Maranatha Nursing Professor Carolyn Yager Earns Doctorate in Nursing Practice
Maranatha Baptist University (MBU) applauds Associate Professor Dr. Carolyn Yager on the recent conferral of her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). A DNP prepares nursing leaders, educators, and policy specialists, focusing on clinical practice, leadership, and system improvements rather than theoretical research.
Carolyn says, “I was drawn to nursing because of its unique blend of science, compassion, and service.” Required to teach during her master’s work, she discovered genuine enjoyment in teaching which influenced her doctoral work and career goals. Actively engaged in church planting with her husband in addition to full-time nursing and family responsibilities, she successfully balanced advanced studies through flexibility of an online program.
Doctoral Project Challenges and Lessons
While working in an emergency department during her studies, Dr. Yager designed her doctoral project to address bottlenecking within the triage process, seeking to improve workflow efficiency and patient care in a high-acuity setting.
The project faced unanticipated challenges when a hospital buyout resulted in significant organizational change and a nine-month delay. Upon resuming, time constraints forced a reduction in the project’s scope, causing complexities in implementation and inconsistencies, making it difficult to fully demonstrate the intervention’s impact.
“Through these challenges I learned the importance of flexibility and perseverance,” says Dr. Yager. “I learned that successful implementation is less about approvals and more about trust, communication, and aligning project goals with what matters most to frontline staff and leadership.”
Gratitude and Future Impact
Carolyn gratefully acknowledges the Lord’s enablement throughout the program and readily attests, “My faith has been a central part of this journey. Viewing nursing and education through a biblical worldview has shaped my commitment to service, stewardship, and caring for the whole person.”
She recently presented her findings at Ochsner Health’s 16th Annual Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) / Nursing Research Conference: Strengthening Nurses’ Purpose Through EBP and Nursing Research: Shaping the Future of Healthcare Quality and Public Health. Her goal is to publish her dissertation, Triage Teams: An innovative Emergency Department Triage Model, soon. Forging ahead, Carolyn intends to continue teaching, contributing to curriculum development. Her experience, she reflects, will “directly influence how I teach leadership, collaboration, and evidence-based practice to nursing students.”
Further Blessing
The MBU family happily extends additional congratulations to Dr. Yager, her husband, and daughter who recently welcomed a precious new little one into their family—Savannah.