CNO Discussion: How Certified Clinical Nurse Leaders (CNLs) Improve Your Healthcare Facility

The Commission on Nurse Certification celebrates 10 years of offering the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) Certification Program! Join CNC along with Chief Nursing Officers and representatives from the VA to discuss the positive outcomes of hiring certified CNLs. As an attendee, you will learn more about the Clinical Nurse Leader and the value they bring to your healthcare facility as master’s educated nurses. You will also learn about the VHA Office of Nursing Services implementation and support of the CNL role. The VHA will also discuss their CNL Orientation Tool Kit; a resource for the CNL Collegial Mentoring Program that is also designed as a resource for practicing CNLs.

The CNL is a leader at the point of care focusing on:

• Care Coordination
• Transitions of Care
• Risk Assessment
• Outcomes Measurement
• Quality Improvement
• Interprofessional Communication & Team Leadership
• Implementation of Best Practices Based on Evidence

NOTE: This webinar is open to everyone including non-members, Chief Nursing Officers, Executives, CNLs, communities of interest, practice representatives, and AACN member schools including deans, faculty, staff and students.

Webinar Speakers

Grace Sotomayor, DNP, RN
Vice President Administration and Chief Nurse Executive, Central Health Division
Carolina Medical Center

Dr. Sotomayor has been the Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive in the Carolinas HealthCare System at Carolinas Medical Center (CMC) since March 2007.  In this role, Grace leads Nursing Services and other assigned clinical departments.  As of Jan 1, 2013 she has been serving as the Chief Nurse Executive of the system’s Central Division which includes CMC an 893 bed academic center and CMC-Mercy a 196 bed community hospital. Dr. Sotomayor earned her nursing degree from Herbert H. Lehman College, NY.  She has a DNP from the University of Alabama, Masters in Nursing from Hunter College, New York, and an MBA from the University of Missouri, St. Louis. She is also a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, is certified by the ANCC as a Nurse Executive, Advanced, is a 2010 Johnson and Johnson Wharton Fellow and is prepared as a 6 Sigma Green Belt Practitioner. In 2013, Dr. Sotomayor led Carolinas Medical Center to achieve Magnet Designation, she has also been instrumental in the achievement of several recognitions for excellence in patient care for the Central Division including NICHE designation at CMC and CMC Mercy and Planetree re designation in 2014 at CMC Mercy.

Mary Lou Wesley, MSN, RN
Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer
Sparrow Health System

Mary Lou Wesley joined Sparrow Health System in December of 2014.  Sparrow has achieved Magnet recognition for excellence in nursing services, placing the hospital among the top 6% in the nation.  Sparrow has earned Magnet Hospital Designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. This is the nation's most prestigious honor for nursing achievement and excellence, a measure of quality earned by only about six percent of U.S. hospitals. Ms. Wesley graduated with her BSN from Mercy College of Detroit.  She completed her MSN in Adult Health and Administration from Madonna University.  During the twenty four years she spent at St. Joseph, she held a variety of positions:  Assistant to the CNO for Special Projects, Director of Medical- Surgical Nursing, Director of Medical-Surgical and Critical Care Nursing, Associate VP of Nursing, and Chief Nursing Officer.  While at St. Joseph Mercy, she also taught for four and a half years at Oakland University in the Undergraduate and Graduate programs.  From 2002-2010, Mary Lou was the CNO for Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, in Ann Arbor.  In 2010, she left Michigan to become the Chief Nurse Executive for WellStar Health System, based in Marietta, Georgia.

Claire Gangware, MSN, RN
Chair
VHA Office of Nursing Services
Clinical Nurse Leader Field Advisory Committee

Claire Gangware is chair of the VHA Office of Nursing Services CNL Field Advisory Committee. She is a certified CNL since February, 2008, after receiving her MSN from Elmhurst College.  She worked at Hines VA Hospital as a patient care coordinator and presented her CNL residency project, Improving Surgical Patient Flow, at the Tri VISN Surgical Fix Conference in Buffalo, NY.  She has been a practicing CNL at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago since 2009 on a 30 bed medicine/oncology unit.  She won an AACN Innovation award in 2011 for implementation of Interdisciplinary Rounds and has presented her work on Project Red, to prevent hospital readmissions, at the CNL Summit.  She serves on the Nursing Research Council, Lean Steering Committee, Falls Committee and Nursing Practice Council.

Karen M. Mayer, MSN, RN
Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President Patient Care Services
Rush Oak Park Hospital

Karen Mayer has more than 20 years of progressive experience in healthcare management with a specialty in critical care and cardiology. Since 2006, she has served as Vice President of Patient Care Services of Rush Oak Park Hospital (ROPH). There she functions as the Chief Nursing Officer and oversees nursing and all therapies. She has facilitated the implementation of the Clinical Nurse Leader CNL role in the model of care with significant improvements in nursing quality indicators, CMS core measures, and 30-day all-cause readmissions. ROPH has become LGBT certified, NICHE recognized, and has achieved The Joint Commission Inpatient Diabetes and Stroke Certifications. ROPH continually seeks to implement nursing innovations into practice. This nursing excellence has recently been recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) with Magnet® designation. Ms. Mayer also serves as an adjunct faculty member of Rush University College of Nursing, and is a member of Nursing Quality Advisory Boards for Dominican University and Lewis University.

Linda L. Borns, MS, RN
Clinical Nurse Leader
Dayton VA Medical Center

Linda Borns is a Clinical Nurse Leader on a 24 bed medical telemetry unit in Dayton, Ohio. Ms. Borns has worked at the Dayton VA Medical Center for 25 years. She has been a CNL since 2011. She received her bachelor’s degree in 1992 and her Master’s degree in 2011 from Wright State University. Ms. Borns earned her CCRN certification in 2009. She is a member of the VA CNL Field Advisory Committee.