Blog

  • Student Spotlight: Cydne Marckmann, NP

    At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.

     

    According to Frontier Nursing University (FNU) student, Cydne Marckmann, FNU is the perfect fit to align with her passion for nursing. Cydne chose FNU because of the mission of Mary Breckinridge as well as the attractiveness of an online program. According to Cydne, everyone at FNU is intentionally connected and uses technology as a natural extension to bring each other together rather than as a barrier to separate one another.

     

    “My classmates have been the glue through tough coursework,” said Cydne. “Many are the last I hear from at night and the first I hear from in the morning. We live all over the U.S. but are only one text message away. The bond between us is incredible”

     

    Cydne is currently finishing up her Post-Master’s Doctors of Nursing Practice (PM-DNP) and is set to graduate in December of 2016.

     

    “I want to complete my DNP because I want nursing to be involved in the evolution of healthcare,” said Cydne. “If nursing is going to be actively involved, nurses need to have the same credentials and expertise as our other health care colleagues. The DNP has expanded my expertise in research, the business of healthcare, and the need for quality population outcomes. I’m gaining the skills to be a better nurse practitioner and to lead other nurse practitioners in our changing healthcare environment.”

     

    Although the DNP road has been an incredible journey, Cydne doesn’t consider it to have been an easy one. Cydne credits the faculty at Frontier for supporting her work and learning.

     

    She recently completed a grant project titled Telemedicine as a quality initiative for Concussion Management: A Washington State Pilot Project, which was approved by the 2016 American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) Research Grant. Her project focuses on concussions in sports as they continue to be on the rise. With little resources to help patients and providers manage concussions, patients often have to travel and wait a long time for an appointment with a specialist. Cydne proposes using telemedicine so that the primary care provider, patient, family, and specialist can work together in the same setting.

     

    The faculty at FNU is proud to have students like Cydne who are working hard to make our health care system stronger!

  • What Does FNU Offer?

    Are you a considering becoming a nurse-midwife or nurse practitioner?  If so, Frontier Nursing University may be the place for you.

     

    FNU seeks to meet the needs of prospective nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners that do not want to leave their home communities to obtain the graduate education they desire to fulfill their professional aspirations.

     

    We offer a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree and post-master’s certificates leading to education as a certified nurse-midwife (CNM), family nurse practitioner (FNP), and/or a women’s health care nurse practitioner (WHNP).

     

    FNU delivers didactic coursework using web-based, distance education courses that allow our students to achieve their higher education goals without leaving home.

     

    Using clinics, hospitals, and preceptors in their own community, FNU students get the hands-on clinical experience required for these exciting health care professions. One-three brief visits to our historic campus are required depending on the program.

     

    We are also excited to announce that we will be adding the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program in 2017, so stay tuned for details.

     

    Click on the links to our current programs below to find out what is right for you!

     

    Specialties Offered:

     

    Nurse-Midwife

    Family Nurse Practitioner

    Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner

     

    Distance Education Program:

     

    Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Degree

    Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Degree

    ADN Bridge Entry Option

    Post-Master’s Certificate

  • Faculty Spotlight: Tanya Tanner PhD, MBA, RN, CNM, FACNM

    At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.

     

    When Dr. Tanya Tanner decided she wanted to be a nurse at the age of 19, she didn’t have a clear reason why. While many young people envision their futures in the medical field from a young age, Dr. Tanner never did, but is certainly glad she “fell into it” as nurse-midwifery quickly became her passion.

     

    The call to nurse-midwifery began after Dr. Tanner witnessed an unfortunate delivery process as an OB/Gyn nursing student. Watching the mother have little choice in the experience and in extreme pain, she was stirred for a long time after and eventually knew she not only wanted to pursue nurse-midwifery but needed to.

     

    She landed her first job as a nurse-midwife at Denver Health, the safety net hospital in Denver, Colorado soon after receiving her  Masters in Nursing from the University of Utah in 1996. After transferring to a full-scope practice, Dr. Tanner eventually ended up joining the nurse-midwives at Aurora Nurse-Midwives in Aurora, CO where she has been in clinical practice since 2002.

     

    During her time in Denver, Dr. Tanner taught many years as adjunct clinical and didactic faculty in undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. She is now an assistant professor at FNU teaching in the nurse-midwifery (CNEP) program and specializes in antepartum care. She is involved on many FNU committees including the curriculum committee, IRB, admissions committee, civility committee, and the remote proctor committee She currently chairs FNU’s Research Committee. Dr. Tanner enjoys teaching aspiring nurse-midwives and believes that we should “midwife” midwifery students into kind, competent, caring practitioners through our example as professors.

