Nursing graduate student balances studies while deployed in Iraq

Schimmels on a monastery tour in Iraq.

Fort Worth, TX

8/6/2009

By: Lauren Jones, TCU Schieffer School of Journalism

A TCU nursing graduate student’s life took a drastic turn when she was deployed to Iraq, but she credits her success there to the training she has received in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program.

JoEllen Schimmels works with the prevention team that helps soldiers develop coping mechanisms and ways to handle stress. She was in the first year of her graduate program when she got the call to go to Iraq.

Being the officer-in-charge of a prevention team, Schimmels sees patients with behavioral health and combat stress-related problems. As a nurse, Schimmels sees first-hand the hardships of the battlefield, including the stressful and traumatizing effects of war.

Schimmels and her team and talk with the soldiers and offers classes that can aid in what they are going through.

Choosing to join the military was a simple choice for Schimmels, once they said they would pay for her bachelor’s degree. Deciding on a nursing profession took little persuading. She was previously in the field of pharmacy, but her recruiter told her that nursing was the way to go, and she was convinced. Schimmels enjoyed working with the other soldiers and loved her four years with them.

While serving on active duty in the Army, Schimmels decided to take on the new challenge of graduate school. She registered for classes beginning in the spring 2009, but was called to duty in Iraq and deployed in February 2009.

After arriving in Iraq, computer access allowed her to take one course at a time. Keeping up with her assignments and staying in touch with her professor made her academic situation manageable. Schimmels plans to return to the United States in October 2009 where she will take the fall semester off in order to have a transition period.

Mental health prevention was the area of practice Schimmels chose for her Nursing Practice, or DNP. While being stationed in Baghdad, she noticed that other military units ran more smoothly than hers. With the increase of suicide and violence, seeking treatment may be necessary, but only possible if people are willing to listen.

Schimmels wants to make a difference; however, this is complicated because she sees patients after they have been in trouble or at a point when their issues are so far out of hand they no longer want to live. Schimmels believes that “prevention could also help break down some of the barriers to seeking treatment and the stigma related to behavioral health services in general.” 

After researching other DNP programs, Schimmels chose TCU. She thought TCU was not only an outstanding school, but their online program worked perfectly with her schedule. After attending orientation at TCU in August 2008, Schimmels knew she had made the right decision.

“My peers have been absolutely amazing,” Schimmels said. “I was honored to have been selected for the program after meeting the other students and learning about their accomplishments."

Balancing all the responsibilities that go into being a student and in the Army is a tough job. “I see school as a hobby, (I know, it is a twisted kind of hobby), and am able to work on school when I have time,” Schimmels said. “I have to forgo a gym session or two to complete an assignment. I’m sure most people figure out creative ways to utilize their time wisely. I’m not too different over here.”

Upon finishing her DNP program, Schimmels plans to teach for a psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner program. She would like to get more involved in politics and utilize her nursing organizations to get more involved.

“I feel that the content has been challenging and thought-provoking in such a positive way,” she said. “I think that having gone through the coursework in the fall really made me a much stronger clinician here in Iraq.”

“I am inspired every day and am honored to work with soldiers,” Schimmels said. Interacting with Iraqi civilians and seeing life from a soldiers’ perspective has helped put a different slant on what she does. Making a difference in soldiers’ lives and having this opportunity, Schimmels said, has been a rewarding and humbling experience.
 

Media contact:
Shawn Kornegay
Associate director of communications
TCU
817-257-5061
s.kornegay@tcu.edu