The College of Nursing Celebrates National Clinical Nurse Specialist Recognition Week

The following letter is from Martha Biddle, PhD, APRN, CCNS, FAHA, assistant professor at the UK College of Nursing and gerontology clinical nurse specialist for UK HealthCare.

College of Nursing faculty, staff and students:

We invite you to join the UK College of Nursing in celebrating National Clinical Nurse Specialist Recognition Week Sept. 1-7 to highlight the outstanding work and contributions made by CNSs in our College, at UK HealthCare and in the local community. This week is a time for hospitals and health care systems to pay tribute to and build awareness of the important role nearly 72,000 CNSs play in ensuring that patients receive high quality care based on the best and most recent research evidence.

Since the first CNS program was initiated in 1954, these advanced practice nurses and expert clinicians have worked to identify gaps in health care delivery and help design, implement, assess and evaluate health care interventions to improve health care delivery and outcomes. As leaders in across several health care settings, including hospitals, private practices and clinics, CNSs provide direct patient care and improve clinical outcomes as well as reduce costs.

Please join us on Wednesday, September 7 at the Biomedical Biological Science Research Building atrium from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. for a CNS meet and greet where students will have the opportunity to talk to College faculty, UKMC CNSs and CNS students. We look forward to seeing you there!

Below are some important facts about Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS):

• The CNS specialty may be identified in terms of a population (ex. pediatrics), a setting (ex. emergency dept.), a disease or medical subspecialty (ex. Diabetes), type of care (ex. psychiatric) or type of problem (ex. pain).
• CNSs work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, private practice, and clinics
• According to the 2014 CNS Census, 85 percent of CNSs work full-time and 66 percent work in hospital settings. Of those, 44 percent have responsibility across the entire hospital system.
• CNSs diagnose, develop plans of care for, treat and provide ongoing management of complex patients. In many states, the CNS can prescribe medications, and durable medical equipment and therapies. They also provide expertise and support to bedside nurses, help drive practice changes throughout the organization and ensure the use of best practices and evidence-based care to achieve the best possible patient outcomes.

I’d also like you to meet some of our distinguished CNS leaders who continue to impact health care every day: 

Janie Heath, PhD, APRN-BC, FAAN

Dr. Janie Heath was appointed dean and Warwick Professor of Nursing for the UK College of Nursing on August 1, 2014. She was formerly an endowed professor of nursing and the chief academic officer at the University of Virginia and Georgia Health Sciences University (formerly the Medical College of Georgia and now Georgia Regents University). She has provided academic leadership for Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Critical-Care Clinical Nurse Specialist Programs at Georgetown University in Washington and at the University of South Carolina.

Dr. Heath earned her Master of Science Degree, with a clinical nurse specialist focus, from the University of Oklahoma and her post-master’s with an acute-adult nurse practitioner focus from the University of South Carolina. She completed her PhD in Nursing from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., in 2004.

She has more than 38 years of acute and critical care nursing experience in various positions from staff to administration to advanced practice and academia. She has been awarded more than $12 million for academic and/or research initiatives, generated more than 150 publications and abstracts, served on numerous regional and national task forces for tobacco control and advanced practice nursing initiatives. Her primary research program of study involves workforce development using the Rx for Change: Clinician-Assisted Tobacco Cessation Curriculum to effectively intervene with tobacco-dependent populations in acute and primary care settings.

In addition, Dr. Heath served as a member of the board of directors for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), served as the inaugural chair for the Beacons of Leadership Initiative in Pursuit of Healthy Work Environments, a 30-hospital-wide collaborative in the Washington–Baltimore, Md., area for the Greater Washington Area Chapter of AACN and founded the Nurses for Tobacco Control national coalition for nurse educators.

Colleen Swartz, DNP, MSN, RN, FNAP

Colleen Swartz became chief nurse executive at UK HealthCare in December 2008. Her prior experience includes serving as chief nursing officer at a regional community hospital, as director of emergency and trauma services flight nursing and as director of the Capacity Command Center for UK HealthCare.

Swartz holds a DNP degree, master’s degree in nursing as a clinical nurse specialist in trauma/critical care and an MBA. She has completed the Johnson & Johnson Wharton Fellows Program in management for nurse executives.

The integration of production systems strategies to optimize the care delivery model is of primary interest to Swartz. Her research interests also include study of clinical deterioration and early warning systems deployment in adult and pediatric populations.

Debra Moser, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN

Debra Moser holds a Master of Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Science from the University of California at Los Angeles. She came to UK from The Ohio State University College of Nursing, Department of Adult Health and Illness Nursing. Since 1997, she has served as co-editor of the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing.

Dr. Moser's distinguished career began with 12 years of critical care nursing. Now, as the College's Linda C. Gill Chair in Nursing and co-director of the RICH Heart Program, Moser is researching ways to improve outcomes and quality of life in people with heart failure and other cardiac conditions.

Dr. Moser directs the Center for Biobehavioral Research in Self-Management of Cardiopulmonary Disease at the College of Nursing. She is currently involved with six different NIH-funded research projects, including three collaborative efforts with investigators from other institutions. Her work has been published in numerous journals, including the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Circulation, Nursing Research, Social Science and Medicine, the American Heart Journal, the American Journal of Cardiology, and the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

Dr. Moser has earned numerous honors and awards, among them a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award. In connection with this award, she spent four months in 2004 in Sydney, Australia at the University of Western Sydney, the University of Newcastle, University of Technology, St. George Hospital and Royal North Shore Hospital, doing lectures and collaborative research on patient delay in seeking treatment for acute myocardial infarction symptoms, and also on heart failure.

Karen Hill, RN, DNP, NEA-BC, FACHE, FAAN

Karen S. Hill serves as the Chief Operating Officer/Chief Nursing Officer at Baptist Health Lexington. Baptist Health Lexington is a regional referral center for patients throughout Central and Eastern Kentucky, and it has been recognized as a Magnet® organization by the ANCC three times under Dr. Hill’s leadership.

Dr. Hill joined Baptist Health in 1992 and oversees daily operations in the acute care hospital supervising 2800 employees, 6 diagnostic outpatient centers, and an outpatient surgery center. She leads system-wide initiatives including co-chair of the BHS Population Health Steering Committee and the Operations and Efficiency Council. She is also a chairperson of the Hospital Advisory Commission for The Joint Commission.

Dr. Hill serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Nursing Administration, an international scholarly peer reviewed journal. In this role, she processes over 350 manuscripts for JONA a year and produces 12 editions a year to over 10,000 subscribers.

Dr. Hill presents internationally on leadership development, bringing evidence to practice and publication, leading an intergenerational workforce and the retention of employees among other areas of expertise.