    Dr. Tanner is an active participant in several national midwifery organizations. She is a past two-term national treasurer of the American College of Nurse-Midwives and currently chairs ACNM’s Healthy Birth Initiative.  She is the current Secretary of the American Midwifery Certification Board and serves on the Board of Trustees of the A.C.N.M. Foundation, Inc.  She is a CNM representative to US-MERA (US Midwifery Education, Regulation, and Association), a group of diverse midwives from professional organizations across the United States. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the A.C.N.M. Foundation, Inc. where she chairs the Scholarship Committee. Dr. Tanner currently serves as the secretary of the American Midwifery Certification Board. Dr. Tanner was awarded the prestigious Nightingale Award in the state of Colorado in 2011.

     

    Since 1996, Dr. Tanner has worked clinically as a nurse-midwife serving primarily underserved women. Her passion is promoting physiologic birth as the optimal birth experience for women, and she has presented about promoting physiologic birth both nationally and internationally. She speaks Spanish and cares for many Spanish-speaking women as well as women of other ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. She has practiced in group and solo practices and in rural and urban environments during her nursing and midwifery career.

     

    She has also been active in local educational events to promote normal birth and quality care for women. She is active in her local community and is a member of the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and enjoys being in the leadership of her local women’s group at church. She is the mother of six children, and enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her family.
     

  • Alumni Spotlight: Kelly Polcher, DNP, APRN, NP­C

    Alumni Spotlight: Kelly Polcher, DNP, APRN, NP­C

    Kelly Polcher began searching online in 2009 for a Family Nurse Practitioner program to advance her nursing career. Although there is an FNP program at a local university, Kelly was impressed with Frontier Nursing University (FNU), especially since those she spoke with highly praised FNU’s programs.  She also enjoyed the warm reception she received when talking with Frontier employees about applying for the program. Kelly wasn’t alone; she and a friend in her community were both accepted into the FNP 72 class and provided moral support for each other while going through the program.

     

    After Kelly graduated with her FNP, she began working full time at Family Health Care in Fargo, North Dakota. After taking a year off from school, Kelly, along with two classmates from FNP class 72 decided to return to Frontier to complete the doctoral program. She entered the FNU doctoral program in January 2013 and completed in the spring of 2014.

     

    Kelly was attracted to work at Family Health Care because it is a community health center that provides care for underserved populations and incorporates women’s health into its focus. Kelly is proud to have been a part of the growth and expansion of the large clinic. When she started working there, it was housed in a 20,000 square foot office, and the homeless health clinic was based in the basement of a nearby church. With federal funding, grants, tax credits and fundraising efforts, the Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), was able to expand  to four adjacent buildings with approximately 50,000 square feet of space. Kelly says the staff and providers are proud that their gorgeous, modern facility with state-of-the-art equipment matches the high quality care of the providers who serve their patients, and that their patients feel comfortable in the new clinic site. Family Health Care is now able to offer more services than before.

     

    The FNU grad loves to be able to give back to her community by working with the homeless, refugees, and indigent patients within the community. In April 2016, Family Healthcare opened its first satellite clinic in West Fargo, ND. Kelly will be transferring there in July to be one of two providers at the new clinic. The other provider will be a nurse-midwife. Kelly hopes that this clinic will allow Family Healthcare to further expand their services and care to more individuals in the community while still providing great primary care, prenatal and women’s health services.

     

    Kelly is proud that Family Health Care incorporates a dental clinic, vision care, and behavioral health to promote holistic care for their broad and diverse group of patients. The clinic has the only Homeless Health Clinic in North Dakota, and is also contracted with the local refugee resettlement agency, supported by federal programs, to provide refugee screenings for the approximately 400 refugees accepted into Fargo each year­­ most recently from Somalia, Bhutan, and Iraq. The local agency, Lutheran Social Services helps refugees with initial housing, financial support, jobs and English language training. Kelly’s clinic screens refugees within 60 days of arrival in the New American and Refugee Clinic for infections, immunization updates and to help them with urgent health care needs such as medications for chronic conditions. Her clinic is able to help with Affordable Care Act registration support to help patients enroll in healthcare coverage. The clinic and it’s affiliated clinic also offer coverage to qualified homeless health and uninsured individuals through sliding fee services.

