Jasa Gibson '23
R.N. to BSN
Gloucester, Virginia
A third-generation nurse, Jasa Gibson worked as a medic in the Army. She now works for Eastern Virginia Medical School, so Messiah’s R.N. to BSN program offered the flexibility she needs while working fulltime.
“As a nurse I have a little over two years of experience, half of which was working in the emergency room and the other half has been working in outpatient family medicine,” she said. “I was able to continue working full-time doing clinicals on the weekend.”
At 14, Gibson attended Mary Baldwin University’s Program for the Exceptionally Gifted, a boarding school type of environment in Staunton, Virginia. She completed her R.N. at Thomas Nelson Community College. After working as a medic in the Army and at the Newport News Police Department as a 911 dispatcher, she decided to pursue the R.N. to BSN program.
“Having grown up locally, I was familiar with Messiah and knew it had a great reputation,” she said.
Gibson credits Assistant Professor of Nursing Brenda Elliott with being integral to her Messiah experience.
“She was really flexible and accommodating any time I had questions with registration or clinical rotations. She’s been very accessible as I’ve proceeded through the program,” said Gibson
As she makes her way through graduate classes such as Strategic Thinking, Planning and Organizational Change, she’s finding her way as a leader.
“In my current role, I supervise two LPNs. When I initially joined the department, one of the LPNs had been a nurse for over 20 years. The politics while working together were complex because she was responsible for training me on how to complete the visits. However, I was her supervisor and needed to make changes … to improve the care management workflow. These experiences present one of the challenges of working in a hierarchical organizational structure that also requires fluidity and active partnerships between the hierarchies,” she said.
Although she graduated in December of 2022, she decided to continue at Messiah and is on track to receive her MSN in December of 2024.
“There are growth opportunities in the organization I work for. Once I get my MSN, my eventual goal is to work in quality improvement,” she said.
— Anna Seip