Faculty practice provides faculty members with the opportunity to be engaged in their area of expertise. As leaders of exemplary, innovative, and culturally proficient faculty engagement, faculty members fulfill the mission of the UA Capstone College of Nursing’s Faculty Practice Committee. The Faculty Practice Committee strives to increase the visibility of the school of nursing by spotlighting the practice of faculty members as they practice in community agencies. Practice sites are diverse and represent the expertise and background preparation of faculty engaged in faculty practice. Faculty “spotlights” are updated multiple times annually to showcase the exceptional work of faculty practice members. Be sure to return to this webpage in the future to learn about the practice of other faculty members!
Nachasity Smith, MSN, APRN, FNP-C
Instructor
I am a Clinical Instructor at CCN, I started in August of 2024. As a clinical instructor, I take undergraduate students to clinicals in the hospital setting. At clinicals, students learn how to apply their theoretical knowledge learning in class into practice to care for their patients. Currently I serve as clinical faculty in Adult Health; however, starting Spring 2025, I will be serving as clinical faculty in Adult Health and Maternal Child. I am excited for the upcoming semester as my clinical experience prior to becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner was in Labor and Delivery.
My career as a Family Nurse Practitioner started in Urgent Care setting in 2019. I continue to work at a local urgent care clinic in Tuscaloosa for my faculty practice, where I collaborate with other physicians, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants to serve the patient population.
Serving patient population across all age groups.
A typical day in urgent care consists of 10–12-hours of serving patients by assessing, diagnosing, treating, and discharging them to home or ER for wide range of complaints, including upper respiratory infections, pneumonia, lacerations, myocardial infarction, etc. On a typical day, approximately 100 patients are served and majority of these patients are walk-ins as an appointment is not required to be seen at the Urgent Care.
Incorporating evidence-based research into my practice is essential. Using UpToDate, peer-reviewed journal articles, and CDC recommendations to stay current with evidence-based treatment guidelines for illnesses that patients are evaluated for at Urgent Care.
My professional interests related to my current faculty practice includes educating patients on women’s health, acute sickness and preventing illness to help patients’ reach their optimal level of health.
My future plan is to continue practicing as a Family Nurse practitioner at this local urgent care setting. I am grateful for being able to continue practicing as a family nurse practitioner along with serving as a clinical instructor to educate and prepare our future nurses at CCN.
When I think about changes in urgent care, I think about how Covid has impacted our community. The changes that have come with treatment, quarantine, and education guidelines for COVID -19 have changed for the better but have evolved over the past few years.
As a family nurse practitioner, I work to ensure that my patients’ medical needs are addressed efficiently, improving health outcomes for our diverse community. This commitment to serving a community with varied care needs aligns seamlessly with the CCN mission. Which is demonstrated in preparation of students by faculty with broad range of expertise, who continue to actively collaborate with diverse community agencies.