Vanderbilt Nursing

Pam Jones, MSN, RN, NEA-BC
Chief Nursing Officer/Associate Hospital Director
Vanderbilt University Hospital Patient Care Services

Pam joined Vanderbilt University Hospital as the Associate Hospital Director and Chief Nursing Officer in 2008.  Immediately prior to that, Pam was faculty and Assistant Dean for Faculty Practice at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.  She is an experienced nursing executive with over 25 years of progressive leadership experience.  Pam believes that nurse executives have a responsibility to create an environment and culture conducive to excellence in nursing practice.  Key ingredients include open communication and shared commitment on the part of leadership and staff.  She is committed to the support of evidence based practice, promotion of innovation in patient care and an environment for continual improvement and learning.  She is optimistic about the future of nursing and healthcare and believes that Vanderbilt University Medical Center is uniquely positioned to positively impact that future.

June Bowman, MSN, BSN, RN
Administrative Director
Clinical Operations Improvement

June joined the Vanderbilt Hospital Nursing leadership team in May of 2008 as the Administrative Director of Clinical Operations Improvement.  In this position she works with the team in implementing evidence-based practice and serving as a resource person in the development of strategies to ensure successful patient outcomes.  Since coming to Vanderbilt, she has assumed direct responsibilities for the Acute Dialysis Unit, Case Management Department, Social Work Department and Utilization Management.  June has served in a variety of executive leadership positions.  Her most recent positions prior to coming to Vanderbilt was COO/CNO at Franciscan Health System in Tacoma, WA and Vice President of Clinical Operations for the Western Division of Catholic Health Initiatives.  Throughout her career, June has been committed to quality patient care, nursing education and the mentoring of leaders.

Devin Carr, MSN, RN
Administrative Director
Surgery and Trauma Patient Care Center
 

Carol Eck, BSN, RN, MBA,
Administrative Director Officer
Vanderbilt Cancer Center

Carol is responsible for oversight of all adult in and out patient cancer services both on and off campus.  As a leader of a growing patient care center, she works with managers to assure that they have the staffing necessary to provide safe, efficient and cost effective care to all of our patients and with nurses in patient care centers and all areas.  Carol began as a manager in the outpatient area 31 years ago and assumed her current position in 1996.  She was drawn to Vanderbilt for its reputation.  Carol believes VUMC nurses have an opportunity not only to provide excellent patient care on a daily basis – but to be involved in education and research.  She points out that in cancer nursing, the treatments and technology are rapidly changing, and nurses have the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of these changes.

Nancye Feistritzer, MSN, RN
Associate Hospital Director
Vanderbilt University Hospital
 

April Kapu, MSN, RN, ACNP-BC
Assistant Director for Advanced Practice Nursing
Vanderbilt University Hospital

April N. Kapu is an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, Faculty member for Vanderbilt University and the Assistant Director for Advanced Practice.  She has developed comprehensive recruitment, orientation, evaluation, quality and continuing education programs for intensivist and hospitalist NP programs.

She is known nationally for her work on advancing ACNP practice in the hospital setting and is frequently consulted to provide her expertise to healthcare institutions that are developing and expanding hospital based NP teams.  She has published manuscripts and has presented at numerous national conferences including American Nurses Association (ANA) , American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), American College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP) and the University Health Consortium (UHC).  Ms. Kapu is currently pursuing her DNP.  Her areas of interest include” “Adding ACNPs to Rapid Response Teams”, “Developing 24/7 ICU NP Models of Care”, “Recruitment, Onboarding and Retention of ACNPs”, “Professional Practice Evaluation” and “Financial Impact of Adding NPs to Inpatient Models of Care”.

Christine Kennedy, MSN, RN, NEA-BC
Administrative Director
Inpatient Medicine
Vanderbilt University Hospital

Christine joined the Vanderbilt University Hospital Nursing leadership team in February, 2009 as the Administrative Director of the Adult Inpatient Medicine Patient Care Center at VUH.  She brings over 15 years of Nurse Executive leadership experience coupled with over 30 years of experience of acute care nursing expertise to this new role.  In May, 2008, she graduated as a member of the first on-line class in Health Systems Management from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.  Recognizing the challenges facing today’s nurses and diverse health care teams, she considers effective change management skills essential for the nurse leader.  Christine is committed to developing a safe and healthy work environment in order to provide excellent patient care.  This includes guiding staff as effective problem-solvers and communicating key messages while building relationships with all team members.  In September 2012, Christine helped lead the effort to open an Inpatient Palliative Care Unit at Vanderbilt.  Christine consistently supports mentoring staff toward excellence in the patient experience and staff satisfaction at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Robin Mutz, MPPM, RNC, NEA-BC
Administrative Director
Center for Women's Health/Nursing Support Services

Robin feels her role is to help nurses better care for patients.  She strives to assist managers in creating a safe, friendly environment to help nurses learn and grow.  She is constantly amazed at the dedication and personal commitment of Vanderbilt nurses.  Robin has more than 34 years of experience in nursing in various positions related to women’s health, including staff nursing, unit and clinic management, case manager, and serving as an educator.  She is certified in ambulatory women’s health care and is especially interested in understanding staffing as it relates to nursing fatigue and patient outcomes and recently became board certified as Nurse Executive, Advanced.  She was drawn to VUMC because of the way nurses are regarded as an equal member of the health care team.

