Education: BA (1996) Williams College in Massachusetts ; RN (2000) UCSF; MSN Gerontological Nursing (2005) UCSF; ANCC Certified Geriatric Clinical Nurse Specialist
Years in Profession: 6
Years with Kaiser Permanente: 3
Current position & responsibilities: Geriatric Clinical Nurse Specialist at South San Francisco Kaiser. Oversees fall prevention program , provides restraint reduction education to RN's and ancillary staff , involved in HEROES collaboration; acts as CNS for Stroke Program and Conditioning Pathway workgroup, participates in New Hire Orientation and new grad residency program to provide clinical geriatric content for new RN's. Also, provides consultation on frail elderly patients, with or without dementia, and performs sitter rounds
Reason for research: I think research is crucial to help us understand the true impact of care on patients and their loved ones, and to challenge treatments that are not evidence- based
Current position & responsibilities: Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) at San Francisco ; my primary responsibilities is the direct care and management of patients in the hospital with complex oncological and/or hematological diagnoses. I am also part of a multidisciplinary team that does daily rounds among oncology and hematology inpatients during the week. In addition, my role involves consultation with staff regarding critical oncological issues in both hospital and outpatient settings.
Ever since my arrival at Kaiser Permanente, I have been responsible for the development of the inpatient oncology unit ~ its conception and organization, the development of policies and procedures, and monitoring for quality purposes. I've been afforded a unique position of being a liaison between the hospital and the clinic, with clinical responsibilities and designated time in both areas. Additionally I am the nursing representative on the Pharmacy & Therapeutics committee and chair the Interdisciplinary Practice and the Clinical Practice Committees.
Reason for research: Very interested in nurses driving their own practice and that it is evidence-based...as well as my personal interests in symptom management (especially chemotherapy-induced cognitive changes)
Favorite ice cream: I have several!...Strawberry, Coffee, Vanilla Swiss Almond, and Coconut
Education: RN ( 1973) University of Tennessee School of Nursing; BS (1985) Chapman College; MN Emphasis in Education (1995) Phoenix University; CNS Integrative Health Practices (2008) Dominican University
Years in Profession: 35
Years with Kaiser Permanente: 2
Current position & responsibilities: Clinical Nurse Educator for ICU and Tele and lead coordinator for Simulation in the Clinical Area
Reason for research: To Advance Nursing research at the bedside by bedside nurses and demonstrate through research the advantages of Simulation in creating stronger and more confident bedside nurses
Education: Diploma in Dental Nursing (1982) Perth Dental Hospital, Western Australia; ADN (1985) Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital, Western Australia; BSN (1997) MN (2002) MPH (2004) Edith Cowan University, Western Australia; CCRN, CCNS (2006) University of California, San Francisco
Years in Profession: 26
Years with Kaiser Permanente: 5; Perdiem 15
Current position & responsibilities: Clinical Nurse Specialist, Critical Care/Cardiovascular Care
Reason for research: Currently involved in research and would like to see more staff involved in research
Education: RN with BS in biology (1975) UC Davis ; BSN (1978) St. Louis University , MO ; MSN (2003) Sonoma State University , CA
Years in Profession: 29
Years with Kaiser Permanente: 29
Current position & responsibilities: Quality RN at Antioch : I am responsible for SCIP core measure data, CalNOC data, HEROES data and Leapfrog Survey data.
Reason for research: Being on the research committee provides a natural links with my background in research, my quality position and the actual care being delivered.
