Nursing Basics for Clinical Practice

Audrey Berman received her BSN from the University of California- San Francisco and later returned to that campus to obtain her MS in physiologic nursing and her PhD in nursing. Her dissertation was entitled Sailing a Course through Chemotherapy: The Experience of Women with Breast Cancer. She worked in oncology at Samuel Merritt Hospital prior to beginning her teaching career in the diploma program at Samuel Merritt Hospital School of Nursing in 1976. As a faculty member, she participated in the transition of that program into a baccalaureate degree and in the development of the Master of Science in nursing program. Over the years, she has taught a variety of medical-surgical nursing courses in the prelicensure programs. She currently serves as the dean of nursing at Samuel Merritt College (an affiliate of Sutter Health).



Dr. Berman has traveled extensively, visiting nursing and health care institutions in Germany, Israel, Spain, Korea, Botswana, Australia, Japan, and Brazil. She serves on the board of directors for the Bay Area Tumor Institute. She is a member of the American Nurses Association and Sigma Theta Tau and is a site visitor for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. She has twice participated as an NCLEX-RN item writer for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. She is certified as an advanced oncology nurse and as an AIDS educator and has presented locally, nationally, and internationally on topics related to nursing education, breast cancer, and technology in health care.



Dr. Berman authored the scripts for more than 35 nursing skills videotapes in the 1990s. She is the co-author of Kozier & Erb's Fundamentals of Nursing and Skills in Clinical Nursing.





Shirlee Snyder graduated from Columbia Hospital School of Nursing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and subsequently received a bachelor of science in nursing from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Because of an interest in cardiac nursing and teaching, she earned a master of science in nursing with a minor in cardiovascular clinical specialist and teaching from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. A move to California resulted in becoming a faculty member at Samuel Merritt Hospital School of Nursing in Oakland, California. Shirlee was fortunate to be involved in the phasing out of the diploma and ADN programs and development of a baccalaureate intercollegiate nursing program. She held numerous positions during her 15-year tenure at Samuel Merritt College, including curriculum coordinator, assistant director-instruction, dean of instruction, and associate dean of the Intercollegiate Nursing Program. She is an associate professor alumnus at Samuel Merritt College. Her interest and experiences in nursing education resulted in Shirlee obtaining a doctorate of education focused in curriculum and instruction from the University of San Francisco.



Dr. Snyder moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1990 and taught in the ADN program at Portland Community College for 8 years. During this teaching experience she became interested in computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and initiated Web-based assessment testing for student learning. She presented locally and nationally on topics related to using multimedia in the classroom and promoting ethnic and minority student success.



Another career opportunity in 1998 led her to the Community College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Dr. Snyder was the nursing program director with responsibilities for the associate degree and practical nursing programs for 5 years.



In 2003, Dr. Snyder returned to baccalaureate nursing education. She embraced the opportunity to be one of the nursing faculty teaching the first nursing class in the baccalaureate nursing program at the first state college in Nevada, which opened in 2002. She is currently the associate dean of the School of Nursing at Nevada State College in Henderson, Nevada.



Dr. Snyder is an advisory board member for the Nevada Geriatric Education Center and a member of the American Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau, and a variety of task groups addressing the Southern Nevada nursing shortage. She has been a site visitor for the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission and the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. Dr. Synder is the co-author of Kozier & Erb's Fundamentals of Nursing and Skills in Clinical Nursing.



Dr. Snyder's experiences in nursing education and teaching keep her current in nursing and nursing education. She appreciates all she learns from the students she has taught and her past and present faculty colleagues.





Debra McKinney graduated from Saint Luke's Hospital School of Nursing in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with a diploma in professional nursing in 1977. She worked in pediatric and neonatal intensive care, emergency care, and adult critical care for thirty years. She obtained certification as a pediatric critical care nurse and contributed to research related to the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in neonates as well as early work on use of liquid oxygen in pediatric clients.



After experiencing a back injury that limited her ability to walk, Mrs. McKinney subsequently obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from University of Phoenix in 2003, Master of Science Degree in Nursing and a Master of Business Administration in Health Care Management from University of Phoenix in 2007. She entered the field of nursing education in 2003 when she was asked to develop a practical nursing program in Northern Virginia.



Mrs. McKinney has developed curriculum for numerous schools of nursing at the practical and associate degree level. She consults with schools of nursing to assist in obtaining accreditation, revising curriculum, and correlating textbooks to syllabi. She teaches NCLEX review courses for both the practical/vocational and professional nurse nationwide. She is currently an adjunct instructor for University of Illinois Global Campus and Axia College of University of Phoenix. However, the focus of her work today is writing a textbook to be used by schools of nursing using the concept based pedagogy which is also the subject of her dissertation as she pursues a doctorate in education with a focus on curriculum design and instruction. Mrs. McKinney has developed many supplements for Pearson Prentice Hall, coauthored Comprehensive Review of the NCLEX-PN with Mary Ann Hogan, and is currently writing several other nursing textbooks.



Mrs. McKinney is married and lives in the beautiful Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area. She belongs to Sigma Theta Tau, National League for Nurses, National Association of Practical Nurse Education and Service, Committee of Practical Nurse Educators, and NANDA International.