College of Nursing’s Andrea Gregg goes the distance to improve nursing education

Andrea Gregg’s motivation to be a nurse came at an early age. After all, for her, health care is a family tradition.

Gregg, D.S.N., R.N., the University of Florida Health Science Center Jacksonville campus director for UF’s College of Nursing said all but one of her five brothers and sisters entered the health-care field.

“Our father always had so much respect for health care,” Gregg said. “He had wanted to be a surgeon, but his father died while he was still in high school, so he had to go to work immediately. Still, he had a love of health care and medicine and felt it was such an honorable discipline.”

Gregg has worn many different hats throughout her long career in nursing, from staff nurse to director of nursing at a major medical center. Those experiences have naturally directed her toward her current efforts as a local and statewide consultant on critical issues facing professional nursing.

Gregg serves on the board of directors of Gov. Jeb Bush’s new Florida Center for Nursing and is a trustee of the Florida Nurses Foundation. She also serves on the Florida Hospital Association’s nursing shortage advisory committee and is a member of the Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing. She also is the college’s representative to the State Board of Nursing and keeps faculty members abreast of the latest efforts of various professional and legislative nursing organizations.

“So many of our faculty have such varied roles, whether it be researcher, clinician or educator,” Gregg said. “So I don’t mind taking the time to make sure all of our faculty are informed of what is happening with nursing issues across the board. The worst thing is for nursing to be apathetic. If you are not out there speaking your voice, you cannot be building a successful environment for the profession.”

Last year, Gregg was named Nurse of the Year by Florida Nurse Association’s District II. In 2000, she was named one of Northeast Florida’s Great 100 Nurses.

A lot has changed on the College of Nursing’s Jacksonville campus since Gregg came on board as director in 1995. Until the mid-1990s, students were taught in traditional classroom settings by faculty members based in Jacksonville.

Today, College of Nursing students have access to faculty members in Gainesville, Jacksonville and Tampa, and many of Gregg’s students attend her classes in different cities, or, with the dawn of Web-based education, from home. Master’s and doctoral programs are available through the Jacksonville campus, and the college’s nurse midwifery program is based there.

“The campus has progressed significantly, as has our college-at-large,” Gregg said. “When I began as director, we were operating almost independently of our Gainesville campus. Now we are members of our respective college departments and interact with Gainesville colleagues regularly, and course responsibilities are shared across campuses using distance delivery methods. My role has changed to one of manager of campus interactivity, faculty coach and on-site student adviser, as well as assuring the college’s visibility in the community.”

Gregg emphasizes that while she is part of the college’s administrative team, her major role remains nursing educator. She immerses herself in learning the latest education technologies to enhance the quality of her classes. She was one of the first faculty members on the Jacksonville campus to brave the new world of distance education, and most of her classes are taught via distance delivery to sites in Gainesville and Tampa.

Gregg said she worked with Jacksonville campus leaders early on to assess and obtain the necessary technological equipment and support that is now commonplace on the campus.

In 1997, Gregg developed a computer-based system for the Jacksonville campus that helps faculty forecast the number of prospective students for specific courses and make appropriate faculty assignments. In 1998, the system was adapted for the entire college. This semester brings another test, as Gregg teaches her first totally Web-based class. Although it has been a challenge to develop new teaching approaches to fit the technology, it’s a great new frontier for education and wonderful to interact with future nursing professionals from around the state, Gregg said.

Gregg’s foray into nursing began when she entered the St. Joseph’s School of Nursing in Savannah, Ga. — her hometown — immediately out of high school. After graduating from the school’s diploma program, she began working her way up the ranks at Memorial Medical Center, an academic health center in the city.

By 1969, Gregg had moved to a management position as head nurse, but was told that to progress higher she would need a bachelor’s degree. In 1976, she entered Armstrong State College, while also juggling family responsibilities that included caring for her three young children. Almost a decade later she earned a master’s degree in adult nursing and education at the Medical College of Georgia.

“At that time, it was not common for nurses to pursue higher degrees,” Gregg said. “But it was an incredible opportunity for me, despite the long hours. At the time, I was also working as the director of nursing and balancing my family. I would work, come home, attend to the children, and study and write papers until about 1 or 2 in the morning. But despite the hectic schedule, I always loved the academic environment.”

In 1982, Gregg moved to Jacksonville, to become director of nursing at St. Jude’s Nursing Center and then associate administrator of patient-care services at Nemours Children’s Hospital. Her experience there enabled her to implement professional nursing care models and gain hands-on experience in molding nursing administration and excellence in nursing care.

Gregg’s position at Nemours is what led her to UF. The College of Nursing formed a partnership with Nemours to teach basic pediatric nursing courses to the hospital’s nurses. Former Dean Lois Malasanos, Ph.D., R.N., offered Gregg a position to teach nursing administration of the college’s Jacksonville campus. After the Jacksonville campus director retired, Gregg served as interim director and was finally offered the position in 1995.

Gregg simultaneously pursued a doctorate in nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham while completing coursework at both UF and the University of North Florida, and in 1993 she received a doctorate in nursing science with a focus on nursing administration. In a typical week, Gregg spends about four days in Jacksonville teaching and doing administrative work, and the fifth day traveling and attending a state nursing meeting or a faculty meeting on the Gainesville campus.

Before moving to Jacksonville, she married her current husband John, a health-care administrator, and her family grew to five children, her three and two of John’s from a previous marriage. Her children are now grown (they range in age from 29 to 38), but six grandchildren do their best to keep Gregg busy. When she is not spending time with two generations of her family, she enjoys gardening and decorating rooms in her home.

“So much of what we do in administration and education takes years to come to fruition, so it’s very fulfilling for me to embark on a project where I can see the end results relatively soon,” Gregg said. “Yet when I step back and look over all of these years, I can appreciate all that nursing has brought me, both personally and professionally.”