Kaleb Lundine
Chinook Writer
Lisa Coulter posed for a photo. Coulter worked as an OB nurse delivering babies in Casper for over 20 years. She now teaches for the nursing program at Casper College.
For over 20 years, Lisa Coulters’ hands were some of the first to welcome new life into the world. Now those same hands are responsible for shaping and leading the next generation of nurses at Casper College.
Coulter is a Nursing educator on CC. She teaches Complex Care Nursing, commonly known as “fourth semester nursing.” Fourth semester nursing includes a diverse set of complex medical expertise such as precise surgery, advanced leadership skills, and specialized clinical rotations. Coulter throughout her life has always been interested in nursing and is teaching those same skills today.
When Coulter was young, she was friends with a girl whose mother happened to be a nurse.
Coulter and her friend would often go through and read her textbooks and play pretend doctor. As a direct result, Coulter felt inspired by the textbooks she read and decided to go into the medical field.
Throughout her academic career, she studied hard. She earned her associate’s degree in nursing at Casper College, followed by her bachelor’s degree at the University of Wyoming. Later she went on to earn her master’s degree at Walden University and achieve her Doctorates degree in nursing (DNP) at Capella University.
Coulter started off her medical career by being a labor and delivery nurse, helping deliver babies at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper.
“I loved the idea of delivering babies, and so as a nurse, I helped deliver babies for 23 years,” Coulter said.
Her drive to help out her community has been an essential tool in the long career she tenured.
Coulter worked at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper from 1996 to 2018.
During her time as a nurse, Coulter went abroad with her husband as a traveling nurse. She worked in the extreme heat and humidity of the Texas plains and then worked in the exceedingly cold and bitter conditions of the Arctic Alaskan tundra.
Coulter now teaches joint lectures with her partner Heidi Loucks with 32 students. Coulter and Loucks teach what is called fourth semester nursing or NURS 2400. This is a special type and process of nursing that deals with typical cases many would see in the Emergency Room. This includes injuries and conditions, like shock, sepsis, burns, and acute respiratory illnesses.
In her past, Coulter also taught many other classes at CC. She said her favorite class to teach was NURS 1200, or second semester nursing.
“They were my favorite because that was their kind of aha moment when they really felt like they got to be nurses. They’re starting to do like IVs and they get to go and have hands on with patients at the hospital. And you really got to see some light bulb moments, which is kind of exciting. I like to keep my classroom fun, lively,” Coulter said.
Coulter said she often tries to bring fun elements to her class to keep the energy up. For example, Coulter uses a barbie doll with varying degrees of burns. She uses the doll to instruct her class on how to diagnose and treat types of burns.
“I make them say, okay, tell me what happened to the patients. Um, how did they get their burns? What kind of burns are they? How many burns, what percentage of their body is burned? What kind of treatment would you expect on the way to the hospital? Once they get to the hospital, what kind of treatments are you expecting.” Coulter explained.
For Coulter, her life’s journey has come full circle. She starting by bringing children into the world, and now she helps train future nurses and medics to make their way into their future.
