Brandon Rachal

Born in Louisiana I am a southern boy at heart raised deep with regards for hospitality and a hot savory meal.  A graduate of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Nursing Baccalaureate program in New Orleans, LA, I hold true to the value and mission of the institution that “Caring is Essential to Nursing.”  After graduation, I was an active Staff RN at Saint Louis Children’s Hospital in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.  It is an undoubting consensus that your first nursing job will build the basis for your nursing career.  At SLCH, we “Do what’s right for kids”, but not only kids, for each other, every family, and every staff member.

I am passionate about teaching and learning and pursuing lifelong learning throughout the profession.  It is with no reservation that I go to work every day eager to meet the challenges that the dynamic profession may bring.  I completed my MSN from University of Missouri—Saint Louis with a focus in Nursing Education.

My career as an educator begain in 2013 at the University of Missouri—Saint Louis  where I taught Adult Health Nursing I (clinical), Adult Health Nursing II (didactic), and Care of the Family and Child (clinical). Currently, I am an Assistant Professor at Cox College where I also function in the role of ASN Program Coordinator.

My current teaching roles at Cox College include teaching distance learning in the RN-BSN department (Health Assessment; Issues, Trends & Ethics in Nursing; Interdisciplinary Ethics for Professional Practice) and clinical lab in the traditional BSN-E and BSN-A programs (Care for the Childrearing Family and Nursing Capstone).  I have also taught MEdical surgical Nursing I as an adjunct for the Cox College/Drury Cabool Campus BSN dual degree program.

My scholarship and service roles include curriculum and course development, continual assessment and revision of the department strategic plan, and implementing innovative assessment and evaluation strategies tailored to adult learners in the face to face and online environments.

While my clinical focus is pediatric critical care, I am also very passionate about best practices in adult learning theory, distance learning, high fidelity simulation, critical thinking and cognitive learning, family centered care, nursing staff retention, and battling the ever-present issues of compassion fatigue, nurse burnout, and secondary traumatic stress syndrome.

My works in teaching, scholarship, and service are all geared to build the Future of Nursing to Lead Change and Advance Health.