Miranda Hennes precepts a WSU College of Nursing student just about every semester.
Hennes, a psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner at Excelsior Youth Center in Spokane, said she remembers how challenging it was to get the required number of clinical hours when she was studying for her Master of Nursing degree from the WSU College of Nursing.
“I know what it’s like to be a student, and I enjoy teaching,” Hennes said. She graduated with her MN in 2014, and worked as a graduate teaching assistant and an adjunct instructor for the College of Nursing. She also received her RN-BSN degree from WSU.
Excelsior Youth Center offers residential care and education and outpatient services to young people with a variety of psychiatric and behavioral conditions. Hennes said she sees clients ages 5 and up for mental health medication management.
She loves the work, she said. “It fits my philosophy of providing care to people – helping them help themselves. If you can get to the root of some of their problems, which can be chronic misuse of substances or poor self-care, then you can fix many more problems than just these outside issues.”
The most challenging aspect of precepting a nursing student is time, Hennes said – making sure both her client and the nursing student get what they need in each encounter. But, she said, “I’m more than happy to do it.”
