Susan Beidler, Ph.D., has been appointed as the new director for the UNMC College of Nursing Morehead Center for Nursing Practice. Dr. Beidler, recruited last fall from Florida Atlantic University, brings more than 30 years of nursing experience to UNMC.
Housed at the college, the center’s focus is improving the quality of patient care through education, research and outreach to the underserved through faculty nursing practices. Established through a donation from the late businessman, Ken Morehead, the center assists faculty working with the Senior Health Promotion Center in Lincoln; the Family Health Care Center in south Omaha; the Cosmopolitan-UNMC Mobile Nursing Center, the UNMC College of Nursing Ambulatory Care/Community Health Program; and the Panhandle Hispanic/Native American Diabetes Outreach Clinic in Scottsbluff.
Faculty nursing practices include contracted services for nursing services, such as primary care, care for patients with specific diseases, such as cancer or multiple sclerosis and health promotion. Services also include helping vulnerable populations gain access to health services, and evaluation of health services.
Dr. Beidler, an associate professor and family nurse practitioner who practices in the Family Health Care Center, said she and her colleagues are exploring a number of other nursing practice opportunities for children and older adults.
The center, also supported in part by a Health Resources and Services Administration grant, focuses on reducing health disparities. “It provides an opportunity for the college to help nursing faculty develop practice opportunities and to help identify community needs and match faculty with community and student learning needs,” Dr. Beidler said.
Mary Cramer, Ph.D., UNMC College of Nursing Community-Based Health Department chair and associate professor, said Dr. Beidler’s background in nursing practice, in particular nurse-managed health clinics, was key in selecting her as director of the center.
“That, combined with her scholarship made her a perfect fit here at UNMC to bring us a fresh vision for change and for developing other practice sites that meet the needs for quality care across Nebraska,” Dr. Cramer said. “She also brings a national presence in the professional association of nurse practitioners and her command of policy and legislation affecting nurse practitioners is impressive.”
Dr. Beidler’s career in nursing begin as a staff nurse in 1976 in Reading, Pa. She has held various nursing positions in clinical and community settings, including nurse practitioner. Her career in academia began in 1981 as an instructor at Albright College, Reading, Pa., where she served along with other clinical positions until 1993.
Between 1992 and 2002 she was a clinical lecturer and pre-doctoral fellow in the International Center for Research with Women and Children at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. From 2002 to 2005, she served as assistant professor at the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Fla., where she also held the title of research assistant professor from 2005 to 2007.
Dr. Beidler was moved to accept the appointment at UNMC for a variety of reasons. She cited the dean’s vision for the college and university, the quality of its faculty, and her passion for demonstrating nursing’s ability to improve the health status of all through innovative models of community-based nursing care.
“I’ve done a lot of work with the underserved. There’s a great need for health care providers to address the complex needs of the underserved. It’s a constant challenge,” Dr. Beidler said.
She also has a passion for bioethics. “What drives me are the ethical issues related to health care. We have the ability to do so much … through our technological advancements. But what I see is us doing so little for so many. The inequity of our health care delivery system is appalling to me. As a society, we don’t want to acknowledge that.”
Dr. Beidler’s research interests include the models of care for vulnerable populations, increasing access to care, reducing health disparities, and ethics.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in 1976 from Albright College, Reading, Penn., a master’s degree in nursing in 1981 from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and in 2002 earned a doctoral and master’s degree in bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
She’s a member of numerous national organizations, including the Sigma Theta Tau International, the American Association of Diabetes Educators, American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, the American Diabetes Association and American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She recently was elected to the board of directors for the National Nursing Centers Consortium.
Dr. Beidler succeeds Kathryn Fiandt, D.N.Sc., who served as the center’s first director. Dr. Fiandt accepted a position last year in Texas.