Janet Sweeney Rico

Assistant Professor of Nursing

Teaching by example

Janet Sweeney Rico has loved nursing since she was a child. "I remember listening to my grandmother talk about caring and advocating for the poor in Boston as a visiting nurse, and about being an occupational nurse in the Fall River textile mills," Rico says. "I was enthralled with her stories and her nursing texts from the 1920s. Then as a teenager, I volunteered at a local hospital and was hooked."

For nearly thirty years now, Rico has been "hooked" on nursing. She is a registered nurse and holds certifications as a family and geriatric nurse practitioner. She's practiced her profession at hospitals and medical settings on both sides of the continent. Even now, as a full-time faculty member at Simmons and a lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health, Rico works twelve hours a week in the emergency department at Boston Medical Center (BMC).

"I'm a real-world teacher, and I want my students to learn from my experience as a practicing nurse practitioner," explains Rico. "I bring patient scenarios from my work at BMC into the classroom everyday. I believe these experiences are the foundation for my teaching."

For Rico, treating a homeless patient with end-stage HIV presents an opportunity to discuss many things with her students, including end-of-life issues, health care financing and policies, HIV care, and even her own emotions in caring for the patient. "Nurses are on the frontline in the delivery of medical services," says Rico. "We are the health care professional that spends the most time with the patient."

The ability to make a difference in the lives of her patients is what inspires Rico in her role as a nurse practitioner. The ability to make a difference in the health care system is what inspires her as a teacher. "Students need to learn all the complexities of disease as well as health promotion, but they also need to learn about the culture of the health care delivery system and how they can advocate for their patients and improve the system. This is fundamentally taught by example."