Ethical Case Studies for Advanced Practice Nurses: Solving Dilemmas in Everyday Practice

Amber L. Vermeesch, PhD, MSN, RN, FNP-C, FACSM, FNAP, has been a practicing family nurse practitioner since 2006. She has spent most of her practice serving underinsured and vulnerable populations. She completed her master's in nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She earned her PhD in nursing science from the University of Miami in 2011, where she focused on reducing healthcare disparities among Latino populations using multiple methodologies, including participatory photography. She joined the University of Portland as an Associate Professor in 2014, teaching in both graduate and undergraduate programs and served as the Director of Research and Scholarship. She became a certified nurse educator in 2017. In 2020, Vermeesch became a Fellow in the American College of Sports Medicine as well as Distinguished Practitioner and Fellow in the National Academies of Practice. Her overall area of expertise is wellness, both physical and emotional. In 2022, she became the Department Chair for Family and Community Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her investigations have concentrated on physical activity and integrated health among vulnerable populations.

Patricia H. Cox, DNP, MPH, MN, BSN, RN, recently retired as the Director of Doctoral Nursing Education & Practice at the School of Nursing at the University of Portland. Her long career in nursing took her from the bedside as an Army nurse to working as a public health nurse with migrant farmworkers and then Lao refugees in Thailand. Along the way, she advanced her education while caringfor HIV/AIDS patients as a nurse practitioner in the early days of the epidemic. Later she provided primary care to Native American and Hispanic populations in a community clinic in Los Angeles. Always supportive of nursing education, Cox served as adjunct faculty in several nursing programs prior to relocating to Portland to teach full time and prepare the next generation of nurse practitioners in the DNP Program at the University of Portland.

Inga M. Giske, DNP, MSN, RN, PMHNP-BC, PMH-BC, NE-BC, serves as a psychiatric nurse practitioner on the Psychiatric Consult-Liaison service at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. She provides psychiatric evaluation and treatment recommendations for patients during their medical admission while also providing education and support to professional staff, nursing, and ancillary care team members. In addition, she serves as a preceptor to nurse practitioner students, medical students, and internal medicine residents. Her nursing career has spanned from bedside nursing to regional leadership in acute inpatient psychiatric units and psychiatric emergency departments. She implemented evidence-based practice changes in both acute inpatient and psychiatric settings to reduce falls and violence and improve patient and caregiver satisfaction. Giske works to improve knowledge regarding mental health conditions and reduce stigma through education of nurses, other healthcare providers, and her community. She has been adjunct faculty at the University of Portland, teaching undergraduate psychiatric nursing. She provides competency-based suicide assessment training to nurses both locally and nationally. Lastly, she has served as a trainer to local law enforcement in her community, educating both new recruits and experienced officers on mental health, crisis intervention, and de-escalation for the past six years.