A core tenet in Kayla Stone’s ’24, M’27 nursing career is to give back. Naturally, she was a perfect fit for Merrimack College’s new nursing education graduate program.
“My grandfather was diagnosed with lymphoma when I was very young,” she said. “My mother and I would go to a lot of his appointments. Seeing the way the nurses treated him and my family really inspired me to take the path to become an oncology nurse.”
Stone returned to Merrimack after a year working at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Mass. She was hired at the hospital shortly after earning her bachelor’s degree in nursing.
“Our patients in the hematology-oncology unit are there for a long time and we get to build relationships with them,” she explained. ”We know their likes and dislikes. It’s hard to see when things don’t go well, but when things do, patients like to visit and talk about how they’re excelling at life outside the hospital. It’s a very special and rewarding field.”
While Stone was originally recruited to join Merrimack’s women’s swimming and diving team as an undergrad, sports weren’t the main reason why she chose to enroll. The Nursing Center, opened in 2020, “with its perfect simulation spaces,” as she described, was what she truly had her eyes on.
“I also remember there was a nursing welcome Zoom meeting I attended with the nursing faculty and Lynne Sheppard, who ran the undergrad nursing program at the time,” Stone recalled. “Everyone was really inviting and they all seemed to love the school. I ended up loving it as well, so much that I decided to go back.”
While nursing has always been Stone’s passion, teaching quickly developed as a close second. It was Janet Ierardi, a nursing clinical professor, who ended up convincing Stone to pursue her master’s at Merrimack.
“I had a lot of conversations with her about what it was like to be a professor and being in the teaching world,” Stone said. “After I graduated, I learned Merrimack was establishing a master’s in nursing education program. I sat down with [Ierardi] and said, ‘Should I enroll? Is it too early?’ She said, ‘I’m teaching the first class. Start with me and you’ll be fine. You can do it.’”
After a few classes, Stone said she knew she made the right decision. For one of her courses, Quality and Safety, she presented a study on the use of antimicrobial dressings to reduce central line infections.
“Kayla’s excellent research skills and commitment to evidence-based practice were clearly evident,” Karen Duhamel, associate clinical professor, said of the project. “She also stood out throughout the course for her openness to instructional feedback and ability to thoughtfully apply recommendations to improve her academic performance, resulting in clear and impressive growth. Overall, Kayla’s work reflects strong academic rigor, motivation and a dedication to continuous improvement.”
Stone said she would love to be a professor one day, but she’s eager to keep her options open.
“With nursing education, you can go anywhere with your career,” she said. “I want to explore a little bit of everything as it will make me a well-rounded nurse educator.”
