NurseDeck magazine: The Insider’s Perspective of Nursing
Caring - Integrity - Diversity - Excellence
Highlighting stories from nurses in the field, with tips on leadership, mental health, and more. Featuring exclusive interviews with nurse leaders, entrepreneurs and influencer doing incredible work that inspires and motivates.
Dawn Jones, RN, NC-BC: Holistic nurse coach, experienced clinical nurse
Dawn Jones is a board certified holistic nurse coach with an extensive clinical back bedside background in neonatal intensive care, pediatrics, dialysis, and as a transplant team coordinator. She founded her coaching business What the Actual Health (WTAhealth.com) in May 2021, and now works with nurses to practice love and self-compassion and feel empowered to be an expert on their needs and choices. Through coaching principles and healing modalities, she supports healing in the body, mind, emotion, spirit, and environment. She believes that health promotion and holistic wellness starts with the nurse, so we need healthcare professionals who engage in healthy lifestyles to model health and wellness at work, home, and in the community.
Marion Leary, MSN, MHP: Innovation educator, resuscitation researcher, nurse advocate
Marion Leary is walking, talking, and teaching innovation. She is the director of innovation for the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing. She earned her master's degree in nursing at Penn in health leadership, a master's degree in public health at Penn, and is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing, focusing on innovation and technology. She’s been a contributor to the Huffington Post, host of a podcast or two, and in the last decade founded ImmERge Labs, LLC, which uses augmented and virtual reality platforms to reimagine how we prepare for emergencies, and Sink or Swim Philadelphia, a non-profit working to assist people who were uninsured or underinsured raise funds to pay for medical expenses using social media and medical crowd-funding.
Lynda Benton: Healthcare industry leader, nursing advocate
Lynda Benton is a veteran of the healthcare industry. She has spent her entire professional career with Johnson & Johnson in sales, marketing, and management roles, leading brands and large-scale corporate sponsorships and stakeholder platforms. Today, she leads Johnson & Johnson Nursing, a platform representing the company’s 125-year commitment to supporting and advocating for the nursing profession. Lynda has seen first-hand the critical impact nurses have in healthcare and the lives of their patients every day. As the U.S. health system is ever more strained by greater patient, resource and systemic demands—and the challenges of the pandemic—she is passionate about elevating, advocating for, and empowering nurses as innovative leaders with the knowledge, mindset, and skills to move healthcare forward.
Dwayne Alleyne, DNP, APRN, ACNP-C: Nurse entrepreneur & educator, advanced degree holder
Dr. Dwayne Alleyne had quite the journey into nursing, but always knew he wanted to be in healthcare. He’s spent almost two decades working as a nurse practitioner, and earned his doctorate of nursing from the University of South Carolina in 2020. He continues to serve as a nurse practitioner and hospitalist at PRISMA Health, and works as an assistant clinical professor at his alma mater, the University of South Carolina College of Nursing. He also co-founded the Capitol Nurse Practitioner Group, a Columbia, S.C. networking, education, and policy advocacy group, and serves on the advisory board of DNPs of Color.
Rayne Soriano, Ph.D., RN, NE-BC: Nurse educator, emergency nurse, informatics expert
Dr. Rayne Soriano is a registered nurse, educator, and nurse leader with a lifelong career in healthcare. He currently serves as the regional director for operations and nursing professional practice at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii promoting professional development, innovative informatics, and co-leading the Magnet journey. He earned his doctorate in nursing science and healthcare leadership from U.C. Davis in California. He’s taught at several institutions, and right now works as an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco and a visiting professor at Chamberlain University teaching master’s level informatics courses. His career started in the emergency department, and he brings those foundational skills to his everyday work and leadership style.
Katie Boston-Leary, Ph.D., MBA, MHA, RN, NEA-BC, CCTP: Nurse executive, educator & coach, A.N.A. director of nursing programs
Dr. Katie Boston-Leary is a nurse executive, national speaker, veteran educator, and leadership coach with over a decade in the field. She currently serves as the director of nursing programs for the American Nurses Association, leading the Healthy Nurse Healthy Nation program. She also teaches at Case Western Reserve University and the University of Maryland School of Nursing, and serves on the advisory board at the University of Maryland Nurse Leadership Institute and St. John’s University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She has proven experience in leadership and management, and most recently joined Chief, a network built to drive more women into positions of power and keep them there.
