When Professor Bailey Regier, MSN, RN, CNE, graduated in 2019, she went straight into emergency department nursing. The high-pressure environment taught her what healthcare really demands: the ability to make fast decisions when lives hang in the balance. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. She traveled as a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) nurse to hospitals outside Los Angeles and Houston, providing critical care in communities overwhelmed by the crisis.
“Healthcare was changing and challenging before the pandemic, but it drastically changed during the pandemic and post-pandemic,” Professor Regier reflects. “So, it gave me a sense of urgency when teaching students. You need to be able to prioritize, make really good decisions, and be a good communicator.”
Professor Regier channeled those lessons into education. While working through the pandemic, she earned her master’s degree in nursing education. Now she teaches in Valparaiso University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, pursuing her Ph.D. while preparing the next generation of nurses.
In Professor Regier’s classroom, nursing education balances content with hands-on application through simulation and virtual reality. Students can care for a patient, make a mistake, receive corrections, and try again. This educational safe space becomes the foundation for clinical confidence.
Professor Regier also weaves justice and integrity throughout her teaching. For example, she reminds students that chest pain isn’t always the standard symptom for a heart attack, especially for women, people with diabetes, and older adults. “We all deserve to be researched. We all deserve to be studied. We all deserve to be learned about by nursing students,” she emphasizes. “If we’re researching all people, then we’re going to have information on all people.”
But perhaps her most important lesson goes beyond clinical skills. “So many people choose nursing because they really care about people. They’re really empathetic,” she acknowledges. “And I really want my students to be able to be regulated adults. So if I have a horrible 12-hour shift, I can regulate myself. I can go home, and I can be a good partner to whoever I live with, or to myself.”
This fall, Professor Regier received a CELT travel grant to attend the Sigma Theta Tau International Biennial Convention in Indianapolis. “I teach seniors, so they’re about to join our profession, and I want to give them a clear vision of what nursing is right now.”
In Valpo’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, Professor Regier has found a community that matches her values. “We have small enough class sizes where we can work with you when you’re having personal situations or situations that are making learning really hard,” she shares. “Valpo nursing faculty really love their students. We want to see you succeed, and so we’re going to do the things that help you succeed.”
One moment in particular really captures why Professor Regier does this work: A student from California looked at her during clinical and said, “Professor, I never thought that I would be doing this. I never thought I could do it.”
Her response was simple: “I told her, you’re doing it. Look, you’re doing it,” she remembers. “And that look on her face, the reassurance and realization, was really sweet.”
Professor Regier didn’t leave emergency nursing behind – she brought its urgency, its clarity, and its humanity into the classroom. Now, as she shapes the next generation of nurses at Valpo, she’s preparing students who will walk into hospitals ready not just to perform procedures, but to make split-second decisions, advocate for justice, and care for themselves as fiercely as they care for others. The lessons forged in pandemic chaos are now lighting her way forward.
Ready to learn from educators who’ve been in the field? Explore Valpo’s nursing and health profession programs at valpo.edu/conhp.
