Born in 1954, Frank Thomasson’s upbringing as a United States Armed Forces dependent led him through several states and foreign countries, instilling in him a deep appreciation for diversity and resilience.
Thomasson earned his Bachelor’s in Geologic Sciences in 1977 from the University of Tennessee (UT) and went on to pursue a career in the United States Air Force as an aircrew navigator from 1978 to 1995.
Following an honorable discharge from the United States Armed Forces in 1995, Thomasson decided to return to UT to obtain his Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
“I’d like to say that my choice to become a nurse after leaving the military was an altruistic one, but it wasn’t,” said Thomasson. “I had a wife and three kids to support with no real civilian work skills. When job hunting, the newspaper ads provided new insight into what career path to take. Out of ten pages of job ads the list of available nursing jobs took up four of those.”
After he graduated in 1997, he joined the orthopedic floor at Methodist Medical Center. During this time, he continued his education at UT and completed his MSN in 1999.
Frank’s transition into nursing was driven by practicality, yet his journey unfolded into a profound calling as he found his niche in mental health nursing.
“While still studying in my graduate courses but working as a floor nurse, administration needed a night shift RN to fill in on the mental health inpatient unit one night,” said Thomasson. “Nobody volunteered to go. After the single night on the unit, I knew this was my calling.”
Thomasson quickly found that talking to patients was much more rewarding than hanging IV bags, doing dressing changes, or hearing IV pumps beeping. He later volunteered and was accepted to work on the MMC Behavioral Unit.
As Thomasson continued in the Behavioral Unit, nursing students from UT were on his floor for clinicals.
“One day an instructor had to leave to check in on students on other nearby facilities,” said Thomasson. “I provided the students with my old process recording templates from my own nursing school days and guided them in using the templates to talk to clients with active cases of depression, manic behavior, and psychosis. Word of this made its way back to the undergraduate mental health clinical course coordinator and the rest is history.”
Thomasson’s journey to becoming a faculty member was serendipitous and sparked by his ability to mentor those around him. By incorporating humor and interactive activities, Thomasson prepares students for the dynamic challenges of the health care landscape.
“Students are stressed, so my innovative teaching method involves beginning my class presentation with a joke, a riddle, or some clever music or history sharing moment which both activates their cognitive functioning and reduces their internal stress,” said Thomasson.
Thomasson emphasizes the development of empathy, resilience, and critical thinking as essential nursing traits. Through reflective practices, positive reinforcement, and unconditional support, he fosters a nurturing environment where students thrive academically and personally.
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CONTACT:
Kara Clark (865-974 9498, kmclark2@utk.edu)