Tamarah M L Brandsma, MSN, RN

Sessional Assistant Professor of Nursing
“The courage to teach is the courage to keep one’s heart open in those very moments when the heart is asked to hold more than it is able so that teacher and students and subject can be woven into the fabric of community that learning, and living, require.” (Parker Palmer, 2007, p. 11)

The confluence of a variety of Tammy’s life experiences- childhood in a foreign country, global exploration as an adult, and Emergency Room nursing for nearly two decades- have helped shape the core values she brings to teaching Nursing at TWU, three of which are:

  1. Bringing glory to God through all aspects of my role as an educator is foundational.
  2. Educating students in all aspects of the Nursing profession should integrate sound scientific theory, and both skilled and compassionate application of that knowledge in the clinical environment.
  3. Facilitating learning environments that support student inquiry is of paramount importance to a positive learning experience for all students. Therefore, inspiring students to critically appraise the environments they are in, evaluating students regularly using dialogue and constructive feedback, and processing “mistakes” or “failure” as an expected part of growth, must be part of the learning journey.

Tammy believes nursing education must necessarily go beyond intellectual development to the sharing and shaping of who we are as both educators and students. Clinical nursing education, both local and global, has provided (and continues to provide) her with a forum for this exchange and is what brings her greatest fulfillment in her teaching.

  • MSN (University of British Columbia, 2007)
  • BSN (University of British Columbia)
  • Certification in Critical Care (British Columbia Institute of Technology)

Expertise

Clinical Education, Global Health

  • NURS 212/213 Nursing Care of the Older Adult
  • NURS 227 Global Health, Humanitarianism & Christian Missions
  • NURS 232/N233 Nursing Care of Adults
  • NURS 412/N413 Nursing Care of Adults with Complex Illness