Professional Overview

Professor Adkins joined LCON in 2010 and provides expertise in adult and gerontology primary care. She is the Adult Health Course Coordinator for the FNP Program and teaches FNP Adult Heath didactic and clinical. Decades of FNP experience inform her as she translates knowledge and evidence into clinical practice for her students. She is passionate about their success and challenges them every semester to dig deep and “Be Awesome!” She has also taught FNP Women’s and Peds clinicals, FNP Practicum, FNP Advanced Clinical Skills, and BSN Gerontological Nursing. Professor Adkins was instrumental in getting the FNP Program’s Objective Structured Clinical Examinations’ (OSCEs) simulations developed and integrated into the FNP curriculum, and in 2019, she received the Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty.

Professor Adkins has been an RN since 1994 and an ANCC board certified FNP since 1998. Prior to that she was an educator after graduating with a BSEd in 1987. She is currently in the PhD program at LCON and her research interest is health preventative behavior during COVID-19.

Before joining LCON, Professor Adkins worked extensively in long-term care (LTC) as an FNP and Certified Wound Specialist. She has also been a consultant for Smith and Nephew’s Advanced Wound Care division, served on their speaker board, and been retained as an expert on several LTC and wound care malpractice cases. Since 2012, she has been the Medical Director for a small, assisted living facility. She rounds there once a week and enjoys taking her students with her. Prior to 2001, she worked as an FNP at The Regional Medical Center Burn and Wound Care Center as well as in Home Health, Primary Care, and Urgent Care. Her RN experience includes the ED and Home Health.

Professor Adkins is a member of several local and national professional organizations. She volunteers with the Health Department, City of Memphis, and Remote Area Medical. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, she organized and led a group of 70+ volunteers to handmake and distribute over 10,000 masks to residential facilities and marginalized communities in the Greater Memphis Area. She also developed COVID-19 protocols for several institutions during the pandemic and received two health care hero awards. Additionally, Professor Adkins is active on LCON’s Faculty Search Committee, Student Affairs Committee, and Graduate Council. She also serves as a Faculty Project Coordinator on the RNs-LEAD Project grant.