Suzanne Casey

Dr. Suzanne Casey is a Lecturer in the University of Southern Maine School of Nursing and continues to practice as an intensive care unit nurse. Her teaching focuses on adult medical-surgical nursing and mental health nursing. She serves as the mental health lecture, lab, and clinical lead, supporting these courses across the curriculum. She also helped spearhead the development of the School of Nursing’s Mental Health Simulation Lab, which provides students with opportunities to develop therapeutic communication skills, strengthen clinical decision-making, and practice responding to complex mental health concerns in a supportive learning environment.

Her doctoral research explored new graduate nurses’ perceptions of their readiness to engage in mental health conversations with patients, with particular attention to the influence of undergraduate nursing education on their confidence, communication, and clinical practice.