Brenda McNeil

DNP, FNP-BC, APRN

Assistant Clinical Professor

Interim Director of Family Nurse Practitioner Program

She/Her/Hers

Brenda McNeil is an experienced, nationally certified family nurse practitioner with 25 years of experience in primary care with a focus on undeserved populations, 10 years in clinical precepting, and seven years teaching in graduate nursing education. She is a member and serves on the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties Preceptor Committee. Since 2016, she has been a program manager on ANE/ANEW grants, working directly with NP students in classroom/clinical settings and directly with clinical preceptors involving precepting skills, recruitment, and retention. In this role, she identified a gap in preceptor development and clinical teaching needs of NP preceptors. Dr. McNeil and colleagues surveyed preceptors at a national NP conference. The published results have informed preceptor training and support programs at UConn. Dr. McNeil has presented at multiple national conferences regarding a range of topics from childhood obesity prevention, preceptor development, to preparing NPs to care for underserved populations. She and her colleagues have developed a series of continuing education programs that address the importance of integrating mental health care within primary care. These programs are currently being translated to an online format for wider distribution to health care professionals.

Research/Scholarship Interests

• Health Promotion
• Disease Prevention
• Social Determinant of Health
• Mental Health
• Pediatrics
• Obesity Prevention
• Motivational Interviewing
• Preceptor Development
• Clinical Education

Education

• Post-Master’s Certificate in Health Professions Education, University of Connecticut
• DNP, Maryville University of St. Louis
• MS in Nursing, Vanderbilt University
• Diploma in Nursing, Allentown Hospital School of Nursing

Honors & Awards

• July 2019 – June 2023: Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA). Innovative Clinical-Academic Partnership to Enhance NP Preparation for Practice. Primary Care Nurse Practitioners Caring for Underserved Populations. Funded for $2,798,056, Role: Co-investigator/Program Manager.
• January 2019 – December 2019: University of Connecticut School of Nursing, Center for Nursing Scholarship and Innovation (CNS& I) Grant. Preceptor Consultant: Enhanced Academic Support for Early Career Nurse Practitioners to Increase Acceptance of Preceptorships. Funded for $4800. Role: Principal Investigator.
• July 2016 – June 2019: Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA). Innovative Clinical-Academic Partnership to Enhance NP Preparation for Practice (ICAN). Funded for $1.4 million, Role: Co-investigator/Program Manager.

Selected Publications

• McNeil, B. & Jakubisin-Konicki, A. (2021). Insights on the clinical teaching needs of nurse practitioner preceptors. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 17, 105-111.
• Alexander, I. M., Jakubisin-Konicki, A., Canty, L., LoGiudice, J., McKelvey, M., & McNeil, B. (2018). Women’s Health (Chapter). In Fitzpatrick, J. J. (Ed). Encyclopedia of Nursing Research, 4th Edition (pp. 778-794). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company