USER

I have been the Director of the Xavier University School of Nursing since 1997. During that time period I have received federal funding to support the development of the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) track in our MSN program, a pre-licensure MSN track, and provide advanced degree preparation, including the CNL and Family Nurse Practitioner tracks, to rural nurses across the state of Ohio through synchronized video-conferencing with local students. Currently I serve on the Ohio Department of Health Advisory Group for Patient Centered Medical Homes. I am leading the integration of Interprofessional Collaborative education throughout the College of Social Sciences, Health and Education. We have nine professions from across the college participating in a course titled Applied Interprofessional Collaboration. Twenty-eight faculty across the college are now certified as master faculty in TeamSTEPPS®.  I firmly believe quality and safety in health care requires collaboration of professionals across all settings including school based health centers and long term care residences.  Primary care requires special education teachers, athletic trainers, mental health counselors, social workers, to name a few, to be actively collaborating with nurses and doctors on providing the best health care possible as we work together to improve the health of our nation. The current grant from Health Resources and Services Administration allows us to develop and research IPE teaching-learning environments and strategies, and disseminate the best practices for preparing the next generation of professionals to work collaboratively together. This is an exciting time for our nation and I am delighted to be part of it with my colleagues.