Loretta Aller, Ph.D., RN

As a doctoral student, Dr. Aller discovered her passion for nursing research and began to develop a contemporary model of undergraduate nursing education centered on decision-making and self-efficacy. By improving students’ confidence and comfort levels as new graduates entering the nursing workforce, she hopes to address underlying problems leading to high turnover rates. Her reimagined theory of undergraduate nursing education centers on informed, evidence-based curricular and program decisions for better nurse preparation and patient safety. “As nurse educators, we have been given the unique opportunity to share the wonder that is nursing,” she explains. “Effectively teaching the art and science of our profession will impact not only our students’ lives, but all of the patients and families that will cross their paths over the next 30-40 years.” Her current research uses multi-platform virtual simulation to measure the experience of two concurrent processes for undergraduate nursing students: the movement from self-doubt and anxiety to self-efficacy and the development of safe patient care based on sound clinical judgment and decision making. Based on her findings, Dr. Aller and her research team are conducting feasibility testing for the Aller’s Development of Decision-Making and Self-Efficacy in Undergraduate Nursing Education model.

Dr. Aller served as an Associate Lecturer at Kent State University at Stark for over a decade before accepting her current position as Assistant Professor at the Kent campus. Her work experience also includes clinical positions at Summa Health, Hospice & Palliative Care of Visiting Nurse Service, and Middlebury Manor in Akron, as well as test item writing and review for Kaplan, Inc. and Elsevier Publishing, Inc. She and her research team received funding from the Health Foundation of Greater Massillon and the Austin-Bailey Health & Wellness Foundation, as well as internal funding awards through Kent State University and the University of Mount Union. Dr. Aller’s recent study findings were published in Nurse Educator, and she has authored several book chapters for Elsevier’s Fundamentals of Nursing. She has also embraced unique methods of knowledge dissemination through invitational podcasts and webinars, including participation in a recent podcast series by Nurse Educator.