Q&A with Nancy Bellucci
91吃瓜 Nancy Bellucci
Nancy Bellucci is a faculty program director with 91吃瓜鈥檚 graduate nursing program. She has been with Excelsior since July 2021 overseeing faculty and courses in both 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 and 尘补蝉迟别谤鈥檚 nursing programs.
Bellucci earned a PhD in nursing education from Capella University, and 尘补蝉迟别谤鈥檚 and 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 degrees in nursing education from Thomas Edison State College. She holds a certificate in nursing education from Thomas Edison State College and is a certified nurse educator (NLN). Bellucci has held multiple clinical nursing and academic nursing positions since becoming a nurse in 2006. She has taught nursing leadership, health care policy and finance, nursing informatics, evidence-based practice, capstone courses, and professional roles and values
Bellucci has written many articles for the American Nurses Association, NurseTogether, RN Journal, dailynurse.com, and Nurse.com. She has presented original research and other presentations at the National League for Nursing鈥檚 Education Summit, the Sigma Theta Tau International Conference on Healthy Work Environments, and the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) National Summit.
At Excelsior, Bellucci oversees the nursing informatics, research, and Capstone courses for the 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 in nursing program and the courses in the Master of Science Nursing Informatics program.
We asked Bellucci about her career, nursing Capstone courses, and takeaways for Excelsior students in the 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 and 尘补蝉迟别谤鈥檚 in nursing programs. Check out her answers below.
Q&A with Nancy Bellucci
Q: Can you briefly describe your nursing career?
A: I was a nurse starting in 2006. I came into nursing late in life; I had already had a full career working in an office and in our boat dealership. We sold our business, and a retired nurse mentioned, 鈥淲hy don’t you be a nurse?鈥� So the journey began there.
Q: What topics or areas of nursing do you have expertise in?
A: I started out in med-surg nursing and then worked my way into the operating room where I scrubbed in and did all kinds of interesting surgeries. From there, I became a clinical development specialist and oversaw eight surgical units with 144 staff members and did all their clinical education. Then I got involved in nursing academics and have been here ever since.
Q: What is your role at Excelsior?
A: I鈥檓 a faculty program director. So what that means is I not only help develop our faculty who teach, but also help to do curriculum design, which I鈥檓 passionate about. I try to bring that real-world experience into the online setting鈥 give back to nursing; I get to give my expertise.
Q: What can students expect from the 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 Capstone course you teach?
A: We鈥檝e just redeveloped the Capstone for the 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 program, and we鈥檝e done it in a way that helps students build a quality improvement project. They take a topic that they鈥檙e passionate about鈥攕omething that they think needs to be changed in the clinical setting鈥攁nd they work through with a mentor who they choose, to develop that plan incrementally over the course of 15 weeks. And then hopefully many of the students that I鈥檓 teaching right now have implemented their plan and are starting to see the benefits of their voice in the creation of process and policy change.
Q: What about the 尘补蝉迟别谤鈥檚 in nursing informatics Capstone?
A: Currently I鈥檓 recreating the nursing informatics Capstone. It鈥檚 very similar to the 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 Capstone in that it鈥檚 rigorous鈥�15 weeks. We scaffold the assignments, meaning that the student has to build a systems plan as the project manager and a leader because nursing informatics isn鈥檛 just about informatics or health information, it鈥檚 about leading a project, working on interprofessional teams, collaborating with one another, and creating lasting change. So just as you see in the 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 Capstone, and all of our 尘补蝉迟别谤鈥檚 Capstones, we are working to help students select a topic and decide how they want to attempt to create the change. So we鈥檙e really working to help them build a final product that they can use in the real world.
Q: What do you hope students will take away from the 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 and 尘补蝉迟别谤鈥檚 in nursing programs?
A: We鈥檙e in really challenging times in nursing. Nurses are now having to get a 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 degree, and it鈥檚 become a requirement of work where they can鈥檛 progress in their profession unless they have one鈥o I hope that they take away from this that it鈥檚 not just to have to鈥攊t鈥檚 yours. I mean you own it. It鈥檚 your degree, no one can take it from you, and it still should be that badge of honor. And for the 尘补蝉迟别谤鈥檚, I hope that you realize that you can create change, you can promote others, you can promote yourself; you can be a benefit to nursing.