     

    Kelly loves that the clinic’s mission aligns with the training she had at Frontier, which emphasized service to the underserved. Her clinic’s mission is to make healthcare accessible to everyone,­­ to take away barriers, and to provide comprehensive care with a community-based approach. The clinic treats patients and families from newborn to geriatric, and with a full scope of preventive services with a collaborative, team­-based approach by the healthcare practitioners.

    Kelly explained that many patients who have not had health care services are not accustomed to consistent preventive care, and have relied on visits to emergency rooms in the past. Patients who have not had access often present with uncontrolled conditions such as diabetes. So the clinic staff and practitioners endeavor to educate patients and promote consistent preventive screenings and consistent care for chronic conditions to improve health, including mental well­being.   As part of her DNP studies, Kelly implemented a universal mental health screening process at Family Healthcare for newly arrived refugees in Fargo.  The results of this pilot study were published by Kelly and her faculty chairperson March 2015 in the Journal of Primary Care and Community Health.

    Thanks for all that you do for the underserved, Kelly! FNU is proud to have alumni like you.

    At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.

  • FNU Takes Pledge on Opioid Education as Announced at the White House

    As part of academic nursing’s ongoing efforts to combat prescription drug and opioid abuse across the United States, Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is proud to announce that it has committed to educating its advanced practice registered nursing (APRN) students on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain.

     

    The commitment was featured in a White House fact sheet last week as part of the White House Champions of Change event on Advancing Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery. Last month, the Administration asked the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s (AACN) member schools with APRN programs to partner on this initiative. FNU recognizes that opioid abuse is a pressing public health crisis, and it is critical that APRN students receive education on current standards.

     

    “Frontier Nursing University is proud to be a part of this effort,” said FNU Dean of Nursing, Julie Marfell. “Our students are educated to use evidence-based guidelines and state regulations to provide pain management for their patients. This includes all methods of pain management not just medications. Students are taught how to assess for possible abuse of pain medications and assist with recovery treatment plans when necessary.”
     

    AACN’s President and CEO Deborah Trautman, PhD, RN, FAAN, offered remarks at the White House last week to recognize the 191 AACN member-nursing schools that have taken this pledge.

     

    “AACN is proud of the rapid response by our membership when the Administration called to help ensure future generations of providers who prescribe opioids for chronic pain are prepared for the critical work ahead,” said Dr. Trautman. “We commend academic nursing’s dedication to ensuring our nation’s future providers are prepared to address opioid abuse and overdose using best practices.”

     

    For a complete list of AACN member schools that have pledged, visit: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/opioids.

     

  • Faculty Spotlight: Vicky Stone-Gale DNP, FNP-C, MSN

    At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.

     

    Dr. Vicky Stone-Gale decided she wanted to become a nurse after working as a nurse’s aide in a nursing home for a woman named Diane. As Dr. Stone-Gale watched Diane work with patients, her desire to become a nurse began growing until she finally decided to pursue her dream. At the age of 29 Dr. Stone-Gale became a nurse.

     

    Dr. Stone-Gale received her diploma in nursing in 1984 from Massillon Community Hospital School of Nursing in Massillon, Ohio, and her BSN from Barry University in 1990. She also completed her MSN as a Family Nurse Practitioner from Barry University in 1992.

     

    Dr. Stone-Gale continued her education later in life, receiving her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2011 and is currently in their PhD in Nursing program. She is now an Assistant Professor in the FNP program at Frontier Nursing University where she is Course Coordinator for Primary Care I. She has also taught Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Introduction to Scholarly Writing.

     

    Her teaching philosophy is to “Teach as I would want to learn”. She considers the most rewarding aspect of teaching to be watching students grow in their knowledge from semester to semester.

     

    Dr. Stone-Gale has practiced in primary care for 23 years as a Family Nurse Practitioner and currently maintains a practice in Plantation, FL. She is board certified in Family Practice by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

     

    Dr. Stone-Gale is a founding member and President of the South Florida Council of Advanced Practice Nurses (SFCAPN) and has remained actively involved in the council since its inception 19 years ago. She has also served as Ways & Means Chair and First V.P. of the council in previous years. She previously sat on the Board of Directors for the Florida Nurses Association, is a member of the Florida Nurse Practitioner Network and the Florida Coalition for Nurse Practitioners and is actively involved with NP legislation on the state and national level and lobbies for nursing issues in Tallahassee, FL. and Washington, D.C. She was appointed by Governor Bush to serve on the Florida Board of Nursing which she did for four years, serving as Chairwoman for the FBON, Chair of the Advanced Practice Committee, and was a member of the Legislative committee and the Credentialing committee for the board.

