Nola Schmidt

Biography

Joining the faculty in 1992, Professor Schmidt teaches in the undergraduate nursing and health care leader programs, as well as both nursing graduate programs. Her areas of expertise include nursing research, evidence-based practice, nursing education, and patient/staff education. She is a certified nurse educator (CNE) through the National League of Nursing. Formally a pediatric clinical nurse specialist (CNS) at Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Illinois, her clinical area of expertise is pediatric nursing. Professor Schmidt’s scholarly interests include children’s pain, Orem’s nursing theory, ethics, service learning, and spirituality. With Dean Janet Brown, she co-edited an undergraduate research textbook, Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses: Appraisal and Application of Research which is now in its third edition. She also co-edited Spiritual Care in Nursing Practice with Dr. Kris Mauk. She has numerous publications in journals such as Annual Review of Nursing Research, Nursing 2009, The Cresset, Nurse Educator, Journal of Professional Nursing and Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing. She is a member of the American Nurses’ Association, Sigma Theta Tau International, Midwest Nurses’ Research Society, and serves as a member at larger on the board of the International Orem Society. Having both a professional and personal interest in travel, Dr. Schmidt served for 2 years as Director of the Valparaiso University Cambridge Study Abroad Program. She has presented internationally in countries such as Thailand, Germany, and South Africa. Recently, she has been invited to consult with Japanese colleagues about Orem’s (2001) theory of dependent care. She will be coordinating a spring break trip to China in 2016 to explore Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western health care practices.

Research Interest

Pediatric nursing. Professor Schmidt’s scholarly interests include children’s pain, Orem’s nursing theory, ethics, service learning, and spirituality.