Rita Konadu Amoah, RN, PhD’21, assistant professor of nursing in the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing at UMass Chan Medical School, is the first graduate of the school’s Graduate Entry Pathway to PhD in Nursing program.
Dr. Konadu Amoah’s work as a nurse educator is the culmination of a long journey, set in motion by a traumatic experience in her native Ghana with an inattentive nurse while she was pregnant with her now teenage daughter.
during the 2016 GEP pinning ceremony.
“At that time, I had no medical knowledge regarding what was happening; all I knew was that my baby wasn't kicking anymore, and it just didn't feel right,” she said, adding that the nurse would not summon the doctor. “I ended up getting an emergency C-section to save my baby. Not much was explained to me at the time. That nurse was not an active listener and her attitude, though unpleasant, was what inspired me to become a nurse and make a difference in someone’s life in any way I can.”
Konadu Amoah went on to earn her undergraduate degree in social studies education and worked as a teacher, but she always had a place in her heart for nursing. In 2008, she came to the United States to join her husband, who was then pursuing his graduate education.
“I thought, ‘Is there any program that can help me combine education and nursing?’” she said.
Through the Graduate Entry Pathway at UMass Chan, students with a bachelor's degree in a field other than nursing earn their registered nurse (RN) licensure and then either a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, or in Konadu Amoah’s case, a PhD.
“I chose the PhD track to have that opportunity to be in academia and combine both of my most favorite professions, teaching and nursing,” Konadu Amoah said. “The environment is healthy to work in. I saw that as a student, and I see it now within the faculty.”
During her last two years as a student, she served as a teaching associate in graduate nursing programs at UMass Chan and at Framingham State University.
“What matters to many people now is inclusion and diversity,” she said. “From my experience for the last six years, I have seen growth in that respect. I’m so excited to see what is ahead in terms of what UMass Chan is putting in place to broaden this national quest for inclusion and diversity in leadership.”
Konadu Amoah worked as a staff RN in a subacute unit at D’Youville Wellness Center in Lowell and later as a traveling nurse. She is still practicing per diem as a traveling nurse when she can.
For her graduate dissertation, she developed a nursing concept called “Ubiety in Nursing Practice,” which describes how a nurse cares for one patient at a time amid distractions. This is a concept she hopes to utilize in teaching future nurses.
“In respect to all the craziness on the inpatient floor or wherever you may be practicing, it’s about how safely a nurse can take care of one patient at a time in the midst of distractions while preserving oneself,” she said.
Her long-term goal is to take what she’s learned through her dissertation studies and nursing experiences and start a nursing school in Ghana.
“It’s the center of everything that I’m doing now because I want that to happen, and hopefully not too far from now I’ll be able to bring that goal into reality,” she said.
Related UMass Chan news stories:
Graduate Entry Pathway pinning signifies entry into nursing profession
First-year nursing student aims to amplify diversity on road to becoming nurse practitioner