Education: BA Psychobiology (1980) Oberlin College ; AA in Nursing (1987) San Francisco City College ; MS (1992) UCSF
Years in Profession: 20
Years with Kaiser Permanente: 20
Current position & responsibilities: Critical Care CNS: staff education, P&P review, implementation of best practices, competency evaluation process, consultation on patient care , project management
Reason for research: Development of my skills related to research and evidence based practice, learning about and disseminating best practices from research, goal to help start nursing research at my facility
Education: B.A. (1980) in Journalism San Diego State University ; ADN (1990) Contra Costa College ; Currently: Master's Creative Writing program SFSU
Years in Profession: 18
Years with Kaiser Permanente: 18
Current position & responsibilities: NICU at Kaiser Walnut Creek
Reason for research: I've always been interested in unearthing facts, which does, of course, involve research. My interest in nursing research accelerated about 14 years ago, when I attended a research proposal writing workshop sponsored by Walnut Creek 's then fledgling Diablo Nursing Research Committee. Soon after, a vacancy on the committee opened up, and I joined the committee as a representative of the perinatal department. That was about 12 years ago, and I have been an active member ever since.
Several years ago I began representing Kaiser Walnut Creek at the Northern California Regional Research Committee. My participation in nursing research committee work has included helping to organize conferences and continuing education events, designing posters, and participation in a rapid-cycle change project.
Favorite ice cream: Favorite ice cream? Can't say that I have a true favorite--I am an adventurous eater, which reflects my general attitude toward life. If I had to name just one flavor, though, I guess I would have to say chocolate!
Education: BSN (1997) University of San Francisco ; MSN, MBA (2008) Holy Names University
Years in Profession: 10
Years with Kaiser Permanente: 11.5
Current position & responsibilities: Nursing Supervisor, Oversight and management of pt. throughput, the link between administration and front-line staff, daily management of in-patient operations, ensures proper utilization of human and material resources.
Reason for research: Love for continuous learning and want to increase the advancement of nursing.
Education: BSN (1969) California State University Fresno ; MS (1975) University of California San Francisco ; CPHQ ; NE-BC
Years in Profession: 39
Years with Kaiser Permanente: 13
Current position & responsibilities: Director of Education Services at Kaiser Fresno: The primary role of the department is to support Patient Care Services in maintaining and enhancing the professional practice of our nurses. Members of the department are leads or participants for many of the committees and initiatives that impact inpatient care. The department also coordinates all student placements for the hospital and TPMG, and coordinates the annual safety update for all employees. Members of the department are involved in community organizations and funded projects addressing issues facing the nursing community as a whole.
Reason for research: I became involved in research in my graduate program with a very small funded project. That was the springboard for several other studies including a multi-hospital study on nurse's attitudes.
Favorite ice cream: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough or anything with chocolate in it
I'm relatively new to Nursing as a career. I spent close to two years working in a Med/Surg – Tele unit, and now work in critical care at the San Francisco Medical Center . In my non-nursing career experience I had the opportunity to work in a number of fields, the most recent of which was a 15+ year stint in Information Technology as a Systems Engineer and Database Administrator. My leap into nursing was aided by a dearth of jobs for contract programmers in 2001, and a dream-inspired reawakening of my interest in Medicine and working as a professional care giver.
In 2002 I was accepted into Samuel Merritt College 's Entry Level Accelerated Masters in Nursing program. Although very intense, I loved the program, and couldn't be more pleased with my decision to pursue a career in Nursing. Upon graduation in 2005 I was awarded the Outstanding Student in Case Management award. My undergraduate degree from U.C. Davis was in Bacteriology (now Microbiology), and while that educational focus didn't play a direct role in my various vocations until entering Nursing School, it did provide a solid background in several scientific disciplines, and fostered a lifelong interest in the world around me, and how things work at a fundamental level.
Since my employment with Kaiser I've had the good fortune to serve as a Visiting Clinical Expert for the initial roll out of the Inpatient portion of HealthConnect at Kaiser South Sacramento. My role there focused on training the staff in the use of the new system, as well as evaluation of the system. Now, happily, I've been invited to join the Nursing Research Committee. I look forward to the opportunity to serve in such a potentially influential role.
Education: RN St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing & Chaminade College of Honolulu; BSN University of Phoenix; MSN Sonoma State University
Years in Profession: 40
Years with Kaiser Permanente: 23
Current position & responsibilities: Clinical Educator at Walnut Creek inpatient facility: Provide clinical education and support for the nursing staff to safely care for patients following the organizational policies, procedures, and initiatives to achieve quality outcomes for all patients.