     

    Dr. Stone-Gale has been involved as a Research Coordinator and Sub-Investigator in many pharmaceutical clinical research trials. She has been awarded Broward County Nurse Practitioner of the Year on 5 separate occasions and also Broward County Nurse of the Year. She has served on the Family Nurse Practitioner Expert Panel for ANCC and has been a member of the speaker’s bureau for numerous pharmaceutical companies. She is a strong advocate on nursing issues and encourages nurses to advance their education to provide the best evidence based care they can. She currently lives in Davie, Florida with her husband has three daughters and five grandchildren.

     

    Her advice for upcoming Nurse Practitioners is to join professional organizations, always ask questions, practice within your scope, report something that you don’t feel is right, advance your education, work in a place you love and have fun.

  • Alumni Spotlight: Marjani Jean-Philippe, MSN, RN, CNM

    At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.

     

    When Majani Jean-Philippe first heard about Frontier Nursing University (FNU) she didn’t think much about it. But after birthing her son, Marjani realized her desire to pursue nurse-midwifery and create the same compassionate environment as her nurse-midwife had done for her. FNU quickly became her first choice.

     

    “I really liked the way the program was structured and valued the approach of its community based midwifery program,” said Marjani. “I also understood that the work that Mary Breckinridge began was meaningful and I wanted to be a part of continuing her tradition of providing compassionate midwifery care to women, while working to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes.”

     

    According to Marjani, another appealing aspect of FNU was its mission to provide care to underserved and rural populations. As the daughter of first-generation Haitian immigrants, the mission deeply resonated with her and ultimately helped make her decision to attend FNU.

     

    Beginning at Frontier with an associate’s degree in nursing, Marjani completed the program through the Bridge Entry Option and graduated from Frontier in December of 2015, receiving a master of science in nursing with a concentration in nurse-midwifery.

     

    Although the transition from traditional to distance education was unique, Marjani quickly learned that she was a part of a great community that would support and encourage her every step of the way.

     

    “Most of our learning took place online, yet I always felt very much connected to my professors and peers,” said Marjani. “I have formed relationships at Frontier that I will have for the rest of my life.”

     

    As an FNU graduate, Marjani now practices as a Certified Nurse-Midwife with Southern Crescent Women’s Healthcare in Fayetteville, Georgia. She was previously a labor & delivery nurse in Opelika, Alabama.

     

    “I feel honored and privileged to have been given this opportunity to care for women in a practice that supports and values the midwifery model of care,” said Marjani. “I take my title seriously and will work diligently to educate and empower women and preserve normal physiological birth.”

    Our family at FNU is proud to have alumni like Marjani!

  • Staff Spotlight: Denise Barrett, MBA

    At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.

     

    Denise Barrett is the Director of Development and Alumni Relations at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) where she has worked for 10 years. In this position, Denise is tasked with telling the story of Frontier, its students, faculty and alumni and in doing so, appealing to donors to support the FNU mission.

     

    The development team produces many communications pieces in order to steward FNU’s current donors and attract new people to its cause. According to Denise, each year they raise an average of $3 million in individual gifts and private and federal grants to support the endowment, student scholarships, campus improvements, technology and other special projects.

     

    In her 10 years with FNU, the school has been awarded more than $10 million in grant funding to support the development of the Bridge program, the start-up of the post-master’s DNP, many student scholarships and also technology.

     

    “It’s exciting to be part of the grants, because it allows me to be involved in the development of project ideas and then see them implemented,” said Denise. “It’s very rewarding.”

     

    Denise works with a team that alsomanages alumni communications and programming, the Courier internship program, and operation of the Wendover Bed and Breakfast Inn.

     

    Denise decided to work with FNU after an 18-month position in the corporate world left her unfulfilled. After starting her development work with a regional foundation, she discovered Frontier when her family moved to Kentucky.

     

    “I originally chose to work with Frontier because it was a great opportunity to be the first development staff member for the school,” said Denise. “I continue to work with Frontier because our mission is so critical for health care in the United States and beyond, and because it is an exciting, growing institution that provides so much opportunity for growth and new challenges.”

     

    Denise’s favorite part about working at FNU is her co-workers, many of whom she considers her closest friends.

    Outside of work, Denise and her family enjoy hiking, rock climbing, camping and snowboarding. Thanks to Frontier’s flexibility, she is able to work from home in Durango, CO, which is her family’s dream location. She lives with her husband, Matthew and their three kids: Keenan (7), Hattie and Alton (3 year old twins).

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