Savannah Langbehn, MSN’23, BSN’18, RN, learned something significant about herself during the pandemic. While working as a patient care nurse on the Medical-Surgical Unit at Eskenazi Health, she precepted nursing students who were completing their capstone requirements. But when Covid hit and in-person clinical instruction was discontinued, something became very clear—Savannah not only loved nursing, she also loved teaching.
“I just felt my heart break because I was no longer able to work with nursing students,” she said. “And that’s when it clicked, I had found what I love to do in nursing.”
The daughter of two healthcare professionals, Savannah learned a lot about careers in nursing and healthcare when she was growing up. Her dad, a psychiatric nurse, and her mom, a psychiatry tech, always encouraged her to explore options and to “try everything.” During high school, she shadowed physical and respiratory therapists, doctors and other medical professionals. When it came time to shadow a nurse, Savannah knew she’d found the right path. A native of Columbus, Indiana, she went to IU Bloomington and was accepted into the IU School of Nursing (IUSON). To gain firsthand experience, she worked part-time as a patient care tech at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, Indiana. After graduating with a BSN in 2018, she was hired at Eskenazi Health.
“I still speak so highly of the Medical-Surgical Unit at Eskenazi,” Savannah said. “It’s great for new nurses because you’re exposed to a wide variety of patients and become well versed in different disease processes and treatments.”
In addition to strengthening her nursing skills, the role gave her an opportunity to onboard new nurses and to teach students. From those early experiences, Savannah made the decision to enroll in the IUSON master’s program in nursing education. She completed the three-year program while working full time at Eskenazi. Following her graduation in 2023, IUSON offered her a clinical teaching position and later, she was hired as a lecturer.
“It’s so rewarding to see students have those ‘a-ha’ moments when they’re able to connect what they’ve learned in lecture to something they see or experience in clinicals,” Savannah said. “It’s like you can see the light bulbs coming on.”
As a new nursing educator, she’s grateful for the opportunity to learn from nationally recognized experts in nursing education at IUSON.
“I cannot speak highly enough of the faculty and staff at the School of Nursing,” Savannah said. “Not only do I get to learn and grow as an educator from these amazingly experienced people, there is a lot of encouragement to bring new ideas forward.”
This spring, Savannah received the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurse Educators. The student who nominated her for the award wrote, “Savannah is a true role model of what all nurses should demonstrate on the floor as far as caring for her patients and their families. She exemplifies everything I want to be in my nursing career.”