Madeleine Coles
News Editor
Doctor of Nursing Practice Student William Sabel was recently awarded the American Association of Nurse Practitioners State Award for Excellence. The award is given each year to a dedicated nurse practitioner who demonstrates excellence in their area of practice.
Sabel, who will graduate with his Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree at the end of this semester, said he was nominated by former student Mallory Miner.
“Mallory was a student who went straight from the Bachelor of Science in Nursing into the doctoral program, which is kind of a rare thing because most people have experience, but she was very smart,” Sabel said. “But she was struggling a little bit, so I just mentored her along. This summer she gave me a call, and she was struggling with her certifying examination, so I helped her get through the test. And low and behold, she nominated me.”
Sabel graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing in 1991 and received his Master of Science degree in 2002. After that, he worked at Pocatello Cardiology until 2010 before moving to the Intermountain Medical Clinic where he currently works.
According to Karen Neill, his primary experience is in cardiology, specifically in coronary artery disease risk reduction, congestive heart failure treatment, and heart rhythm alterations.
“Bill was chosen based on his ability to provide comprehensive and high quality care to patients in the nurse practitioner role,” Neill said.
Sabel said he is honored to receive recognition for his work as a Family Nurse Practitioner, but won’t change the way he runs his practice.
“I just go to work every day and do my job,” he said.
Sabel decided to go into nurse practitioning after receiving his bachelor’s degree after hearing about it the job from a faculty member who was a practicing nurse practitioner.
“I think I just always wanted to have prescriptive authority, and [the nurse practitioner’s program] was a good way to move that along,” Sabel said.
He added that Idaho is a particularly good state to be a practicing nurse practitioner.
“Idaho is a really good state to be a nurse practitioner because we have such a health care shortage here, not just with physicians or clinicians,” he said. “We were one of the early states to give full practice authority to nurse practitioners, so basically nurse practitioners can have an independent practice. ”
According to Sabel, a large part of that is thanks to the push of ISU faculty members within the School of Nursing.
“The professors at ISU have really been the ones doing the lobbying for legislation at the state level,” he said. “
Neill said the primary goal of the School of Nursing is to prepare graduates to understand the uniqueness of rural areas, challenges and opportunities for care delivery, and to reach rural and diverse populations to improve health care and access for all who live there.”
“I think this shows that ISU has a good program,” he said. “I’ve been working as a nurse practitioner for quite a few years, and I’ve met a lot of people who have gone to bigger name schools, and I don’t know that they’re putting out a better product than ISU is. I think it’s kind of a nice way to really show what ISU does and what the school is producing as far as nurse practitioners.”