Leanne Meier, RN: Nurse educator, podcast host, healthcare reformer
Leanne Meier has 40 years of experience as a registered nurse in a variety of fields, including the ICU, hospice, med-surg, obstetrics, and education. She also has 17 years of management experience teaching conflict resolution. In 2017, she launched a podcast called “Once a Nurse, Always a Nurse,” which is available in 70 countries, has an audience of over 120,000, and covers a broad range of topics related to the nursing profession. Leanne frequently engages in public speaking, and is currently working collaboratively to create a nurse-led integrative medicine model to revolutionize healthcare. Her goal is to develop a new model of healthcare to maintain a patient’s holistic health throughout their lifetime. She can be reached at leanne@onceanurse.com.
Kimberly Delbo, MSN, RN-BC, CSN, CDP: Veteran nursing professional, educator, resilient leadership expert
Kimberly Delbo has over 15 years of experience in nursing practice, academia, and research. She’s worked in school nursing and home health, and served in leadership roles in a career center and long-term care setting. Kimberly has been an educator for years, most recently working as an adjunct professor at Luzerne County Community College and nurse faculty at Lehigh Valley Health Network. She’s a leader - and founded a leadership consulting and coaching company, Radiant & Resilient Leadership - and a learner, as she’s pursuing her doctorate of nursing practice, leadership, innovating change, and nursing education. She recently took on another role as community innovations director for Partners for a Healthy Community, a nonprofit working to close the digital gap and promote technological literacy, health and wellness among vulnerable seniors. Kimberly believes in collaboration and promoting a culture of excellence, health, and safety to meet the high demand for quality care.
Jose Michael Maria, FNP-BC, RN, CEN, TCRN: Family nurse practitioner, Ph.D. candidate, nurse leader
Jose Michael Maria has extensive experience in the nursing field. He works as a family nurse practitioner at a clinic in New York and a clinical adjunct professor for Mercy College. With a background in emergency medicine as a registered nurse and manager, he also freelances for emergency departments on an “as needed” basis and works as a manuscript reviewer for the Journal of Emergency Nursing. As a leader, he spearheads cultural change through team building, re-engineering workflows, and improving policies and procedures. Jose is also a Ph.D. student at Molloy College, working towards a Doctorate of Philosophy in Nursing Science.
Kayla Rath, RN: Postpartum nurse, labor organizer, union leader
Kayla Rath works as a postpartum registered nurse on the maternal newborn unit at Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kayla earned her first degree in biology on the pre-med track from Pennsylvania’s University of the Sciences, but graduated from the University of Rochester’s Accelerated Bachelor’s Program for Non-Nurses in 2017 after trying out a few different jobs. She is licensed in New York and Pennsylvania, and is BLS and NRP certified. She also became a certified breastfeeding counselor in May. She moved to Pennsylvania just before the pandemic. In Pittsburgh, Kayla got involved with a union contract fight at her network, where she served on the negotiating committee.
Holiday edition: Giving back, gift guide, and mental health tips
You've worked hard all year, it's time for a little R & R! The holiday season can bring so much joy, but it can also be a stressful time. With COVID precautions and challenging schedules, nurses are managing more than most, but we got you! From mental health tips to gift guides, this edition of Insider's Perspective is all about how to navigate the holidays.
Mariah Edgington, BSN, RN: Experienced critical care nurse, holistic mindset coach, hospice volunteer
Mariah Edgington has been a registered nurse for over 35 years, starting out in critical and emergency care. She worked as a flight nurse, and even got her paramedics certification. Though she was a self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie, she sought more connection with patients and people, so she took up holistic health practices. Though she’s retired from nursing, Edgington works as an integrated holistic mindset coach and an integrated holistic therapist, providing coaching, active listening, and stress reduction through aromatherapy, guided breathing and meditation, mindfulness, and Reiki. She also volunteers her time in hospice, providing holistic therapies to patients and their loved ones.
Athol Hann, RN: Experienced critical care nurse, well-being and mindfulness advocate
Athol Hann has worked as a nurse for over 12 years in several environments, but his passion is in emergency and intensive care. Right now, he’s a nurse educator on a medical ward in a 300-bed hospital in Northern Australia. After a difficult experience with burnout that caused him to leave the field for a few years to be a dairy farmer, Hann got into entrepreneurship hoping to support other nurses through burnout. He founded Fwards in 2018 - an app soon-to-be-available in the States - to create sustainable behaviour change within the healthcare industry, and provide on the ground support and resources to health professionals to drive positive engagement.
