included 16 CNEP students who made this time capsule.
Clinical Bound is an exciting time for students as it is essentially the first time, for many, that they are practicing under the specialty they are studying. It may be nerve racking, but our clinical faculty host discussions, peer-learning and practice sessions to fully prepare students before they begin working with standardized patients (SP) and mannequins in simulations.
Speaking of standardized patients, SPs allow students to have real-life experience working with a real person as a patient, but in a controlled and predictable environment. SPs use a script, which provides consistency in each clinical scenario while allowing the student to still interact and work on their skills with a real person. Students are able to practice physical examinations, history taking skills, communication, and patient counseling with these individuals. This innovative way of clinical practice benefits both the student practicing and their peers, who often have the opportunity to observe sessions, either in the exam room or virtually. Students are given immediate feedback on their performance from their faculty member and the SP after the simulation is over.
As for the mannequins, students use those in a variety of ways during Clinical Bound. For example, nurse-midwifery students will practice birth techniques with an actress trained to portray a woman in labor and a mannequin torso in between her legs. This allows the student to practice birth techniques while also interacting with the patient, similar to a real birth experience.
It is important that the simulations are realistic to help students gain confidence in their skills and knowledge before working with actual patients. These practice sessions during Clinical Bound are invaluable to students. They allow for hands-on interaction with immediate feedback from faculty members. It allows them to ask questions and refine their skills before entering into clinical practicums. It also gives faculty members the opportunity to reiterate information learned during the didactic portion of their studies.
Clinical Bound is an experience the students can’t get at most other distance-learning institutions. When our students leave Clinical Bound, they are well-prepared to begin their clinical experience and have made lifelong friendships and connections. FNU faculty, staff and leadership are confident that the students leave as competent, entrepreneurial, ethical, and compassionate leaders ready to begin clinical practicums in their home communities.
Are you interested in learning more about Clinical Bound and our Versailles, Ky. campus? Check out our website or request to learn more about our programs. FNU offers a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree and post-graduate certificates leading to education as a certified nurse-midwife (CNM), family nurse practitioner (FNP), women’s health care nurse practitioner (WHNP) and psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP).
Carrie Belin is an experienced board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins DNP program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has also completed fellowships at Georgetown and the University of California Irvine.
Angie has been a full-scope midwife since 2009. She has experience in various birth settings including home, hospital, and birth centers. She is committed to integrating the midwifery model of care in the US. She completed her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and her Doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as the midwifery clinical faculty at FNU. Angie is motivated by the desire to improve the quality of healthcare and has led quality improvement projects on skin-to-skin implementation, labor induction, and improving transfer of care practices between hospital and community midwives. In 2017, she created a short film on skin-to-skin called 
Justin C. Daily, BSN, RN, has ten years of experience in nursing. At the start of his nursing career, Justin worked as a floor nurse on the oncology floor at St. Francis. He then spent two years as the Director of Nursing in a small rural Kansas hospital before returning to St. Francis and the oncology unit. He has been in his current position as the Chemo Nurse Educator for the past four years. He earned an Associate in Nurse from Hutchinson Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel College.
Brandy Jackson serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Assistant Educator at Wichita State University and Co-Director of Access in Nursing. Brandy is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience. Before entering academia, Brandy served in Hospital-based leadership and Critical Care Staff nurse roles. Brandy is passionate about equity in nursing education with a focus on individuals with disabilities. Her current research interests include accommodations of nursing students with disabilities in clinical learning environments and breaking down barriers for historically unrepresented individuals to enter the nursing profession. Brandy is also actively engaged in Interprofessional Education development, creating IPE opportunities for faculty and students at Wichita State. Brandy is an active member of Wichita Women for Good and Soroptimist, with the goal to empower women and girls. Brandy is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. She received the DASIY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty in 2019 at Wichita State University. 
Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).