Contact Information:
Office: UUG 214G
Phone: 901-759-0029 ext. 139
E-mail: vwburke@uu.edu
Snail Mail: 2745 Hacks Cross Road, Germantown, TN 38138-3815
Bio:
Valerie Michelle Watters-Burke was born in Red Bud, Illinois on February 24, 1969. She attended elementary school in Prairie Du Rocher, Illinois and graduated from Red Bud High School in June 1987. The following August she entered Creighton University, declaring Nursing as her major during her Sophomore year. Following transfer to Saint Louis University in 1989, she received the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in May 1991. During the course of her four years of undergraduate study, she worked as a Nurse Technician on Maternal/Child units including NICU, PICU, OB, Nursery, and Pediatrics, as well as a Student Nurse on Neurosurgical Unit.
Initially accepting a position as an emergency department staff nurse, she rapidly assumed the additional duties and responsibilities of the position of Charge Nurse on the weekend option, which facilitated the pursuit of her Masters of Science in Nursing (Acute/Critical care), which she was awarded in May 1992 from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She continued working as an advanced practice nurse in emergency services until 1995, when she completed a Post-masters Family Nurse Practitioner program through the University of Missouri - Columbia, and entered into an Independent collaborative practice agreement to manage a wide variety of patients including adult, pediatric, women’s health, minor trauma, and emergency walk-in patients in the under-served, rural communities of Pike County, Missouri.
During the summer of 2001 she returned to the acute/critical care setting after a family relocation to Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Initially providing adult and pediatric critical care to emergency department patients as a Nurse Practitioner, where she Managed a wide variety of patients with diagnosis’s that included acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, syncopal episodes, arrhythmias, angina, aortic aneurysm and dissection, and cardiac contusions. It was during this time that she developed an interest and expertise in interventional cardiology and heart failure management. In 2003 she was recruited to fill the position of Cardiovascular Nurse Practitioner in a high-volume cardiology practice that placed a high value on research as a means to pioneer new, innovative practices and techniques to combat heart disease and facilitate recovery in patients who had experienced heart failure. During this time period, she continued advancing her formal education as a part-time student at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee, where she was awarded the Doctor of Nursing Science degree in May 2005.
In addition to the professional nursing positions previously mentioned, she also served as an Officer in the United States Army Reserve and currently serves in the Tennessee State Guard. Dr. Watters-Burke has previously taught Associate and Baccalaureate Nursing students as an Instructor at Southeast Missouri State University School of Nursing in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. She currently resides in West Tennessee with her husband and four children.
Education:
- DNSc., University of Tennessee, Memphis
- M.S.N., Vanderbilt University
- Additional Masters Study (May 1995), University of Missouri- Columbia, Post- Master's Certificate, Emphasis: Family Nurse Practitioner
- B.S.N., St. Louis University
Credentials:
- Certified Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP)
- Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP)
- Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN)
Scholarly Activities:
- Acute Limb Ischemia. May 19, 2004
Presentation to Medical Staff at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center.
- Peripheral Artery Disease. February 27, 2004
Presentation to Medical Staff at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center.
- Acute Coronary Syndrome. January 15, 2004
Presentation to Medical Staff at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center.
- Carotid Artery Stenosis. January 14, 2004
Presentation to Medical Staff at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center.
- Pediatric Assessment. December 16, 2003.
Presentation to RN-BSN class at Southeast Missouri State University.
- Pediatric Assessment. November 12, 2002.
Presentation to RN-BSN class at Southeast Missouri State University.
- Spotlight on Certification. October 22,1999.
MONA Convention Speaker. Jefferson City, MO.
- Orthopedic Assessment. January 11, 1999
Presentation to Great River Advanced Practice Meeting, Hannibal, MO.
- Pediatric Growth and Development. November 13 & 14, 1996.
Presentation to Nursing Staff at Pike County Memorial Hospital, Lousiana, MO
- Implementing Critical Pathways to Improve Quality, Cost, and Care. August 22, 1995
Presentation at Omaha, NE
- Implementing Critical Pathways to Improve Quality, Cost, and Care. August 24, 1995
Presentation in Davenport, IA.
- Care Paths. May 18, 19, & 22, 1995.
Presntation to the Nursing Staff at St. Francis Medical Center, Cape Girardeau, MO
- Implementation of Care Paths. April 13 & May 11, 1995.
Presentation to Emergency Services Staff at St. Francis Medical Center, Cape Girardeau, MO.
Courses Taught:
- NUR - Advanced Pharmacology
- NUR - Nursing Speciality I Adult
- NUR - Nursing Specialty II Adults
- NUR - Nursing Speciality III Adult
- NUR - Nursing Speciality IV Adults
- NUR 512 - Advanced Health Assessment
- NUR 514 - Statistics
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