Beyond the Bedside: A Look at Spartans in Nursing | Page 8

Research, Teaching, Policy
Development, and Patient Care:

DOING IT FOR THE
UNDERSERVED
Talent, Thinking, and Will
On the door of Wanda Gibson-Scipio’s office
hangs a quote from Erma Bombeck, “When I
stand before God at the end of my life, I would
hope that I would have not a single bit of talent
left and could say I used everything you gave
me.” Gibson-Scipio uses every bit of knowledge,
critical thinking, and yes, her talent in many
nursing roles.
She started in the ICU because, she says, “It
required thinking all the time, making decisions
that impacted patient outcomes, and working
closely with an interdisciplinary team.” Carrying
these values forward, she pursued her MSN-NP
and practiced in a nurse-managed center.
One busy day, she neglected to start an office
visit in her usual practice style, which is to lead
with care and inquiry. When she finally pulled
up a stool in front of her patient and said, “Tell
me how you’re doing,” the patient took a huge
breath. “Thank you,” she said.” Thank you for
stopping to talk to me and understand what’s
going on. I thought you weren’t going to do
that today.” Those words have stayed with her,
reminding her to take time to understand the
complexity of each patient’s health problem in
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the context of their social life—no matter how
busy she is.
Her practice and teaching skills led her to
teach at the graduate level. It was then that she
decided to grow herself as a scholar too and
came to the College of Nursing for her PhD.
Her line of research focuses on urban youth with
chronic disease, specifically asthma. Her goal
is to help this population develop the skills they
need to transition the responsibility for their
healthcare from caregivers, usually mothers,
to themselves as adults. They need to learn
about attack prevention, medication adherence,
insurance, finding care providers, and other vital
topics to manage their own care.

Improving Healthcare
One Youth at a Time,
a Whole State at a Time
Gibson-Scipio’s current study lays the
groundwork for a mobile application
intervention for urban youth with asthma.
With input from both healthcare providers and

youth, the goal is to engage this population
effectively through web-based technology.
Her research intersects with her work as CoProgram Director of the Michigan Area Health
Education Center (MI-AHEC). Since 2010,
MI-AHEC has worked to create greater access
to primary care, especially in underserved
areas, and build a diverse primary care
workforce. Here, her program is effectively
generalized to other populations, including
youth with autism. At the corporate level,
she is committed to making Michigan’s AHEC
sustainable as an organization.

Layers of Impact
Just as her career has led her to take on many
roles, it has impacted many lives at many layers.
To teach graduate students about the
community, she had them conduct a
community assessment and develop a health
fair to address the issues it raised. Working
with a high school, city council, and area
service providers, the students produced
a highly successful fair. Interactive stations
about high blood pressure, diabetes, and other
topics really engaged the public and improved
the health of an entire community. The
students rated the project as one of the most
meaningful of their graduate program.
Gibson-Scipio maintains a relationship with a
Detroit school and takes a lead in community
outreach and education efforts. Students
work with the school’s NP to create a monthly
health newsletter, which has come to be a vital
information source for parents, families, t