For many, earning a graduate degree signifies an academic commitment to one’s field of study. For Barry University Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) alumnus Juan Segura, it’s a commitment that doesn’t end when he walks across the stage and receives his diploma; it’s a lifelong commitment that continues in the classroom and in the operating room.
In May, Segura graduated from Barry’s College of Health Sciences and Nursing with an MSN in the Geriatric-Adult Acute Care program, his second master’s degree from Barry after earning a Master of Science in Health Services Administration in 2006. In addition to earning two master’s degrees from Barry, Segura earned a medical degree from Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo in 1982, completed the Healthcare Risk Management Certificate Program at University of South Florida in 2006, completed the MD to RN program at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in 2008, and completed the Registered Nurse First Assistant Program at the College of Southern Nevada in 2010. In addition, he holds CNOR certification, denoting competency in the specialized field of PeriOperative nursing.
Segura is also a member of several honor societies and professional associations, including the South Florida Council of Advanced Practice Nurses, Inc., Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, the Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses, the Florida Nurses Association and the ENP Network.
Segura’s long list of academic accomplishments is coupled with nearly 20 years of experience working as a house physician and registered nurse first assistant at Memorial Regional Hospital. In these positions, Segura’s basic duties include assisting in general, vascular, gynecologic oncology, urogynecology, female pelvic reconstructive and laparoscopic surgeries; communicating and collaborating with the operating room surgeon and health care team; providing the surgeon with exposure effectively, handling tissues appropriately, and attaining hemostasis efficiently without impeding the progress of the operation; and assisting in dressing the incisions, removing drapes, and accompanying the patient to the postoperative unit.
Segura’s experience in the operating room has benefited Barry’s MSN program and its students, said Delia Leal, assistant professor of nursing at Barry, as Segura has made the necessary connections for Barry to expand its clinical sites to Memorial Regional Hospital and has provided hands-on, clinical-training skills to students in Barry’s Geriatric-Adult Acute Care program.
“He is devoted to teaching and to translating science into clinical practice and policy, navigating easily from the classroom to the operating room,” Leal said.
Segura is as committed to teaching others as he is committed to learning, he said.
“I am engaged in the life-long learning process, and I want to end my life teaching what I learned in my life,” Segura said. “My job as a CRNFA at Memorial Regional Hospital gives me the opportunity to always spread the ‘teaching’ and the learning in every case and every minute of my job.”
Now that he has finished the MSN program, Segura is preparing to take the exam to become licensed as a nurse practitioner before possibly returning to the classroom to pursue doctoral studies as a student in Barry’s Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) program, which he has already been accepted into, Leal said.
Segura credits Barry with allowing him to engage in this life-long learning process, he said.
“Barry University was, is and will be my best inspiration, my academic mother and my final goal.”
For more information about Barry’s Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) programs, visit http://www.barry.edu/nursing/msn/
For more information about Barry’s Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) program, visit http://www.barry.edu/nursing/doctoral/doctorate-in-nursing-practice/