Lucyellen Dahlgren

Biography

I'm a city kid from Newark, NJ who moved to a suburb of Boston (kicking and screaming) at the age of 13. After receiving a BA in Biology from Regis College, I worked a short time in Women's Reproductive Physiology Research, co-authored two papers, and left to go to nursing school when we lost government grants for women's health studies. I received a diploma from Newton-Wellesley Hospital School of Nursing, and took my first nursing job on a med-surg unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In 9 months I was moved to the MICU and loved it there until managed care came. I continued there working 3-12's: Friday-Saturday-Sunday nights, so I could go to graduate school full-time.

I received an MSN in Nursing Administration from Anna Maria Arial College and shortly thereafter took my first administrative job managing a SICU at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Boston (where the TV show St. Elsewhere is based). I met my husband there, and after two years in SICU, I moved from to Kentucky (Culture Shock- I was living Green Acres). I left two large teaching hospitals to work in the private side of medicine, in a small hospital, as a Critical Care Nurse Specialist.

Being one of a handful of nurses with a Master’s degree, I was quickly moved into administration and became the Administrative Director of Organizational Development for the hospital. This truly removed me from patient care, and I was miserable doing planning, paperwork and budgets. Back to school: This time to Belmont. I commuted from Kentucky, while my husband opened a new practice in Illinois with our two year old. I received a post-graduate certification as a nurse practitioner in family practice, and opened a private practice in a rural Illinois.

(In case you're keeping score, I've now moved to the other end of the medical spectrum: from critical care to family practice). After a short two years, we moved to Nashville. I loved my practice, but the opportunities in Nashville for my family could not compare, so here we are. I considered a position at Vanderbilt as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, so I called Dr. Leslie Higgins for a recommendation. Dr. Higgins offered me an Adjuct Faculty position here at Belmont University teaching what I love: Nursing....I have just completed my third full time year here teaching Principles of Acute Care..... and that's the beginning of my story.