High-Acuity Nursing

About our authors Kathleen Wagner, EdD, MSN, RN, is now faculty emerita, having recently retired from the University of Kentucky College of Nursing after many years of teaching pathophysiology, pathopharmacology and high-acuity nursing to undergraduate nursing students. She was also the educational consultant for the undergraduate nursing program at the University of Kentucky. She has a doctorate in instructional systems design and continues to work on a team developing web-based clinical simulations for nursing students.

Melanie Hardin-Pierce, DNP, RN, APRN, ACNP-BC, is a tenured associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Nursing, where she has over 30 years of experience as a critical care nurse and has taught high-acuity nursing to undergraduate and graduate nursing students. She currently teaches in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program and is the coordinator of the Adult Geriatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner DNP Option. In addition to teaching, she has been active in curriculum development in both baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs. She earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at the University of Kentucky, having studied oral health in mechanically ventilated patients. She is a board-certified acute care nurse practitioner who practices as a critical care intensivist in the Veterans Health Administration Medical Center, Cooper Drive Division, Lexington. She is active in research of evidence-based practice, interdisciplinary collaboration, and critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients.

Darlene Welsh, PhD, MSN, RN, is Associate Professor, BSN Program Director, and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Faculty Affairs at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing. Dr. Welsh earned a PhD in Educational Psychology and an MS in Nursing from the University of Kentucky. Her experience in the care of critically ill patients includes direct patient care, the conduct of research, and supervision of undergraduate and graduate students. Her research interests center on the provision of dietary instruction for patients with heart failure as well as interprofessional education for clinicians.