Education
- Associate Degree in Nursing, Nursing, Pacific Union College
- Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Nursing, University of Utah Health
- Masters of Science, Nursing Education, University of Utah. Project: Hospital Nurse Educators: Strategies to Improve Satisfaction and Retention
Biography
Kristy Gauthier earned her Associate Degree in Nursing from Pacific Union College in 2003 and is a two-time alumna of the University of Utah, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2007, and her Master of Science in Nursing Education in 2018. With over two decades of experience, Kristy has been a dedicated burn nurse at University of Utah Health since 2004, where she served as the educator for the Burn Trauma Intensive Care Unit for ten years before transitioning to academia in 2021.
Kristy’s professional interests focus on enhancing intra- and interprofessional collaboration through simulation. As a hospital educator, she played a pivotal role in developing and implementing interprofessional simulations in collaboration with healthcare teams, including nursing, providers, pharmacy, and respiratory therapy. She continues to support interprofessional collaboration through disaster and mock code simulations within the Burn Unit.
Kristy’s innovative work also includes interprofessional virtual simulations, where she partnered with physical therapists to advance critical care education. Notably, Kristy co-presented “Teaching Interprofessional Collaboration in Critical Care: Simulation Strategies for Enhancing Competencies” at the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (NEXUS) Summit in 2023.
Currently, Kristy serves as the Simulation Facilitator and Educator at the University of Utah College of Nursing. In this role, Kristy has successfully helped integrate Doctor of Nursing Practice students into Bachelor of Science in Nursing simulations, including mock codes and multi-patient scenarios, underscoring her commitment to advancing nursing education through simulation.