I have been a nurse for 21 years and a clinical nurse specialist for 15 years. I obtained my BSN from the University of San Francisco (USF). My nursing career started with being a new graduate cardiovascular ICU nurse at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco. I cared for post-operative patients receiving a coronary artery bypass graft or valve replacement and was also cross-trained to care for patients on the telemetry unit. I later obtained my master of science degree, with a minor in education, as a cardiovascular clinical nurse specialist from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). After graduation, I worked as the Skills Laboratory Instructor at USF and was concurrently the Nurse Coordinator for the Department of Physiological Nursing at UCSF. As the Skills Lab Instructor, I assisted freshman through senior nursing students in meeting their clinical competencies. I trained and oversaw a staff of 15 teaching assistants, developed standardized competency validation procedures, and assisted in starting up simulation training. As the Nurse Coordinator, I assisted the principal investigators of various research studies in recruitment activities, writing the procedure manual, and executing research protocols. After gaining experience in teaching and research, I began the next journey of my career as a critical care clinical nurse specialist (CNS) at NorthBay Healthcare, which is s small community hospital located in northern California. There I oversaw clinical programs, chaired committees, oversaw nursing education, and upheld the standards of practice/standard of care for critical care services.
My current role is the CNS for Translation Science at NorthBay Healthcare. I oversee the EBP and nursing research program, shared governance, 2 clinical programs, and sit on our IRB and Policy & Procedure Committee. I also serve as chair of the Code Blue and Procedural Sedation Committees and assist with professional development of the nursing staff. I developed an EBP & Research Fellowship Program in 2011 which I continue to oversee and teach today. I am also an instructor/facilitator for the Fuld and have taught at 8 EBP immersions so far. I have been honored to be asked by the Fuld Director to be a lead instructor, so I will have the opportunity to lead an immersion on my own in the next year! I also sit on the Fuld Steering Committee, Implementation Task Force, was an Item Writer for the EBP-C, and currently serve as a Reviewer for the EBP-C. I have presented poster and podium presentations on EBP at national conferences, and will be coming out with a couple of publications this year.
