2024 Most Outstanding Alumnus Award Winner
An early entrant into advanced practice, Dave attended an NP certification program in 1976 after completing his BSN at UCLA. He developed a diverse practice background and broad skill set, always working with vulnerable populations. And although a highly credentialed Advanced Practice Nurse (Adult NP, Gero NP, Psych CNS), with earned MSW/MPH graduate degrees from UC Berkeley, he did not have an advanced degree within Nursing. He was subsequently admitted to the CON’s (then) new DNP/Doctor of Nursing Practice Program in the Family Psych Mental Health NP curriculum. But because this program had an integrated care philosophy wanting all graduates to have unrestricted/lifespan scope of practice in primary care and psychiatric care management, Dave was enrolled jointly in the MSN FNP and DNP PMHNP programs. He completed both programs, later taking the MSLE Step 3 exam to become a Diplomat in Comprehensive Care.
He enrolled in our program while his five oldest children were also doing University studies, and commuted from Oklahoma in UT’s hybrid/distance program. During the time, he was representing A.P.N.’s on the Advanced Practice Advisory Committee to the OK Board of Nursing as they formulated the regulations for introducing the state’s prescriptive authority regulations. He held offices and served on numerous Boards of Directors, including Oklahoma Nurses Association, Oklahoma State Hospice Association, DHS/Aging Services Task Force, among others.
He came to our program with the stated intention of hoping to help other nurses transition from RN licensure to Advanced Practice roles. He had an early opportunity to introduce the advanced practice role into almost every facility and inpatient setting in which he worked, and subsequently to precept and guide many NP students (including international students from African and Asian countries) from multiple state’s programs, modeling and sharing the knowledge and skills that provide NP’s with high satisfaction and acceptability in advanced practice roles serving diverse patient populations. He developed and taught in the WVU/Charleston HSC Gerontologic NP program (before ANCC merged the Adult/Gero certifications into one), and taught pharmacology and physical assessment in their FNP program.
After moving to North Carolina, he was the first PMHNP in Atrium/Carolina Healthcare’s Psychosomatic/Consult Liaison program, and similarly introduced the NP role at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte. At that time, ninety-five percent of North Carolina counties were unable to meet minimum targets for psychiatric and psycho-pharmacologic care providers, and had only one PMHNP program within the state. He was recruited to ECU/East Carolina University to develop their PMHNP curriculum. He was hired in July 2016, wrote the curriculum, guided it through the nursing graduate division, then through the University’s graduate division, and had it on the Chancellor’s desk for approval and catalog publication by March 2017, eight months after he began. The first students were admitted to MSN and post-Masters certificate programs in August 2017, and to date have added over 200 newly certified PMHNPs to the North Carolina psychiatric provider pool. That program, dedicated to serving rural/underserved populations, was the first in the state to provide hybrid/distance PMHNP education, and today is the least expensive PMHNP program in North Carolina, and the second least expensive in the country.
Dave returned to clinical practice, where he has held roles in a variety of inpatient and outpatient settings, including one of psychiatry’s few evidence-based care models, Assertive Community Treatment. He initially provided ACTT services with other physician collaborators, but in one program he worked as the independent provider, and led his team to receive the highest survey/fidelity score awarded in the state…a record that team still holds today.
He introduced the NP role in his current inpatient setting, fostering the expansion of NP providers, continues to precept NP students, and is routinely tasked to orient most of the Hospital’s new physician and APN providers. He enjoys warm relationships among providers and staff at all levels of care, both for his supportive posture to co-workers, and advocacy for the SPMI population served.
