Katie Upton, originally from Jasper, Indiana, is a staff nurse at Missouri Baptist Medical Center's Open-heart recovery/CVICU. She also teaches in BSN simulation lab on a PRN basis at Maryville University. She earned two nursing degrees from USI: BSN in 2016 and MSN in 2021. She is currently enrolled in USI’s Post-Master's Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate Program.
While a student in the undergraduate nursing program, she helped plant a seed for a peer tutoring program to boost academic success and morale, an initiative that is still flourishing nine years later. While working as a nursing assistant, Upton had witnessed instances of newly graduated nurses being bullied by more experienced colleagues. “I wanted to change the culture so that nurses teaching and supporting each other became the standard instead of bullying new nurses for what they do not know,” she says.
Q&A with Katie Upton
Why did you decide to become a nurse? Who or what inspired you? My mom was a night nursing supervisor for a couple of decades, so I thought it was completely normal to be with patients all night long. I started shadowing nurses and became a nursing assistant. The active, hands-on world of nursing turned out to be a great fit for me.
Why did you choose USI for your nursing degree? I chose USI for multiple reasons. The BSN program had the #1 NCLEX pass rate in the state. When I visited the campus, current students and faculty were incredibly helpful. As an added bonus, USI was the most affordable nursing school by a significant margin.
Why did you want to help form the tutoring program? Why is it important for nursing students to support each other? I remember reviewing a pharmacology test with Sue Krieg, one of my former nursing instructors. She said that she wished she could tutor students in the areas they were struggling with. This statement stuck with me for days. I also remember thinking "How did the nurses before us figure these things out?" That was how the idea of peer tutoring originated. I had already witnessed some instances of "nurses eating their young" and felt that students being able to teach and learn from other nursing students would reduce lateral violence in the profession later on. Realistically, newly graduated nurses rely on the support of their experienced nursing colleagues, especially during that first year out of school. I wanted to change the culture of nursing so that nurses teaching each other became the standard instead of bullying new nurses for what they do not know.
How does it make you feel to know the program is still going strong? It warms my heart to know that USI continues to support the peer tutoring program. It also came to my attention that a few former tutors have chosen to pursue the nurse educator specialty because they enjoyed their roles as nursing tutors. It sounds like the vision of nurses teaching each other is alive and well at USI.