Fellow Represents Academy on Board of New Nursing Initiative Funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

WASHINGTON— During its launch on February 17, the Nursing Alliance for Quality Care (NAQC) welcomed its first-ever body of leadership, including American Academy of Nursing (AAN) Fellow Gerri Lamb, PhD, RN, FAAN, who will serve as Vice-Chair of the Alliance, which aims to improve care and eliminate failures in the system.

Lamb is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation and serves as Chair of the Academy’s Quality Health Care Expert Panel. She has been a Fellow since 1993 and during her career has amassed experience as a nurse practitioner, administrator and faculty leader. Among other professional highlights, Lamb is Co-Chair of the steering committee on care coordination for the National Quality Forum.

“The Alliance comes together at a pivotal time to improve the quality and safety of health care,” Lamb said. “Nursing organizations working closely together with consumers and other stakeholder groups can make a significant and much-needed difference.”

The George Washington University’s Department of Nursing Education was awarded a $900,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to launch the Nursing Alliance for Quality Care. Through a strategic and collaborative effort of the nation’s most prestigious nursing organizations, NAQC will give a unified voice to the profession of nursing, strengthening its ability to influence transparency, accountability and quality-related health reform agendas.

GW’s Department of Nursing Education will coordinate the overall program and provide expert advice and support for the Alliance by working with nursing organizations and consumer groups to focus its advocacy efforts on quality care. In addition to the Academy, the Alliance boasts 15 other member organizations, forming a cast dedicated to finding solutions that address pressing health-related issues.

“The officers and Fellows of the Academy endorse the formation and goals of the NAQC as one strategic element in a campaign that must transform care,” said AAN President Catherine L. Gilliss, DNSc, RN, FAAN. “Nurses are at the front lines of care delivery and, increasingly, help to design, implement and evaluate the care systems and related outcomes. Nurses have an important perspective.”

NAQC will work to ensure that patients receive the right care at the right time, that nurses actively advocate and are accountable for consumer-centered, high quality health care, and that policymakers recognize nurses’ contributions.

“Our goal is to become the “go to” source on quality and safety in nursing for organizations, policy makers and schools of nursing,” said Ellen M. Dawson, who is Chair of GW’s Department of Nursing and the Alliance’s co-Principal, teaming with Jean Johnson, Senior Associate Dean for Health Sciences at GW.

For more information about NAQC visit the initiative Web site at www.NursingAQC.org.

###
The American Academy of Nursing (www.aannet.org) anticipates and tracks national and international trends in health care, while addressing resulting issues of health care knowledge and policy. The Academy’s mission is to serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge
 

Return to Archives