Kathleen Patenaude
M.S., Nursing Education, Rivier College
B.S., Nursing, Rivier College
A.S., Nursing, Laboure College
Phone: (603) 897-8498; Email: kpatenaude@rivier.edu
Specialties
• Critical Care Nursing
• Medical-Surgical Nursing
Background
Kathy has been teaching full-time at Rivier since 2003. Her progression from V.A. nurse to emergency department nurse and eventually to the classroom has been a steady evolution. She lights up—even after 30 years in the profession—when she says, “I absolutely love teaching and nursing. I can’t imagine my life without the two. She began her nursing career working in the Respiratory Intensive Care and Respiratory Care Units at the V.A. She continued to pursue her career in critical care nursing in the emergency department at Saints Memorial Hospital in Lowell. She also held positions in acute care rehabilitation, as well as long term care. She has a devotion to Rivier that began in junior and senior high school when she attended, and graduated from Presentation of Mary Academy in Hudson, New Hampshire. Today, Kathy teaches classes in nursing fundamentals, pharmacology, and medical-surgical nursing to men and women in Rivier’s associate and undergraduate nursing programs. Her most recent accomplishments include: earned designation as Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) through the National League for Nursing (NLN), and appointed by the NLN to serve as an NLN Ambassador.
Academic Philosophy
“Compassion for those I treat and passion for what I do”. She believes that “nurses have a commitment to the public, to provide the best care possible. Most students have the compassion and empathy necessary to succeed in the field, but many don’t recognize or know they have it. It’s my job to draw it out. I believe I’m here to facilitate learning, not to feed information to my students.” Her biggest rewards come from students’ successes. “When they come back after graduation and tell us about their accomplishments – the jobs they’ve landed, the people they’ve worked with, and the dreams they’ve realized—that’s the best.”