Nursing & Allied Health

Derek Copple

Nursing Instructor

(760) 921-5466

Derek has an Associate of Science degree in Nursing from College of the Desert. He has been a Nursing Vocational Instructor at Palo Verde College for the last eight years. Before he became an instructor, he was a Registered Nurse for twenty-years, a Chief of Nursery Officer at Palo Verde Hospital for five years, and five years experience at Eisenhower Medical Center for five years. He worked as a nurse in the special critical care and emergency medicine nursing units. Derek's teaching philosophy is to create caring and competent nurses. He feels that nurses demonstrated these values through providing excellent customer service and making good ethical decisions for their patients. He emphasized when nurses take care of their patients, they are competent professional. Students that do well in the Nursing & Allied Health field tend to have the following personal characteristics: strong work ethic, perseverance, and a positive and can-do attitude.