story and photo by
Van Mitchell, Staff Writer
A love of science was an early introduction to a nursing career for Sara Buster, DNP, APRN, CNP, Clinical Assistant Professor Kramer School of Nursing at Oklahoma City University
“I love science, and I love people. Nursing is the best of all of that, and that is why I love it so much,” Buster said. “I knew early on that I wanted to be involved in medicine in some form. Not a lot of people in my family are in healthcare so it took me a little bit to figure out what that looked like for me and what that journey was going to be. Once I got into nursing, I cannot imagine doing anything else.”
Buster received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Oklahoma and graduated from Kramer School of Nursing with her DNP in 2017. She also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Ark.
“I’ve always enjoyed the idea of exploring what all is out there and could be,” she said. “I changed my major several times in my first undergraduate as I tried assorted opportunities. I tried on the wrong ones, then found the right one.”
Buster said most of her nursing career has been as a Nurse Practitioner.
“A lot of my nursing career has been as a Nurse Practitioner, and that’s what I’ve been doing since 2017. l transitioned into my full-time faculty role in 2023, although I have been working as an adjunct with Kramer since 2019,” she said.
Buster enjoys building relationships with patients.
“It’s just being there with the patient,” she said. “Especially with Advanced Practice Nursing and being a Nurse Practitioner, you can be there for patients in those moments where maybe it’s good news and maybe it’s bad news, but you’re with them and allow them to be a person while you deliver whatever type of news it is. It’s building those relationships and having that ongoing relationship with them.”
Buster said when OCU posted a full-time teaching position, she jumped at that opportunity.
“When they reached out that they had a full-time opening I jumped at the opportunity to come back and work along with some of my mentors and be able to provide that bridge with knowledge to practice for the next generation,” she said.
Buster said her hands-on work experience has helped mold her teaching style.
“As an adjunct, I was doing a lot of work with the practice management type roles,” she said. “I was talking to the students about what it looked like in the real world and tying it all together. My full-time faculty role has let me use my firsthand experience to kind of bridge the gap between what they see and learn in the textbook and what that looks like in a real person. I would not trade that experience for anything and being able to share that information when you’re seeing it in a patient and how to handle those situations.”
Buster said part of her role as a professor is to keep learning,
“I would say that every patient encounter is an opportunity to learn, but in addition, both to keeping my Nurse Practitioner certification, as well as to staying current with OCU and what’s expected here,” she said. “I am attending continuing education conferences and reading up on new articles that come out. My goal is to try to learn something new every day. Maybe that’s from a patient, maybe that’s from a student, or maybe that’s me seeking out something new to learn, but I’m always learning something.”
Buster said outside of work, her family life keeps her busy.
“We (husband and two young children) are busy,” she said. “Both of my children are very energetic, so we are always doing something. Even if we are at home, we are on the go.”
Buster said honesty is essential when discussing careers with students.
“I tend to err on the side of being honest in saying it is a hard job. Nursing is a very hard job, and knowing that, I think, helps to some degree,” she said. “Also being able to really internalize why you are doing what you are doing and being able to revisit that on the days that are tough is what is going to get you through. You need to have a good support system outside of nursing, but you need to be able to internally look back on why you chose this profession and be able to hold that close on the days that are hard.”
