Debi Capshaw, DNP
Joplin Health and Rehabilitation Center
As the full-time, onsite nurse practitioner for Joplin Health and Rehabilitation Center, Dr. Debi Capshaw is more than a nurse, she’s a safety net, a holistic healer and a leader on the road to recovery.
“My job is to tackle health problems before they become severe and hopefully prevent our residents from having to go to the hospital,” she said. “We’re fortunate at Joplin Health and Rehab to have a lot of the same capabilities that hospitals have, IV antibiotics for example. For many of our residents, this is their home and we want to be able to keep them where they are comfortable and avoid emergency room visits.”
Capshaw is an acute care nurse practitioner and has a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. While she was doing her doctoral studies, she did a year-long capstone project researching ways skilled nursing facilities can reduce hospital readmissions.
“It’s exciting to be putting into practice the solutions I was so passionate about studying in school,” she said. “I found in my research that people are discharging the hospital at a lot higher acuity than they used to. Sometimes they’re not ready to go home so they come to a facility like Joplin Health and Rehab. My goal is to help them down that road to recovery and get them back home.”
Capshaw’s career began as a physical therapy assistant in Northwest Arkansas. After 10 years in physical therapy, she went back to school and earned her nursing degree from the University of Wyoming in 2003. As a nurse, she gained experience in everything from acute care to home health to pain management and more. She graduated from the University of Arkansas with her doctorate in 2016. She was part of the university’s first Doctor of Nursing Practice graduating class.
“One thing I love about this position is I can do a combination of everything I have done in the past,” she said. “I feel like this is right where I’m meant to be.”