Carla Taylor Orsburn, PhD, MSN-Ed, RN, CHSE, CNE

Assistant Dean, Clinical Simulation & Learning Center; Assistant Professor, Clinical Title Series

Carla Taylor Orsburn is Assistant Dean of the Clinical Simulation & Learning Center and an Assistant Professor in the Clinical Title Series at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing. She is a Registered Nurse, Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator, and Certified Nurse Educator with more than two decades of experience in healthcare and extensive experience in nursing education, simulation-based learning, clinical education, and faculty development.

 

Dr. Orsburn’s work focuses on creating meaningful clinical and simulation learning experiences that prepare nursing students for the complexities of professional practice. Her educational interests include simulation-based education, clinical judgment, competency-based nursing education, experiential learning, and the intentional integration of classroom, simulation, and clinical learning. She is particularly interested in how educational environments influence students’ confidence, professional identity, sense of belonging, and readiness to enter nursing practice.

 

Her scholarship explores the clinical learning experiences of undergraduate nursing students. Using qualitative and phenomenological approaches, her research examines how students experience and make meaning of clinical education and the factors that facilitate or constrain learning in practice environments. Her work seeks to translate students’ experiences into evidence-informed improvements in clinical education, simulation, curriculum design, and the transition from student to professional nurse.

 

Dr. Orsburn is committed to advancing high-quality simulation through evidence-based standards, faculty development, interdisciplinary collaboration, and continuous program improvement. As Assistant Dean, she provides strategic leadership for the College of Nursing’s Clinical Simulation & Learning Center and works collaboratively with faculty, staff, students, and clinical partners to create innovative learning experiences that support clinical judgment, professional formation, and safe, competent nursing practice.