Vicki Richard, BSN, RN, MBA, NEA-BC
Assistant Administrator
Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center (VICC)

Vicki is the Assistant Administrator for the solid tumor cancer services at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center.  Her current areas of responsibility include: on board and ongoing support for managers; onboarding and ongoing support for solid tumor Nurse Practitioners; Administrative lead for VICC NPs; Co Chair of VICC Quality Committee, and Co Chair Medication Use and Safety Improvement Committee.  She is also involved with American Nurses Association, Tennessee Nurses Association, and Oncology Nurses Association (national and middle Tennessee chapter).  Vicki received her BSN from the University of Michigan and her MBA from Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management.  Vicki enjoys working at Vanderbilt because our triple mission of education, patient care, and research assures that patient’s receive excellent care, often having treatment options that would not be available with other providers.  Vicki believes nursing is very strong at Vanderbilt and is proud of our Excellent Nursing Leadership as evidenced by our Magnet status, national recognition of our nursing leaders, and our nursing leader’s participation at all levels of senior leadership

Robin Steaban, MSN, RN
Chief Administrative Officer/Associate Chief Nursing Officer,
Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute

Robin has over 15 years of nursing practice experience and an equal number of years of experience supporting those in practice while serving in various leadership roles.  She thrives on the complexity and challenges of supporting the three pronged mission of an academic medical center and considers herself extremely fortunate to have an opportunity to lead patient care efforts at Vanderbilt.  Robin has demonstrated an ability to lead teams and manage operations to deliver exceptional service, financial, and quality outcomes.  Robin is committed to patients and thus, has a great appreciation and profound respect for staff and faculty that commit their lives to the care and service of others.  She loves to study and apply the science of leadership and sees leadership as an opportunity and an obligation to create an environment that supports and encourages staff and faculty to use their full potential of  intellect, skills, and compassion to optimize the health and well being of others.

Linda Wiese, MSN, RN
Administrative Director
Office of Care Management/Social Work/Utilization Management
Access Services & Admin Coordinators
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Linda joined Vanderbilt as Administrative Director, Office of Case Management/Utilization Management, Department of Social Work, Access Center and Administrative Coordinators for VUH in January 2011.  Her varied nursing career spans 30+ years and includes leadership in Case Management, Transplant, Informatics, and Cardiology in three academic medical centers.  Making a difference in the lives of others is the hallmark of healthcare administration and is Linda’s professional commitment to Nursing.  Her dedication to quality improvement led her to become Six Sigma Black Belt certified which is a methodology that provides nurses with the tools to improve the efficiency of workflow processes; the increase in efficiency and decrease in process variation leads to error reduction and vast improvement in patient care outcomes and staff morale.  With the talented and highly effective collaborative nursing at Vanderbilt, many new heights have been achieved which set an example for nurses everywhere.  Linda believes it is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little – we all must do what you can!  One person can make a difference, and we should all try!  She is currently working on a DNP and expects to graduate in 2013.  Her research in Care Transitions, Disease State Care Management as a means to Value Based Healthcare is on tact to be completed and published in 2013.

Julianne Williams, MSN, RN
Administrative Director
Inpatient Neuroscience and Trauma

Julie joined the Vanderbilt Hospital Nursing leadership team in August of 2011 as the Administrative Director of Inpatient Neurosciences.  In April 2012 she expanded her scope to include the trauma program.  She is responsible for oversight of adult inpatient neuroscience, stroke and trauma services at VUH.  As a leader for two growing and busy services she acts as a liaison to support patient care across the continuum for these patient care arenas.  Her focus has been on mentoring the frontline leadership to produce positive patient care outcomes.  Julie has served in a variety of nursing leadership positions in her career including charge nurse, manager, and director level positions.  Her most recent position prior to coming to Vanderbilt was as a Nursing Director for Bronson Methodist Hospital servicing the Professional Practice Department (Magnet program), Inpatient Trauma, Neuroscience, Orthopedics, and General Surgery.  Throughout her career, Julie has been committed to transforming the frontline leaders, quality improvement, professional nursing practice, patient transitions and patient and family centered care.

Jeanne Yeatman, RN, EMT
Vanderbilt LifeFlight

Jeanne has been with Vanderbilt since 1989; she began as a Care Partner in the Emergency Department and worked there while completing nursing school.  Jeanne served as a staff/charge nurse prior to moving to LifeFlight in 1993 as a flight nurse.  She has served as an assistant manager, program director, and administrative director of LifeFlight and has overseen a fivefold growth in the program.  She was awarded the prestigious Program Director of the Year Award in 2005 by the Association of Air Medical Services.  In 2012 she assumed oversight of Adult Emergency Services, LifeFlight and Resuscitation. 

Her leadership of departments that are often the core entry points to Vanderbilt is very important; often her staff works under high pressure and in austere circumstances.  She is dedicated to meeting the patient’s and the staff’s needs in this unique environment.  Jeanne values high quality patient care and safety and is committed to providing an environment that promotes learning and continuous improvement.