Reason for research: To assist and support staff nurses to pursue scientific evidence to guide their practice and make changes at the bedside to provide the best care for patients.
Education: RN (1996) De Anza College; BSN (1998) San Jose State University ; Certified Clinical Research Coordinator (2007) Association of Clinical Research Professionals
Years in Profession: 12
Years with Kaiser Permanente: 10
Current position & responsibilities: Research Nurse/Coordinator for the KPNC Heart Transplant Service: I help get clinical research drug and device studies up and running for our Transplant doctors; screen randomize and follow study patients who are in our clinical trials, looking for adverse events, side effects; collect and report study data; educate nursing and medical staff about new studies that are important to our patient population.
Reason for research: I joined Kaiser because I knew that nurses have been supported in their research efforts, so I decided to specialize in critical care, and started taking classes in clinical trials research at UC Santa Cruz Extension . I learned a lot about medical research, including the ethical issues and practical applications of study findings . As a bedside nurse, I became interested in evidence based practice and have been working on a caregiver study.
Favorite ice cream: I love vanilla ice cream (Hagen Dazs), and fresh strawberry ice cream .
Education: BSN (2002) Hartwick College , Oneonta , NY ; MSN (2008) Sonoma State University , Rohnert Park , CA
Years in Profession: 6
Years with Kaiser Permanente: 6
Current position & responsibilities: Assistant Nurse Manager, Adult Medical-Surgical Services; Nursing Research Council Chai
Reason for research: The application of research in the clinical setting takes nursing to the next level. Using evidence to validate and improve the care we provide to clients is at the heart of nursing professionalism. Nurses have long been revered as trusted professionals who are skilled in the art of caring, but I feel that caring also requires a strong scientific knowledge base, a spirit of inquiry, and a passion for problem solving.
Chair, Nursing Research Committee Nurse Scientist, Department of Patient Care Services
Kaiser Permanente Northern California (NCAL) Regional Division
1950 Franklin, 10th Floor, Rm 101R06
Oakland CA 94612
Gretchen Summer joined Kaiser Permanente in 2007 as Associate Director, NCAL Nursing Research Program. Prior to completing her PhD in 2005 at the University of California-San Francisco, Gretchen enjoyed a long career as a clinical RN, during which she discovered a passion for nursing science. Working in burn units, Gretchen witnessed patients suffering from severe pain. When she went to the research literature to learn more about what makes burn pain vary in intensity so widely within and between patients, Gretchen found that little is known about this difficult problem. Using observations made while caring for burn-injured patients, Gretchen developed a program of research focusing on the peripheral mechanisms that contribute to the severity of acute and chronic burn injury pain. Currently, Gretchen combines her clinical and academic skills to increase the capacity for Kaiser RNs to utilize research and provide evidence based care.
For questions about Northern California 's Nursing Research Program contact:
Gretchen J. Summer
Gretchen.J.Summer@kp.org
510-987-3639
KP tie line 8-427-3639
or
Diane Wills-Garner
Staff Assistant
Diane.Wills-Garner@kp.org
510-987-363
KP tie line 8-427-3667
fax: 510-987-3667
Education: BA Greek Studies (1974) UCSD; AD Nursing (1977) Shoreline Community College, Seattle; BSN (1987) CSU Stanislaus, Turlock; MSN (1998) Nursing Education, CSUDH
Years in Profession: 31
Years with Kaiser Permanente: 9
Current position & responsibilities: Director of Staff Development, CVA--all RN education for outpatient; CPR classes; student externs with RNs, MAs, RT, other; Facilitative Leadership and LMP education (MPE, IPBS/CDM, LMPO); special projects (currently for opening of new Modesto hospital TPMG side, education scheduling and training for all entities); NEO
Reason for research: To be actively involved in effecting the reasons for change in the nursing profession and to be evidence driven in our rapidly changing practices
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