Francis Sabas, RN, MS: DNP candidate, passionate acute care nurse, aspiring RNFA
Francis Sabas has years of experience in the healthcare industry, and is working to become a first assist nurse practitioner in cardiothoracic surgery. Sabas holds a bachelor’s in biology from the University of California - Irvine and a master’s of science in biomedical professions from Lincoln Memorial University. He is now working towards his doctorate of nursing practice at University of Massachusetts Medical School, and is beginning his surgical first assist residency this year. Right now, he is working as a licensed registered nurse in the Cardiac Telemetry/Neuro Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Needham, Mass. He is also a part-time YouTube vlogger highlighting the intricacies of the life of a nurse and as a first assist surgical NP student
Charlene Platon, MS, RN, FNP-BC: Board-certified nurse leader passionate about nurse-led innovation
Charlene Platon is the director of ambulatory nursing at Stanford Health Care (SHC), licensed registered nurse and board-certified family nurse practitioner. Passionate about healthcare innovation, she is a founding member of the Technology, Research, and Innovation Steering Committee at SHC. She is also one of 12 inaugural Johnson & Johnson Nurse Innovation Fellows, and aims to bring nurse-led innovation to the forefront of healthcare and is developing a digital solution to promote the well-being of nurses, clinicians, and organizations across the industry. In 2020, she founded Fifth Window, a nurse- and women-led startup aiming to revolutionize the well-being of nurses.
Michelle Rhodes, RN, MHS, CMCN: Executive wellness coach, author, entrepreneur
Michelle Rhodes has over 26 years of experience as a registered nurse. She spent many of those years as a managed care nurse, helping healthcare companies save millions and make millions behind the scenes. Now, Rhodes is an executive coach, pioneering entrepreneur, and published author. She is the founder of “The Color of Wellness” magazine and podcast, and works as a certified executive coach, wellness coach, trainer, and healthcare writer. She also serves as the CEO of the Greene Rhodes Consulting Firm, where she helps organizations build better businesses and employee experiences.
Ryann Mason, RN: Disability advocate, experienced trauma and postpartum nurse
Ryann Mason (she/her) has more than 14 years nursing experience in emergency medicine, case management and, most recently, postpartum care. Though her first dream was to be a dancer, she had to adjust after being diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Now, Mason is a nationally recognized disability advocate, registered nurse, and sexuality educator. She’s also an adaptive athlete, internationally published model, proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, and the reigning Miss Wheelchair Virginia. Mason shares her story through her social media platform, @ChronicallyRy, where she posts about her experiences living with a chronic illness and degenerative disability. Her advocacy work and story as a disabled nurse has been featured in numerous other publications and podcasts.
Jose Arnold Tariga, PhD, MSN, MN, RN, CPHQ, CNE: Global nurse educator, healthcare safety advocate
Dr. Jose Arnold Tariga is a nurse with more than 13 years of experience in acute and long-term critical care settings, clinical education and training, and healthcare quality. He is highly certified, with a Ph.D. in development education, two master's and a bachelor's in nursing, and a professional diploma in healthcare administration. He is also a certified professional in healthcare quality and a certified nurse educator. From the Philippines, he is now based in the United Arab Emirates, working full-time as an Education Coordinator in a post-acute service provider, and part-time as an adjunct faculty in a nursing university. In 2019 he was recognized as the Healthcare Professional of the Year by The Filipino Times Awards and is currently a scholar in Sigma’s Nightingale Challenge 2020 – 2021.
Tracy Lee Wilson, DNP, MSN.ED., FNP-C, CNE: Healthy equity advocate, diversity and inclusion champion
Dr. Wilson sat down with NurseDeck to talk about health inequities, how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted existing health disparities, and where we can go next regarding self care and burnout.
Dr. Shannon Harrington: Be ready to drop the “mental and physical weight”
Dr. Shannon Harrington is a nurse with 19 years of experience inthe clinical setting, academia, and leadership. She is a writer andCEO, running a business named T.R.Y. Again Health & Fitness,LLC. She works with companies and leaders to improve holistichealth outcomes, and transform and develop nurse leaders.