The South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations welcomes Debra Morello! Debra recently joined SDAHO as a Clinical Educator. Debra is part of the SDAHO Communication and Education Department which is responsible for the association’s outreach, marketing, events, and educational resources. Within this position Debra will provide clinical and regulatory guidance, support, and consultation for SDAHO members utilizing nursing professional organizations best practice recommendations. In addition, Debra will work alongside the SDAHO Quality Department in looking at trends and potential educational opportunities geared toward quality needs.
Debra comes to SDAHO with an extensive healthcare background in nursing, working in many states across the country as well as overseas in the Netherlands. Most of her experience has been in acute care settings, cardiac, neuro and interventional radiology. In addition, Debra has worked in clinic settings, long-term care, and worked with the space shuttle program for NASA. For the past 12 years Debra worked at Monument Health in Rapid City, with 10 of those in Nursing Professional Development. Debra has also worked with high fidelity simulation, nursing student clinicals, clinical enrichment programs for nursing students and is certified in Nursing Professional Development. Debra was able to return to college as an adult to earn her advanced degree and certification, which she says was challenging yet an important lesson. “It helped me start to think more globally about clinical issues as well as the business side of nursing. Then pushing forward in obtaining my specialty certification was another big step in understanding ‘nursing professional development’, and identifying ‘gaps’, whether it’s in clinical knowledge or processes/practices at a system or department level. It helped me to understand how adult learning comes into play, what is the ‘best’ way of disseminating education and why, plus the importance of interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration.” – Debra Morello, RN Clinical Educator
Debra is originally from Billings MT, where she attended Montana State University. There she earned her Bachelor of Nursing Degree and then attended University of Phoenix where she obtained her Master of Science in Nursing Degree. Her husband is retired United States Air Force, which allowed Debra to work as a nurse across the country. When it was time for her husband to retire, Debra’s husband asked where she wanted to live, and she chose South Dakota. Today Debra and her husband reside in Rapid City, where Debra will work remotely for SDAHO. They have two adult children and are active spending time with their rescue dog Penny.
Join us in welcoming Debra to the SDAHO Team.
