Decker College grad gives back to nursing, community through teaching and volunteerism

Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences alumna Adenike Okeowo, MS ’17, DNP ’19, recently joined New York Presbyterian Hospital as a cardiac nurse practitioner in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab. She also has worked at Mount Sinai Heart for the past five years in the Electrophysiology and Heart Failure unit. In addition, Okeowo is an adjunct clinical professor of nursing at Binghamton University and Adelphi University and, until recently, also taught nursing at Long Island University. She has been a member of the Greater New York Chapter of the Black Nurses Association (GNYC-BNA) since 2019 and is co-chair of its Social Media and Public Relations Committee. In October, she received Decker College’s inaugural Emerging Leader Alumni Award.

BingUNews spoke with Okeowo about her career, research, being a member of the Black Nurses Association and more.

Q. Let’s start off at the beginning: Why did you want to be a nurse?

A. When I was maybe 8 years old, sometimes my mom would say, “I’m not feeling well,” and she would take a Tylenol from the kitchen cabinet. I thought: What could possibly be in that little tablet that is making my mom feel better? That’s when my curiosity in healthcare started.

I picked nursing because nurses give direct patient care, and it’s really important to me to directly impact how someone feels. It’s almost like I’m that little Tylenol pill, but I can help someone feel better with my knowledge. I can explain what’s going on with them and how we’re going to help them combat it. That human-to-human interaction is priceless.

Q. Could you talk about your career since you left Decker College?

A. After working in Binghamton as a bedside nurse for almost four years, once I graduated with my master’s degree, I moved back to New York City. I wasn’t certain where I’d end up, but I knew I wanted to work in cardiology after discovering this field was my passion. I was trained to be a primary care clinician; however, I wanted to do something where I could incorporate that and cardiology. I applied for a number of cardiology-based jobs, but I didn’t get many offers in the beginning because I didn’t have extensive cardiac experience. However, I didn’t give up. It took a little less than a year to finally land a role in cardiology at Mount Sinai. There, I started learning the foundations of caring for patients with cardiac disease. I started Decker’s DNP program while working at Mount Sinai and focused my doctoral research project on increasing referrals to cardiac rehabilitation.

Q. Did you enjoy the research you did as part of your DNP coursework?

A. I started to understand the world of research, and it was exciting. I took my research project to the administration at my hospital, where I implemented quality improvement action plans and monitored the outcomes. That research experience gave me the opportunity to participate in a number of national conferences. I even won the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association Poster Award earlier this year. [Okeowo won the first-place award for her poster: Standardizing Optimal Medical Therapy in Heart Failure Patients to Improve NCDR Metrics for ICD Implantation].

A. Yes, I feel like I was well prepared. When I went into practice, I noticed that the education at Decker was top of the line compared to many other programs that I saw when I came to New York City or heard about from students. I was really thankful for my Decker education and for doing the DNP research project. Decker really opened doors for me, especially as a nurse practitioner. The faculty at Decker are also such great mentors.

Q. Did you always plan to become a clinical instructor?

A. I thought I’d get a little bit more clinical experience before going into academia, but the doors to academia were opened for me because of my experience being a cardiology nurse practitioner and having my doctorate degree. Decker provides such a strong foundation with the advanced physical assessment, advanced pathology and advanced pharmacology classes, so going into teaching some of those same classes as an adjunct was less challenging than I assumed.

Q. What do you like about teaching?

A. Initially, I wasn’t sure I had enough experience to be a faculty member because when you look at Decker’s faculty, they are all so experienced. They’re distinguished in many ways — winning awards and doing all sorts of research and publications. I didn’t know if I was there yet. But, on my first day of teaching, I realized I had so much knowledge to give back and was so much more experienced than I gave myself credit for.

When you’re able to educate incoming students, people who are following a similar career path, it’s very rewarding. And, the students are so thankful. Being able to help the students on their path to becoming a nurse or a nurse practitioner or going into academia is really satisfying and definitely something I see myself doing from here on out.

Q. Did experiences with your own clinical instructors affect how you approach teaching?

A. My clinical instructors at Decker were always open to answering our questions, and if there was something they didn’t know, they would do research and come back with information that was helpful to the class. I try to do that as much as possible with my students.

Decker professors also taught me to give students some grace — to understand that they might have a lot going on besides school. Connecting with students, understanding what they’re going through and working with them to learn what their needs are, our professors did that very well for us. They were great role models for me, and I try to do that for my students.

Q. What did winning a 40 Under 40 award from the National Black Nurses Association this year mean to you?

A. It means the hard work I put into my career as a nurse is being recognized, that my work is making an impact that people noticed. That is meaningful to me because, as nurses, we often aren’t recognized for our work or contributions to healthcare.

Q. Why is being part of the Black Nurses Association important to you?

A. Everything we do is for the good of others — the motto of the organization is “for the greater good”! Any request that comes our way, whether it’s donations, volunteers or just showing up and supporting an event, it is always to help Black and Brown communities or people of color. That means so much to me because those communities have so many needs that are often overlooked. The GNYC-BNA goes to communities that are vulnerable, with really limited resources. Being able to provide support and care to people who wouldn’t get it elsewhere is one of the most rewarding feelings.

There is so much support within the GNYC-BNA organization. At the end of every meeting, we do something called For the Good of the Order. The president asks if anyone has anything to celebrate — a promotion, volunteering, winning an award, buying a house, having a baby or anything that members want to celebrate. They give you the opportunity to do that. We can let our colleagues or co-nurses know, and it creates this great bond and group of support and community.

The organization also focuses on supporting Black nursing students and students of color by recruiting them to join the organization because they often don’t find support at work or in school. Nursing students also have access to scholarships, career-building workshops, NCLEX studying tips and so much more. Including students in the organization helps to show them examples of people who look like them and have achieved much success in their nursing careers. Students have role models here and can be mentored.

Q. Do you have advice for nursing students who are Black or persons of color?

A. Believe in yourself, and don’t give up! Network, network, network. There are people of color doing something similar to what you want to do, you just need to find them. Whether it’s LinkedIn or joining a group, club or committee, you never know who you’ll meet and the type of support or mentorship you might find. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask to be mentored.

Q. Where would you like to be professionally in five years?

A. In the next five years, I see myself continuing to work in cardiology as a nurse practitioner, but instead treating patients by discovering the root causes of their disease through functional medicine. I have also been exploring nurse coaching, and I want to coach patients on how to take charge of their health in order to reach their optimal state of wellness. I’d also like to continue being a professor.