Wayne State University College of Nursing

Amanda Missel, PhD, RN, assistant professor in Wayne State's College of Nursing, is working to improve survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest by helping everyday people recognize the emergency, call 911 quickly and begin lifesaving action sooner.

Her research explores the barriers that can delay response, from confusion around symptoms like agonal breathing and seizure-like activity to gender disparities in CPR and AED use. Through augmented reality simulation and American Heart Association-funded work, Dr. Missel is helping develop new tools to better prepare lay rescuers for real-life emergencies.

Watch the interview to learn how her research is empowering people to respond faster, communicate more clearly and help save lives:

Empowering Lay Rescuers through Education & Simulation | Amanda Missel, PhD, RN Dr. Amanda Missel’s work focuses on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest....

Karina Morfin Munoz’s path to nursing started long before college.

As a child living with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, she saw firsthand how compassionate care can change a patient’s experience. Years later, when her dad was hospitalized, Wayne State nurses left a lasting impression on her family and helped shape her decision to become one herself.

Now, Karina is preparing to begin her journey as a Wayne State Direct Admit BSN student and Honors College member this fall.

Read her story: https://nursing.wayne.edu/news/from-young-patient-to-future-nurse-why-an-incoming-student-chose-wayne-state-nursing-69499

What if quitting smoking was not just an individual journey?

In a new interview, Seung Hee Choi, assistant professor of nursing at Wayne State University, discusses her research on smoking cessation among couples, especially underserved and understudied populations where at least one partner smokes.

Her work explores a powerful challenge: for many couples, smoking is tied not only to addiction, but also to daily routines, emotional connection and shared moments. That means successful cessation strategies must account for the relationship dynamic, not just the individual behavior.

Dr. Choi and her team recently completed a pilot test of the We Quit web app with 44 smoking couples, with promising results. The app builds on a family consultation intervention that previously doubled long-term quit rates compared to similar interventions, while aiming to make that support easier to access at scale.

Hear how Dr. Choi’s research could help more smokers, partners and families move toward healthier lives:

Digital Tools for Smoking Cessation | Seung Hee Choi, PhD, RN Dr. Seung Hee Choi’s research has focused on the effects of engagin...

The College of Nursing welcomed 38 incoming Direct Admit BSN students during a new orientation experience designed to help them prepare for their first year at Wayne State.

Students toured campus, picked up their OneCards, explored on-campus housing and completed Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers training in the Richard Cohn Memorial Building.

The Direct Admit BSN pathway gives students coming directly out of high school early admission to the College of Nursing, dedicated student support and a clear path to complete their nursing coursework within four years.

Read more: https://nursing.wayne.edu/news/new-direct-admit-bsn-students-connect-with-college-of-nursing-during-orientation-69554

Stress does not just affect how young people feel. It can shape their long-term health.

Maha Albdour, PhD, RN, APHN-BC, associate professor and PhD Program Director at the Wayne State University College of Nursing, is working to answer that question through research focused on adolescent and young adult health.

Her work explores how psychosocial stressors, including discrimination, bullying, adverse childhood experiences and acculturative stress, affect both mental and physical health among immigrant, Arab American and African American adolescents and young adults.

By combining lived experience with biological measures of stress, including blood samples and hair cortisol, Dr. Albdour is helping show how early-life stress can influence long-term health outcomes, including risk factors for metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Watch the interview to learn how her research is advancing prevention, health equity and healthier futures for young people and families:

Biological Markers and Mental Health for Immigrant Adolescents | Maha Albdour, PhD, RN, APHN-BC Maha Albdour is a board-certified advanced public health nurse who earned her Ph.D. in Nursing at Wayne State University in 2017. Her research interest is th...

Happy Pride Month from the College of Nursing! 🌈 Love wins.

In case you missed it: Biyyiah Strickland, MSN, RN, PAHM, a PhD student in the Wayne State University College of Nursing, was featured in CNN’s W**d 8: Women and W**d with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

In the segment, Strickland discussed her dissertation research through the CannaMama Study, helping bring national attention to cannabis use during pregnancy and the need for deeper understanding of maternal health, lived experience and outcomes for mothers and children. She also shared preliminary findings from her research, noting that 26% of moms in her Detroit-area study reported using cannabis during pregnancy.

Watch the full segment here:
https://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=100&DateTime=4%2F19%2F2026+11%3A27%3A42+PM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=100&playclip=True&RefPage=&pbc=WatchlistTerm%3A2492327&utm_source=link&utm_medium=email-69e64f56172ba&utm_campaign=Media+Watch%26comma%3B+Monday%26comma%3B+April+20&utm_content=Cowboy+Cup%26comma%3B+a+celebration+of+cannabis+culture+in+Oklahoma&utm_term=

Michigan Area Health Education Center will expand health care career programming for students in rural communities through $1.5 million in new funding from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The investment will help introduce more students to health care careers, strengthen local workforce pipelines and support rural communities facing long-term provider shortages.

Read more about how Michigan AHEC is helping build a stronger health care workforce across the state: https://nursing.wayne.edu/news/michigan-ahec-receives-15m-to-expand-rural-health-care-workforce-pipeline-69155

Q: For someone who is struggling with mental health issues but does not know where to start, what would you recommend?

Umeika Stephens, DNP, PMHNP-BC, FNP-BC, FAANP: “For someone who's struggling with mental health issues but not really knowing what direction to go or where to start, I think the first thing I would say is self-evaluation. And you want to look at it from two perspectives: What are your stressors and really kind of list them all out and what are your strengths or supports? And if you're finding that the stressors outweigh the strengths or supports, then that's usually where it's time to go and get some additional help. But oftentimes we have things that kind of run through our head and so just listing out those stressors and kind of what access you have with the strengths to fix them."

In the full Q&A, Dr. Stephens, assistant clinical professor and graduate specialty coordinator for the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program in the College of Nursing, discusses Mental Health Awareness Month, stigma, access to care and the importance of recognizing when support is needed.

Read the Q&A: https://nursing.wayne.edu/news/wayne-state-nursing-faculty-expert-discusses-mental-health-awareness-stigma-and-access-to-care-69142

Spot the green scrubs. 💚

During a recent visit to St. John Hospital, Wayne State University Media Relations Manager Bill Roose noticed a group of nursing students walking by and quickly learned they were Warriors. Their green scrubs made them instantly recognizable as Wayne State College of Nursing students learning in a real clinical setting and bringing their nursing education to life.

Thank you to Jack Sicheneder, WSU pediatric clinical instructor, for helping capture this great moment.