Elizabeth Woods is an Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of the Spring Start Master of Nursing Pre-Licensure program. With advanced training and a fellowship in quality and patient safety, Dr. Woods brings specialized expertise in improving healthcare outcomes through innovative clinical education and workforce development.

Dr. Woods’ work centers on the design, implementation, and evaluation of clinical education models that prepare practice-ready nurses. Her scholarship focuses on strengthening frontline nurse training, advancing preceptor development, and integrating quality and safety principles into both academic and clinical learning environments. She has particular expertise in preparing clinical instructors and preceptors to effectively teach, evaluate, and support nursing students in increasingly complex healthcare settings.

A recognized leader in clinical education innovation, Dr. Woods is actively engaged in developing professional development programs for clinical faculty and preceptors, with an emphasis on leveraging technology, simulation, and emerging tools such as artificial intelligence to enhance teaching effectiveness and learner outcomes. Her work also explores scalable models for clinical education that improve consistency, equity, and readiness across diverse clinical sites.

In addition, Dr. Woods leads global health initiatives aimed at improving patient and population health outcomes through culturally responsive education and sustainable partnership models. She designs and evaluates training programs across diverse care settings, ensuring alignment with local needs while maintaining high standards of nursing education and practice.

Through collaborative leadership and strong partnerships with healthcare systems and community stakeholders, Dr. Woods drives strategic innovations in clinical education. Her work contributes to building a resilient, highly skilled nursing workforce and advancing excellence in pre-licensure nursing education.

My teaching philosophy is grounded in the belief that nursing education must intentionally bridge the gap between knowledge and practice while prioritizing quality, patient safety, and high reliability principles. I strive to create a supportive and inclusive learning environment that promotes psychological safety, encourages critical thinking, and prepares students to deliver safe, evidence-based, and patient-centered care. 

My program of research focuses on advancing clinical education and workforce development to improve nursing practice readiness, patient safety, and health outcomes. Grounded in principles of quality improvement and high reliability, my work examines how frontline nurse training, preceptor development, and innovative educational models can better prepare pre-licensure nursing students for the complexities of modern healthcare systems.

A central focus of my scholarship is the design and evaluation of structured preceptor training programs that enhance teaching effectiveness, promote clinical judgment, and embed high reliability principles—such as standardization, error prevention, and a culture of safety—into clinical education. I am particularly interested in how educational interventions, including simulation, teleprecepting, and technology-enhanced learning (such as artificial intelligence), can be leveraged to support both learners and clinical educators in real time.

My research also emphasizes the use of data to drive continuous quality improvement in nursing education and practice. I examine how outcome metrics—such as student performance, clinical competency, and patient safety indicators—can be used to evaluate training effectiveness and identify opportunities for improvement. By aligning educational strategies with measurable outcomes, my work seeks to strengthen the connection between academic preparation and clinical performance.

Ultimately, my research seeks to bridge the gap between education and practice by developing scalable, evidence-based models of clinical training that integrate quality, safety, and high reliability principles—thereby strengthening the nursing workforce and improving patient outcomes.