Maria White, MSN, BA, RN, CCRN
Critical care nurse, Maria S. White, began her career at Penn Nursing in the Simulation Laboratory, which allows students to safely exercise crucial nursing skills and judgement in a controlled and simulated clinical environment. Today, she assists undergraduate students build key competencies in the simulation lab, studies ways to improve simulation education and classroom content delivery, and serves as associate course director for two courses: “Nursing Care of the Young and Middle-Aged Adult” (NURS245) and “Nursing Care of the Older Adult” (NURS255).
Her role as associate course director includes developing tests and lectures, presenting lectures, engaging students, and coordinating and supervising clinical work. Ms. White also teaches the simulation lab component for these and four other undergraduate courses.
“At Penn Nursing, the lessons you learn, the people you meet, and the opportunities you’ll find will forever change your career trajectory.”
Education
- MSN, Thomas Jefferson University , 2014
- BSN, Thomas Jefferson University , 2010
- BA, Temple University , 2009
Research
As principal investigator for “Watch & Learn,” Ms. White and her research study team are exploring the impact of video demonstrations on student performance in the simulation lab. This project, funded by Penn Nursing, creates instructional videos for nursing students that introduce them to simulation lab protocols that are taught specifically at Penn Nursing – unlike other instructional videos found on the Internet. Ms. White will compare simulation demonstrations of students who have watched the Watch & Learn videos with students who have not. She expects to publish findings by the end of 2016.
Opportunities to Learn and Collaborate at Penn Nursing
Under a second grant from Penn Nursing, Ms. White is the project leader of an Innovative Technology and Teaching Grant, designed to explore how large groups of nursing students perform when taking classroom examinations electronically. This “Go Green Test With a Machine” research project launched in the fall of 2016. Ms. White is examining the full integration of technology and testing in a classroom with 98 nursing students.
Ms. White began teaching at Penn Nursing while pursuing her MSN at Thomas Jefferson University. She collaborates with other Penn Nursing faculty to ensure that lectures and simulations are integrated and consistent. Her research focuses on the use of technology in the simulation lab and in the classroom.
By continuing to practice as a per diem critical care staff nurse in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Ms. White keeps her classroom lectures current. She has also worked as a staff nurse at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
Selected Career Highlights
- Recipient, Student Nurses At Penn Undergraduate Award for Teaching
- Member, National League of Nursing
- Member, American Association of Critical Care Nurses