Stephen F. Austin State University

Stephen F. Austin State University nursing students gain practical experience in providing psychiatric nursing care during clinical rotations at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Skyview-Hodge Unit in Rusk.

The clinical rotations are a first for nursing students in Texas, and the program is becoming a model for nursing programs nationwide, according to SFA nursing instructors Christine Harper and Debbie Ellisor, who supervise the students.

“Nursing faculty from California, Oklahoma, Ohio, New York, and Idaho have plans to develop similar clinical opportunities for nursing students in those states,” Ellisor said.

Ellisor holds a master’s degree from Texas Woman’s University, where she completed a clinical tract in psychiatric and mental health nursing. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Simmons College in Boston, Mass., where she received the Marjorie Stimson Award for Outstanding Nursing Graduate.

Harper completed a Master of Science degree in psychiatric and mental health nursing from Texas Woman’s University and holds a Master of Science degree in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Texas at Tyler. Her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing is from the University of Texas at Austin.

Harper served as director of nursing services at Rusk State Hospital from 1994 to 2003.

The clinical experience is the result of a collaborative agreement between the university, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Harper and Ellisor recently presented information about the program at a national nursing education conference in San Francisco, Calif.