Lt Col Best brings her extensive background in Women’s Health and develops opportunities for students to enhance their skills to provide the most current and cutting-edge prevention, screening and treatment strategies to our beneficiary population. She harnessed opportunities for students to establish hands-on skills in several procedures, including intrauterine contraception systems, contraceptive rod insertion and endometrial biopsies with industry experts. All students achieved certificates that enable them to perform the procedure under mentored guidance and achieve the ability to be credentialed on the skill at graduation.

In addition to her teaching assignments, she has been a member of the Wellness, Curriculum, and Admissions committee. She is currently on the task force to map the GSN curriculum to the new AACN Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education, aiding the faculty in understanding the components of competency-based education recommendations. As part of the Wellness Committee Natasha has helped inspire faculty, staff, and students to take charge of their wellbeing and health; she recently led 8 Zumba sessions for the GSN Wellness Days.

During the integration of new, procedure-based training and education, Natasha led the station for women’s health procedures for FNP and WHNP students. Lt Col Best completed these training sessions in a safe and effective manner during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that training objectives were met while limiting risk of COVID transmission and exposure. As the students who entered the Class of 2023 in the midst of the pandemic and the first clinical rotation was delayed, she led the women’s health section of a skills practice station prior to departure. During the rotation, students practiced hands-on pelvic and breast exams. Her skill directly contributed to the success of the 4 week clinical rotation. 

Lt Col Best demonstrated the importance of partner projects between DNPs and PhDs. She worked with PhD faculty to perform and publish scoping reviews for pregnancy and breastfeeding among active-duty women. She published an article on combating compassion fatigue with mindfulness practice in military nurse practitioners. She authored four book chapters on women’s health topics for a national clinical guidelines book. She authored/co-authored seven peer-reviewed journal articles since 2020. Additionally, she served as a reviewer for the recently published Clinical Guidelines for Primary Care, 4th edition. Her areas of scholarship in publication surrounded the use of Oral Boards to assess APRN educational attainment, the value of the Dual Track FNP/WHNP in routine and austere/remote locations to augment primary and trauma/emergency care teams, and the military-related women’s health topics.

Lt Col Best is a role model and mentor for faculty members and students. She is frequently sought for her mentorship and guidance by students and faculty alike. Lt Col Best is Senior Mentor expert on WHNP focused DNP project topics and has mentored 16 students/4projects during her short time here leading teams of DNP students successfully toward graduation and scholarship. Her efforts improved practices in medical treatment facilities on everything from low back pain to ensuring access to long-acting reversible contraception and screening for sexually transmitted infections in active duty population. Even if she isn’t the senior mentor for the project, she volunteers to service as the subject matter expert for women’s health related topics.

Lt Col Best’s enthusiasm for mentorship, natural leadership, and drive to further herself and the students led to her selection to serve as the new Director for Phase II Clinical Education. In this role, Lt Col Best extended her influence and streamlined the clinical and didactic content of the 3rd year courses. This was essential as the pandemic demonstrated that our students would not be able to achieve clinical rotations during one specific semester, so it was important to work with a passport to demonstrate achievement at some point in the 3rd year and before graduation. Her leadership ensured a 100% first-time pass rate on both family and women’s health certification exams.
Lt Col Best provides visionary leadership in nursing education. Natasha is passionate about improving how advanced practice nurses and practitioners are prepared to deliver evidence-based, holistic care in a complex healthcare system. Lt Col Best is a leader in preparing well-informed nurses who are committed to caring for patients and their families in the US military. I cannot think of a more appropriate recipient of this award. It is, therefore, with pleasure that I nominate her for this prestigious award.