Dr. Don Versluis
Position
Contact
Credentials
BScN, MSc, PHC-NP, DNP
Area of expertise
Inter-professional care teams, health care quality improvement, education, and leadership, internal medicine
Dr. Don Versluis is an Assistant Teaching professor in the Nurse Practitioner program. He joined the UVic School of Nursing in 2020 with an extensive background in teaching and clinical practice. He transitioned to a fulltime faculty role in 2021. He brings a passion for encouraging students to gain the skills in leading and managing people and projects to facilitate effective change, promotes innovation, and has a drive to improve the quality of nursing and health services including the integration of digital health and other technology.
Don began his career as a registered nurse in the emergency department and regional trauma center in Hamilton Ontario after receiving his BScN at McMaster University. He later returned to McMaster to earn his MSc and Primary Healthcare Nurse Practitioner certificate during which he became faculty for the BScN program from 2013 to 2014 and then completed his DNP (Chatham, PA). He joined Niagara Health as an internal medicine nurse practitioner, and returned to McMaster once again as an instructor in the nurse practitioner program from 2017-2020.
His teaching philosophy is one of Narrative Pedagogy, teaching through storytelling and experiences. His professional areas of interest are inter-professional care teams, quality improvement, education, and leadership. In support of these interests, he remains an active member of the Quality Council and Nurse Practitioner Community of Practice committees within Vancouver Island Health Authority.
He was one of Canada’s first Nurse Practitioners to provide Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). He was recognized for his work with MAiD, with several awards, including Niagara Health’s President’s Award of Excellence and the Advanced Practice Nursing Award of Excellence. He also received the “Hidden Hero” Award, Trillium Gift of Life Network.