Becky Faett | School of Nursing | University of Pittsburgh

PhD, MSN, RN, MBA, CHSE

Assistant Professor

Acute & Tertiary Care

Profile

Upon completion of her PhD in 2012, Dr. Becky Faett was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the SON in the Department of Acute & Tertiary Care after serving as an instructor for six years. She is the primary teacher for didactic and clinical courses for sophomore BSN students. She is responsible for course content, course management, student evaluation, and mentoring of students and faculty for courses that introduce undergraduate nursing students to management of patients with acute/chronic medical surgical conditions. In addition, she teaches medical surgical clinical to undergraduate students. At the graduate level, she has been a guest lecturer for the Clinical Nurse Leader program and has mentored DNP students as a chair and committee member for their doctoral projects. On a global level, Dr. Faett created educational content on care of the surgical patient to be used in a professional development program provided by SON for nurses in Kazakhstan. She has also mentored a visiting scholar from Capital Medical University in China who was interested in learning about our BSN curriculum.

Dr. Faett has been recognized for the quality and innovation of her teaching at the SON level, including the Distinguished Clinical Scholar Award, the Nursing Excellence in Teaching and Technology Award, and the Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award and at the university level, including the Provost’s Innovation in Education Award. In acknowledgement of her contributions to nursing education in the Commonwealth of PA, she was selected as a finalist for the Pennsylvania Nightingale Nurse Education in Academia Award.

Clinical Emphasis

Prior to teaching, Dr. Faett worked as a staff nurse in critical care, the operating room and the post anesthesia care unit. She was also a unit director of a telemetry trauma unit. Her dissertation involved the development and implementation of a telerehabilitation self-management educational program for people with chronic edema and lymphedema with mobility limitations. Dr. Faett interest involves using simulation to educate students on telehealth, patient care though care-based scenarios and interprofessional communication and teamwork.

Scholarly Emphasis

As a faculty member, Dr. Faett is involved in evidence-based projects related to the scholarship of teaching. As PI, she led the development and implementation of evidence-based interactive teaching videos to support small-group peer to peer discussions between students, facilitated by clinical faculty. These videos focused on patient and caregiver education with an emphasis on communication, empathy, knowledge content, and active listening skills. The guide and videos are available on YouTube for free access by faculty colleagues and nurse educators across the country.

Dr. Faett used her telehealth expertise to develop evidence-based telehealth simulation. Utilizing monies awarded as a recipient of the Dean’s Clinical Scholar award and in collaboration with the local health care system, two virtual clinic rooms with appropriate telehealth equipment and training modules for faculty were established at the SON. This project uses simulation to educate nursing students on the use of telehealth to practice the complexities of remote assessment and education of patients and caregivers.

In collaboration with nurse educators from the VA Medical Center, Dr. Faett led a simulation study with a focus on interprofessional communication and teamwork. The purpose of the study was to compare the impact of escape rooms and standard high fidelity simulation rooms on interprofessional communication and teamwork. The aim was to measure and compare specific indicators of quality in communication and teamwork while students were in escape rooms and in standard high fidelity simulation rooms.

As primary teacher for the ABSN sophomore nursing students clinical, Dr. Faett has been involved with the Teaching Nursing Home Collaborate study, which is funded by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, John A Harford Foundation & the Independence Foundation and the Henry Hillman Foundation. In this role she has assisted in the development and implementation of a long-term care clinical experience for ABSN students.

Dr. Faett has presented her research both nationally and internationally.

Service

Dr. Faett is a member of the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL), the ANA, PSNA and Sigma. As a member of the Sigma-Eta Chapter she serves on the Governance Committee.

Dr. Faett also serves as a University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing faculty for the VA Post-Baccalaureate Registered Nurse Residency Program. This one-year program assists novice nurses in their transition into professional nursing.