‘Do it afraid:’ USF nursing student’s journey from the ICU to developing a program for patients with metabolic syndrome

By Torie Doll, University Communications and Marketing

Ashley Hagood's path to nursing began when she was a child. Her mother experienced severe complications after giving birth to Hagood's younger sister, including a hemorrhage and sepsis that resulted in a lengthy hospitalization. After her mother returned home, a home health nurse continued providing care.

"As a 9-year-old, I watched her nurse my mom back to health and I wanted to be able to give that same sense of hope to other people," Hagood said.

Today, Hagood is pursuing her Doctor of Nursing Practice at USF and preparing to take her work to Barranquilla, Colombia, where she will implement a nurse-led program focused on patients who screen positive for metabolic syndrome - a group of conditions that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

A first-generation college student, Hagood earned her bachelor's degree in nursing in 2013. She then spent six years as a critical care and travel nurse and later enrolled in the DNP program at USF. Life doesn't stop for grad school and, when the COVID-19 pandemic started, Hagood was assigned to work in an intensive care unit in California. The work was too overwhelming to balance with school, so she left USF. Working during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic also changed her perspective on healthcare and prompted her to think about how she could address gaps in care before patients reached the hospital.

"I saw a lot of the gaps in care," Hagood said. "And instead of being someone who would just kind of complain about those gaps, I wanted to be able to respond to that and do something about it."

After 3.5 years away from her studies, she returned in 2024 to complete her degree and switch concentrations from acute care to primary care.

It was during her final semester that she met Dorothie Durosier Mertilus, an associate professor and director of the adult gerontology primary care nurse practitioner concentration.

Durosier Mertilus recognized Hagood's potential and encouraged her to continue when personal circumstances made completing her degree difficult. The support made a lasting impression on Hagood and eventually led her to ask Durosier Mertilus to serve as her faculty adviser.

"She's been a great inspiration as far as helping me to see a bright path and kind of have that steppingstone into the next level of my doctoral research," Hagood said.

For Durosier Mertilus, mentoring Hagood is part of a journey that has come full circle. She began at USF as a nursing student in 2011 and is now a four-time USF alumna and faculty member.

"I'm a living testimony that whatever students put their mind to, they can do it," Durosier Mertilus said.

With Durosier Mertilus' guidance, Hagood explored the possibility of taking her doctoral project internationally. Through USF's longstanding partnership with Universidad del Norte, she will travel to Barranquilla to implement a nurse-led integrative program that combines patient education with screening for social determinants of health.

The project aims to strengthen the relationship between nurses and patients while identifying barriers that can affect health outcomes. Hagood also hopes the experience will provide insight into how lessons from global nursing can inform care in the United States.

For Hagood, the opportunity is another example of what can happen when she is willing to step outside what is familiar.

"There's a space in between what we know and what we don't know, and that can be a little scary, and that's okay," Hagood said. "But the learning process in between is what kind of bridges that gap."

Her advice is simple: "Do it afraid."