DNP Grad Shahnaz Makhani Gives Back by Educating Future Nurses and Sharing Decades of Healthcare Experience

She joined the nursing profession as a teenager and after more than 30 years in the field, Shahnaz Makhani, DNP, MSN-ED, BSN, RN, assistant professor at Chamberlain University’s Miramar campus, decided to join academia so she could impart her nursing know-how on to the next generation.

Inspired by her sister-in-law who was a nurse, Shahnaz has served as a registered nurse, head nurse, nurse manager, clinical nurse teacher and clinical manager in oncology, cardiac and the intensive care unit.

Finding a Way to Give Back

Shahnaz constantly looks for opportunities to Step Forward by mentoring others – helping a new nurse adjust to a new healthcare environment or demonstrating the role of a teacher to students, or as a preceptor. In the community, she serves the Miramar Ismaili center as a principal for the Early Childhood Development center, health care center and education board.

She also may consider teaching critical care online to a hospital in Africa that is affiliated with her school of nursing.

Earning her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree (DNP) degree through Chamberlain has given Shahnaz the skills to become a policy entrepreneur, leader and scholar. “Nurses as policy entrepreneurs inspired me to act as a leader, to create awareness in the community related to current healthcare issues and work collaboratively with inter-professional teams to advocate for substantial policy change related to a public health concern.”

Representing Chamberlain at STTI Conference

Joining other Chamberlain colleagues and alumni, Shahnaz will present her abstract Nurse-Led Hypertension Model for the South Asian Community for a poster presentation at the upcoming Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society’s 31st International Nursing Research Congress in Abu Dhabi this July. Honorees received congratulatory emails stating the submitted abstracts were exceptional and the accepted presentations “are an excellent reflection of current nursing trends and timely issues.”

Ready to earn your next degree? Learn more about Chamberlain’s DNP program.

By Heather L Hurtado