Nursing Solutions Advisory Board

Mary F. Clarke, RN, PhD, BC
Director of Nursing Practice, Research and Innovation Genesis Medical Center, Davenport, IA

Mary is the Director of Nursing Practice, Research and Innovation at Genesis Medical Center (formerly Mercy Hospital) in Davenport, IA, and an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Iowa and University of Illinois. She has a clinical background in critical care and served as the Informatics Nurse Specialist for 12 years assisting with the implementation of the electronic health record. She has presented nationally on the implementation of Nursing Standardized Languages and clinical information systems. She currently serves as Chairperson of the Nursing Information Data Set Evaluation Center (NIDSEC) Panel of the American Nurses Association. Mary was selected as one of the 100 Great Iowa Nurses and won the Edith Ruppert award for significant contributions to the improvement of nursing.

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Dolores Jones, RN, EdD, CPNP, CAE
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Florida State University School of Nursing, Tallahassee, FL Director of Practice, Education and Research, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP), Cherry Hill, NJ

Dolores currently wears two hats as an Assistant Professor at Florida State University and as the NAPNAP Director of Practice, Education and Research. At NAPNAP, she provides strategic thinking, planning and operation of a comprehensive program that advocates for children and pediatric healthcare providers. Prior to her current roles, she was the Director of Pediatric Education at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. She has worked as a pediatric nurse and a public health nurse, and has held numerous positions in hospital clinical education departments. Dolores is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, NAPNAP, Pediatric Nursing Council of Northeast Florida, Northeast Florida Council of ARNPs, and the American Society of Association Executives.

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Lynelle Pierce, RN, MS, CCRN
Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Kansas School of Nursing Clinical Nurse Specialist, Critical Care at University of Kansas Hospital, Kansas City, KS

Lynelle has 25 years' experience in critical care as a staff nurse, clinical coordinator, trauma nurse coordinator, and clinical nurse specialist. She has lectured locally and nationally on a wide range of critical care topics and published articles and book chapters on pulmonary and trauma care subjects. She is the author of Management of the Mechanically Ventilated Patient, 2e (Saunders/Elsevier, 2007). Active in AACN since 1981, Lynelle is currently the Secretary for the Greater Kansas City Chapter of AACN. She has also been a member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine since 1999.

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Jean Proehl, RN, MN, CEN, CCRN, FAEN
Emergency Clinical Nurse Specialist, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH

Jean has been an emergency nurse for more than 25 years and an emergency clinical nurse specialist since 1985. She was the 1999 President of the Emergency Nurses Association and is currently the Chairperson of the Academy of Emergency Nursing. She is the editor of Emergency Nursing Procedures, 3e (Saunders, 2004) and co-editor of the Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal. Jean is an internationally recognized speaker and author on emergency and trauma nursing.

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Mary Crabtree Tonges, RN, PhD, FAAN
Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC

Mary is Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer for the University of North Carolina (UNC) Hospitals in charge of all inpatient nursing care units, the emergency department, and Carolina Air Care. She is also a Clinical Professor in UNC's School of Nursing and Associate Dean for UNC Healthcare. Mary has been a consultant in case management and nursing staffing, and is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), American Nurses Association (ANA), and Sigma Theta Tau, among others. She is the recipient of many awards and honors including the Nursing Spectrum Nursing Excellence Award (2006), the North Carolina Great 100 Nurses Award (2005) and Distinguished Practitioner in the National Academies of Practice in Nursing (1998).

Jean Zehler, RN, MSE, BC, CNA
Magnet Coordinator, Little Rock, AR

Jean is the Magnet Coordinator for a six-facility healthcare organization.. She has 29 years' experience in continuing education and staff development. Jean is certified in nursing administration and nursing professional development by ANCC. Since 1993, she has been responsible for the Arkansas Nurses Association's ANCC Accredited Approver Unit. Jean served on the ANCC Commission on Accreditation for 5 years and since 2002 continues in the role of site visit appraiser.

Teresa Heithaus, RN, MSN
Web-based Staff Development Instructor at Staten Island University Hospital in Old Brookville, NY.

Teresa is a Web-based Staff Development Instructor at Staten Island University Hospital in Old Brookville, NY.  She is the project developer and coordinator of the hospital’s educational website and e-Learning  and manages a  Facebook Journal Club and Staff Development Facebook site. She is certified as a Nursing Professional Development Specialist; and earned certification for Teaching and Learning in Web-Based Courses. Teresa is the winner of Sigma Theta Tau’s (STTI) 2009 NurseFLIX Short Film Competition for her film, “Nurse Educators Take Notice” available on the blog website, “Nursing Staff Development Behind the Firewall” which Teresa created and manages.  She is also the 2009 recipient of the National Nursing Staff Development Organization’s   annual Excellence in Technology Award.   Teresa has lectures regionally and nationally about e-Learning and Parenteral nutrition her clinical specialty area.

Marianela “Nelita” Zytkowski, DNP, MS, BSN, RN-BC
Director of Nursing Informatics, Cleveland Clinic Health System, Cleveland, OH

Nelita is the Director of Nursing Informatics at the Cleveland Clinic Health System responsible for the automated nursing information systems across 11 hospitals. Nelita ‘s Masters degree is in the specialty of Nursing Informatics and she is a  board certified Informatics Nurse with over 14 years of experience in the field .  Her experience with clinical healthcare systems includes: Intensive Care Unit, Perioperative, Patient Tracking, Medical-Surgical, Wound Care, & Obstetric systems; and she has a broad ICU, Pre-operative, and PACU clinical nursing background.   Nelita serves as a Board member for the International Nursing Informatics Organization, and is a member of the Nursing Informatics Task Force in the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS).  She is also a published author of book chapters and journal articles on the subject of nursing informatics.