Nursing in Non-Traditional Environments

Dr. Barnes is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Tyler. He has over 30 years of experience in Nursing and over 7 years in academic nursing education.

Dr. Barnes has practiced across the globe both militarily and as a civilian nurse. His civilian nursing background is Emergency Department, Critical Care, Hyperbarics, and Cardiac Rehab. He is a 28-year military veteran who has served in both the Army and Navy, Enlisted, Non-Commission Officer as well as commissioned officer retiring as a Navy Lt. Commander. His two commands were a clinic Officer in Charge (OIC) during Operations Iraq Freedom/ Enduring Hope and as OIC of a Joint Task Force North detachment teaching emergency response to federal law enforcement Post 911.

After retirement, Dr. Barnes worked as a civilian contractor with various US Agencies overseas. He was the Senior Nurse Mentor to the Ministry of Interior of Afghanistan during which time he assisted with the development of the first BSN program in Afghanistan as well as assisting with writing the standard of nursing procedures manual used by several Afghan ministries.

Dr. Barnes has worked as a tactical medic/team leader for Counter Narcotic Teams in Afghanistan as well as Medic/Team Leader protecting US Diplomats in High Threat areas overseas. His last 4 years in Iraq were as Medic/Team Lead of one of the Emergency Response Teams at the US Consulate in Basra (Southern Iraq) and Kurdish Erbil.

For 6 years prior to coming to UT, Dr. Barnes was the primary faculty establishing a Veteran to BSN program in San Antonio Texas. This program later merged with the already existing 2nd-degree program into the Accelerated BSN program of Texas Tech Health Sciences Center.

Dr. Barnes is Board Certified as a National Healthcare Disaster Professional and is a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine. He is a strong advocate for Disaster Nursing and Emergency Response. His short-term plans are to create a Nursing in Nontraditional Environments elective course. Eventually, Dr. Barnes plans to work towards developing post-graduate tracks for Nursing in Nontraditional Environments certifications.