Dr. Hannah Coombs is a board-certified Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Associate Professor of Nursing at Elms College, where she serves as the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Track Coordinator.
Dr. Coombs earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice from Elms College, where she received the Excellence in Advanced Clinical Practice Award and was inducted into the Delta Epsilon Sigma Honor Society. Her doctoral project focused on addressing compassion fatigue among acute care nurses. She also holds a Master of Science in Nursing Leadership and Management and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
Her clinical background includes managing acutely and critically ill adults in hospital medicine, medical-surgical, telemetry, and step-down settings. She completed an advanced practice provider residency in hospital medicine, which included experience at a tertiary academic medical center. Before becoming a nurse practitioner, she served as an acute care registered nurse, charge nurse, clinical preceptor, and nurse residency program instructor. She is also board-certified in holistic nursing and medical-surgical nursing.
At Elms, Dr. Coombs teaches graduate courses in acute care, clinical reasoning, diagnostic reasoning, and curriculum development and program evaluation. Her work includes graduate student advising, clinical placement coordination, curriculum and course development, and collaboration with faculty, preceptors, and clinical partners. Her professional interests include acute and complex care, evidence-based nursing education, provider well-being, quality improvement, and advanced practice nursing mentorship.