Nurse practitioner student Erin Colden awarded two scholarships

Erin Colden BSN, RN, of Blue Bell, Pa., a student in the Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner Program has been selected as the recipient for two scholarships for her master’s education. She will receive the PA State Nurses Association Philadelphia County District 1 Graduate Scholarship for 2013 awarding her $1000 as well as the 2012-2013 Independence Blue Cross (IBC) Foundation Nurses for Tomorrow Graduate Scholarship Program for Nurse Educators and Nurse Practitioners, awarding $5500.  Both processes required an essay. Her award letter from IBC Foundation, which is led by President Lorina Marshall-Blake, recognized the quality of the College’s program calling it “innovative” and noting it “will have a meaningful impact on increasing the supply of advanced practice nurses in the greater Philadelphia area."

Colden is a staff nurse in the Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit at Philadelphia’s Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. “As an ICU nurse,” says Colden, “I have taken care of older adults and their families in some of the most vulnerable times of their lives. These experiences have highlighted the unique physical, social, and psychological needs of our aging population and led to my focus in studying and serving this group.”

Colden is enjoying exploring clinical practice setting options as she rotates through her primary care practica. “I particularly enjoy geriatrics and could envision myself working in a practice that specializes in this population,” she notes. Quality matters to her. Colden explains, “My ultimate goal is to reach my full potential as a skilled and compassionate advanced practice nurse who continues on a path of lifelong learning.”