Danielle Langkaas

Connection is the key to Danielle Langkaas, BScN, RN. She became a nurse and nurse educator because she liked connecting with people and was interested in the medical field. “I thrive on human connection and specifically being a part of people’s lives during the best and worst times,” she says. 

Now, more than ever, she is finding that connection with her coworkers. Danielle is a nurse educator as well as frontline staff. She is a nurse educator resource faculty member at MacEwan University, where she has been assisting other nurse educators who are continuing courses via virtual simulation as well as collaborating with the leadership team to address tasks and concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurse educators now assist theory faculty on marking assignments, while theory faculty create online versions of their courses. Danielle and her colleagues have also set up virtual meetings for work and for socializing purposes with different themes and agendas. She’s on the frontlines as an emergency nurse in two emergency departments—at Misericordia Hospital Emergency Department and Northern Lights Regional Health Centre—and is assisting with normal frontline duties as well as screening for all hospital staff. 

Her advice to nurses is, “This is a time where you realize that your coworkers can sometimes be more like your family. Continue to work together and stay safe!”

Danielle started as a research assistant in hematology research and then a study coordinator role. After she received her RN and BScN programs, she found her passion in frontline clinical nursing in an emergency setting. She spent three years at a hospital in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, and was trained for resuscitation/acute patient assignment, triage, and the charge role. She served as an emergency nurse on the team, in 2016, when wildfires caused the whole city to evacuate—the largest wildfire and subsequent evacuation in Canada’s history—and spent the month after working on disaster relief efforts. 

After knee surgery, Danielle was off for six months. A poor recovery meant she needed a position that was a little less physically demanding. That’s when she found another passion—post-secondary nursing education at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She began as a clinical nurse educator and has since moved to a resource faculty role. “I love that I engage in many different roles as an RN from being a frontline critical care clinician, an educator and resource for undergraduate nursing students and faculty, and can also pursue global volunteering opportunities,” she says. 

During her first year of teaching, she found out about Sigma and joined for networking purposes as she transitioned from clinician to educator. In the past year and a half of membership, she has been president-elect and now president of Sigma’s Chi Nu Chapter. She has found that membership has given her options for postgraduate programs, connected her to professionals all over the world, and enhanced her leadership skills. Recently, her Sigma membership led her to go on a medical mission trip to Uganda, Africa, because of a strategic partnership with her chapter.