Dr. Hae Sagong, a new assistant professor, who joined AU College of Nursing in November 2021 is teaching an evidence-based practice class this spring semester.

Sagong received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Dong-A University in South Korea in 2011 and 2016, respectively. She received her doctoral degree from Seoul National University in August 2021.

She brings several years of clinical experience to her teaching position. Working as a staff nurse and then as charge nurse at a geriatric long-term care hospital in South Korea for more than 5 years, her focus has been mainly on improving the health of older adults. She served as a lecturer teaching pre-nursing courses to adult and community health nursing at nursing schools in South Korea. In Auburn, she will be teaching quantitative research.

“Since nursing is a science, research is getting its due attention,” said Sagong. “Its importance is being emphasized these days because practice must be based on research evidence. I hope that students learn about the importance of research in nursing, and the basic theories and concepts from my class.”

Her philosophy of teaching?

“I believe that teaching is to convey the content in a concise and easy way so that students can understand in class. Most students are required to apply their acquired knowledge into nursing practice upon graduation. Since nursing is the process of connecting knowledge with actual clinical experiences, it is important to let students develop their abilities well in both areas — knowledge from the textbook and clinical practices. Nursing is changing as the world changes and should be based on research. Helping students cultivate critical thinking, embrace up-to-date knowledge, practice skills and research is crucial. Teaching needs to remind students to have compassion while treating patients.”

Sagong’s research interests stemmed from her person-centered clinical care in geriatric long-term care facilities. She broadened her research on the frailty of community-dwelling older adults, person-centered dementia care in long-term care facilities, and the impact of cell phone usage in health among older adults. Secondary data analysis and statistics are one of her main skills and research designs. Since moving to the United States, she has focused on enhancing health literacy among older Korean immigrants as well as healthcare disparities among ethnic minorities.

We welcome Dr. Hae Sagong to Auburn!