I Am an IU Nurse

Ann Eskew, RN, MSN, PNP

Class of 1978

“I am proud of my IU nursing degrees, proud to be a nurse, and proud to have given back to my school.” -- Ann Eskew

Ask IUSON Class of ’78 alum Ann Eskew why she would recommend nursing as a career, and she will quickly point out the “wide variety of options nursing offers: clinical, teaching, research, and much, much more!”

Ann’s own career is a testament to the many opportunities and career paths offered to those who choose nursing as their life’s work. Ann earned both her bachelor’s (1978) and master’s (1980) degrees from IUSON and completed her Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Certificate just one year later (1981). Working nights as a student on the Renal Unit at University Hospital, Ann soon realized how much she wanted to pursue pediatrics. Following graduation, she worked in the Emergency Department and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Riley Hospital for Children.

Student, healer, teacher, leader

Upon earning her PNP, Ann’s immediate goal was to remain at Riley, but there were no open positions. Instead, she interviewed for a position in staff development at Indy’s St. Vincent Hospital. And, suddenly, Ann found herself a teacher – being responsible for orientation and ongoing education for the Pediatric Unit, the Special Care Nursery, and the Newborn Nursery.

“I loved teaching,” she says. “During my time in the Pediatric Newborn area, we developed from a Special Care Nursery to a Level III NICU, started a Pediatric/Newborn Transport Program, and eventually grew the pediatric program to include a PICU!”

Ann would spend the next 26 years with St. Vincent, ultimately becoming Director of Nursing at the St. Vincent Pediatric Rehab Hospital. In 2005, she transitioned to a position with IU Health and, after a series of promotions, served as the Interim CNO at IU Health North. A return to Riley followed, where Ann was the Service Line Administrator for several pediatric physician groups. “I enjoyed the position,” she says, “as I learned yet another aspect of nursing leadership.”

Ann had reached the stage in her career where it was time to start thinking about retirement. “Bloomington had always been planned as our final landing place,” she says. Ann and her husband Phil returned to the city in 2017, where Ann worked as Director of Women and Children’s Services at IU Health Bloomington Hospital. Ann retired in 2020, after a 42-year career in the nursing profession.

In giving advice to those entering the profession, Ann says: "Find that mentor. Someone who can help you critically think through what it is you want to do. Finding the right mentor is very important in nursing and very important in life.”

Careers begin at the bedside

Looking back over her career, Ann believes that the skills nurses develop in those early days caring for patients at the bedside are the foundation upon which a successful nursing career is built. And here is where Ann feels that IU nurses excel. “IU nurses have great clinical skills and an understanding of caring for patients in the hospital setting,” she says. “IUSON challenges them with learning opportunities that are the result of great interpersonal relationships between the IUSON students and faculty, and the staff at clinical sites. Hospitals respect IU nurses and that is important.”

In addition, when asked what advice she would give to those who have chosen nursing as a career, Ann says: “Find that mentor! Someone who can help you critically think through what it is you want to do. Finding the right mentor is very important in nursing and very important in life. I had three great mentors to guide me, and I still love mentoring new students and those looking to enter the field.”

“IUSON challenges students with learning opportunities that are the result of great interpersonal relationships between the IUSON students and faculty, and the staff at clinical sites. Hospitals respect IU nurses and that is important.”

Looking to the future

When looking to the future, however, Ann is worried. Like others in the profession, Ann is aware of the growing shortage of qualified nurses. “Our nursing workforce is aging,” she says, “especially at the bedside.”

Ann tells the stories of the colleagues and friends she knows who, although late in their careers, have returned to the bedside to address this need. “The pandemic has placed such a huge burden on nurses at the bedside,” she says. The problem is made more acute in smaller cities like Bloomington where “schools are trying to keep up with the demand, but graduates are flocking to higher-paying jobs in the big cities or moving straight into advanced-practice positions.”

Hospitals offering value-adds like signing bonuses and contracts to stay at least two years are possible solutions, she says, “and with the new Regional Academic Health Center and state-of-the-art SIM Center opening up, we may be able to recruit more students from the region and encourage them to stay.”

Ann with husband Phil, with "pandemic pup" Daisy Mae, enjoying IU football with Phil, and with Phil and family.

Giving back

In retirement, Ann and Phil enjoy spending time with family, attending IU sporting events, golfing at IU’s new Pfau Course, boating, landscaping their new home, and raising Daisy Mae, a high energy, 10-month-old “pandemic puppy” who “keeps us on our toes". Ann and Phil have also joined the fight against COVID-19, volunteering in the pharmacy as part of the vaccination efforts at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. For the past two years, Ann has been a member of the Dean’s Alliance in the IU School of Public Health and, last year, established a scholarship with IUSON. “It’s all part of our way of giving back,” she says.

Ann’s generosity in giving back to our university and our school has been widely recognized by the IU community. In 2010, she received the Excellence in Nursing Award from the IU Alumni Association. In 2014, IUSON recognized Ann as one of our Top 100 Alumni Legacy Leaders. Last year, Ann was awarded one of the highest honors that IU can bestow when she was awarded a Bicentennial Medal. “I am very humbled by these awards and proud of the accomplishments they represent,” she says.

Ann and Phil have a daughter, son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter here in Bloomington and a son, daughter-in-law, and 3 grandchildren moving to Arizona this summer “which we see as a destination for some winter visits,” she smiles.

In looking back at her more than four decades in the profession and a career filled with accomplishments that have encompassed nearly every experience and accolade nursing has to offer, Ann says simply: “I am proud of my IU nursing degrees, proud to be a nurse, and proud to have given back to my school.”

I Am an IU Nurse is a regular feature of The Nursing News, in which we feature the accomplishments and personal stories of IUSON Bloomington’s student nurses and alumni.