Siblings Nathan Samuels ’05MSN 11DNP; Ashley Samuels Shields ’10; Eryn Samuels Yong ’12; and Brittany Samuels Czerw ’14 all studied nursing at Simmons University. We caught up with them about how this trend began, how they support each other in their careers, and what they most value about their nursing careers.
When Nathan Samuels ’05MSN, ’11DNP, now a medical director at Safety Optum Massachusetts, was first drawn to the field of nursing, he didn’t anticipate the tradition this interest would trigger among his siblings.
“I did a pre-med track in neuroscience in undergrad,” says Samuels, who had prepared to attend medical school and get his PhD in neuroscience. However, his decision to work as a licensed Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) during his undergraduate studies changed his plans.
“I was part of a critical care transportation team for Boston Children’s Hospital, riding with physicians and nurses and nurse practitioners,” he says. “At the time, I didn’t know about all the pathways [for nurses]. I didn’t want to start over to be a Registered Nurse (RN), but was interested in the Nurse Practitioner (NP) model. When I learned about the direct entry pathway at Simmons, I realized I wouldn’t have to start over.”
While there were many reasons he opted for nursing instead of medical school, staying in Boston for his studies and training was among them. “I wanted to live my life on my own terms,” he recalls. “With the Nurse Practitioner model, people seemed engaged, with a better balance of life and work. It was a better fit for me.”
Samuels graduated with his master’s degree in nursing in 2005, then worked for a few years as an NP while teaching at Simmons and completing the online Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program. He was part of the first class in the DNP program and completed the degree in 2011. By then, studying nursing at Simmons had become a family affair.
A Samuels Family Tradition
Samuels’ sister Ashley Samuels Shields ’10 entered the undergraduate nursing program after leaving her major in special education. “I was the second [sibling] to apply to Simmons,” says Shields, who is a Registered Nurse working at the Edinburg Center, a mental health organization in Bedford, Massachusetts. “I wanted to be a mom, and I knew that I could be a nurse and a mom.” Shields had her daughter while in nursing school and graduated in 2013.
Next, their sister Eryn Samuels Yong ’12 made the change from education to nursing. She spent five years as a high school science teacher before earning her BS in nursing at Simmons, which she completed in two years after earning her first bachelor’s in biochemistry at another institution. “I needed a new challenge,” she says. “My passion was nursing, and I’m still a nurse, 12 years later.” She’s now the Assistant Director of Nursing and Infection Control Nurse at a CareOne facility.
Though the siblings have aunts who are also nurses, they credit their brother, Nathan, for starting the trend. “We have three cousins — siblings in the Samuels clan — who are all doctors,” notes Shields. “We’re the nursing Samuels, and they’re the doctoring Samuels.”
When their youngest sister, Brittany Samuels Czerw ’14, began her undergraduate studies in business at UMass Lowell, she attempted to buck the trend. “I did that for one year, then realized: I need to be a nurse, like everyone else!”
The Simmons Advantage in the Field
Czerw attended a different institution to become a Nurse Practitioner. Though she opted to return to work as an RN while her children are young, Czerw plans to use her NP license in the future. “I thought that a master’s program would be much more difficult, but I was prepared from years on the job, and from being a Simmons graduate,” she says. “The NP was much easier than my undergraduate degree! Simmons did a great job preparing us, as undergraduates.”
Shields recalls that, by the time she and Yong were in the program, their brother was teaching at Simmons. While their professors knew they were related, they didn’t make assumptions that the siblings would have similar interests. “The faculty focused on what we were good at and honed in on that,” she recalls. “They said, ‘here are your strengths.’ I loved that they could do that.”
For Shields, now the director of an outpatient team for mental health services, the Simmons faculty were so adept that they predicted her career path. “I had no interest in psychiatric nursing,” she recalls. “I wanted to be in the mother/baby unit. I had an instructor for my psychiatric nursing rotation who said, ‘you’re going to make an amazing psych nurse one day.’ I said, ‘no, I won’t!’ Somehow, I’ve been a psychiatric nurse for the last ten years.”
Similarly, Czerw took a course with now-Emerita Professor Anne-Marie Barron that impacted her future career. “I took her course, Caring at the End of Life, and loved it. I was already working in a hospice house, but that course propelled me into doing [hospice work] long term.”
Yong, who has worked in several care settings, still uses the skills she gained at Simmons. “The clinical placements were amazing,” she says. “I wouldn’t be where I am now without the background knowledge that I gained from Simmons. When I compare skills that I have to those of my colleagues, I can attribute those strong skills to my Simmons education.”
That Simmons advantage extends to other clinicians entering the field. “I have a team of social workers, and I can tell when they are from Simmons,” says Shields. Samuels has also worked with Simmons students in his clinic, and just hired an NP Simmons graduate in his office. “There is a difference in the quality [of practice], right out of school,” he says.
Supporting each other
For Shields and Yong, their time at Simmons overlapped. “We were in clinicals together,” Shields laughs. “We were partners, though sometimes they had to separate us.”
Now, the siblings have a group chat to share information and support. “We’re all in different specialties,” says Shields. “We’ll ask, ‘who knows about this? What should I do?’ Support systems are so important. You need to have someone to call and say, ‘today was hard.’ They understand, because they’ve done it.”
Yong appreciated the support when learning basic skills. “In the beginning, we talked about skills and assessments, but now that I’m in a management role, I reach out to them for support in [working with] staff members. I ask, ‘what should I do differently?’ I’m learning how to be a better leader.”
Advice for future students
“What I love about the nursing field is that there are so many different areas to pursue, and your clinical experience will give you that exposure,” says Samuels. “You don’t need to commit to working with one population [throughout your career]. You can take the skills that you learned and bring them to new fields. Also, there are nurses everywhere: insurance, administration, quality assurance, research, overseeing clinical trials. There are so many opportunities outside of bedside nursing. It’s hard to believe all that you can do with a nursing degree.”
Yong agrees; she’s also been able to use her training as a teacher in her current role. “Even though I’m no longer a facility educator, I gave a presentation on infection control for 20 rehab team members. I left feeling so excited!” She notes that there are plenty of growth opportunities in the field. “You can get certified in wound care, IV insertion, or quality assurance. If your employer offers an opportunity to grow your knowledge base, take it!”
Shields appreciates the work-life balance she’s been able to achieve. “I love my job, and I love that it’s 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in an office. I have four kids and I’m able to get them to school in the morning and have time with them when I come home. You can make your own schedule, depending on what field you’re in.” Yong notes that their brother has modeled the work-life balance for all of them, having managed to travel extensively and to write a science fiction/dystopian novel, The Culling, in his free time.
Samuels adds that advanced practice is also a great opportunity for nurses. “All the indicators say that this is the future of primary care,” he notes. “Nurses are involved in every specialty. Simmons will prepare you for an advanced practice degree, and there is a huge need for nurses to stem the shortage in primary care.”
In addition, Samuels notes that nurses taking on the role of Primary Care Provider (PCP) are more often treated as PCPs. “The job responsibilities are the same, but the approach is different,” notes Samuels. “It’s a nursing model versus a medical model. Nurses treat the patient holistically. I feel that the nursing model focuses on the person behind the work, too — how you treat the patients and how you treat yourself by setting boundaries between work and life. Nursing is about serving other people, but you also have to serve yourself.”