American Nurse Journal’s My Nurse Influencer program features some of the greatest online nurse influencers! These influencers bring fresh perspectives to our journal and offer our readers more diverse topic matter from all areas of our proud profession! Please keep in mind that these are opinion pieces, which aren’t peer reviewed. The views and opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or recommendations of the American Nurses Association, the Editorial Advisory Board members, or the Publisher, Editors and staff of American Nurse Journal. We encourage dialogue and engagement from our readers.

We are excited to partner with voices from around the world of nursing. If you are interested in learning more about the Nurse Influencer program, please contact us.

Influencers

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Joseph R. Travis, MSN, CRNP, FNP-C is a Nursing Professional Development Specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is the co-host of WellNURSE, a podcast dedicated to wellness in nursing, and serves as an Ambassador for the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation. Joey has a background in medical-surgical nursing and is passionate about supporting the growth and well-being of nurses, emphasizing purposeful and impactful practice.

Fidel Lim, CCRN, DNP, FAAN is a clinical associate professor at New York University  Meyers College of Nursing. He has worked as a critical care nurse for 18 years and concurrently, since 1996, has been a nursing faculty member. As the faculty advisor to various student groups (Asian Pacific-Islander Nursing Students Association, Men Entering Nursing, and the LGBTQ-NSA group) he has, among other things, fostered salience in nursing education through high-quality extra-curricular programming. His work as a nurse educator in a Magnet-designated hospital provides sustainable staff-focused educational support. He is particularly interested in bridging gaps in nurse engagement and practice excellence. Fidel has published many articles on an array of topics, including clinical practice, nursing education issues, LGBT health disparities, reflective practice, men in nursing, nursing humanities, and Florence Nightingale.

Nurse

Nurses as Pilgrims

The travel writer Rick Steves describes three types of travelers: tourists, traveler, and pilgrims. I’d like to propose that those same terms…
Professor Lim with his student, Sam Lee, holding a sign that says "thank you teacher" in Korean

Why I choose to be grateful

Around Thanksgiving, I bring blank thank-you cards to class and distribute them to my students. I ask them to take 5 minutes…
Student nurse holding textbooks

Read alert: The decline of reading

A student just 2 weeks from graduation once asked me, “Where is the gallbladder?” With candid unconcern, the student admitted that she…
LinkedIn

Cynthia Saver, MS, RN, is editor of the award-winning book Anatomy of Writing for Publication for Nurses, 5thed. She has more than three decades of publishing experience as a writer, editor, and publishing executive. Cynthia’s work has appeared in many journals, and her past positions include editorial director for American Nurse Journal, which she helped launch. Cynthia is passionate about helping nurses share their expertise by writing for publication and happily shares her knowledge though The Writing Mind blog, articles, short presentations, and workshops.

Reducing publication rejection

Nobody likes rejection, whether it’s by your lover, the organization you hoped to work for, or the journal where you submitted your…
LinkedIn

Marion Leary RN, MPH, PhD is the Director of Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing. As the Director of Innovation at Penn Nursing she works to amplify and educate nurses as leaders in health and healthcare innovation. Ms. Leary is a member of the American Nurses Association’s Innovation Advisory Committee, a Founding member of the Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Leaders (SONSIEL), a member of the American Heart Association’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care Innovation Subcommittee.

This past August 2019 she was named as an Influencer of Healthcare winner in the category of Excellence in Innovation by the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 2017, she was named Geek of the Year for her outstanding achievements in Philadelphia’s vibrant geek community in the areas of innovation, technology, and activism.

AI and aging

ChatGPT and aging

Ongoing discourse is needed on how we can use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to meet the needs of the aging population in…
john hopkins school of nursing

Faculty and students at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing represent a diverse community committed to the profession of nursing and helping people and communities throughout the world improve their health and wellbeing. The school’s faculty and students are influencers across healthcare for their groundbreaking research, leadership in clinical excellence, and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Diana Baptiste. DNP, MSN, RN

Diversity Matters

My unique experiences as an African-American woman and nurse have shaped my passion for promoting health among vulnerable populations. Diana Baptiste. DNP,…

Keith Carlson, BSN, RN, NC-BC is a holistic career coach for nurses, award-winning nurse blogger, writer, podcaster, speaker, and author.

With two decades of nursing experience, Keith understands the issues faced by 21st-century nurses. Keith’s podcast, The Nurse Keith Show, offers inspiration and practical support to nurses seeking to create meaningful lives and careers.

Keith’s message of savvy career management reaches nurses worldwide and he can be found on social media, as well as at NurseKeith.com.

Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN is a Nationally Certified School Nurse (NCSN), currently in her 22nd year as a New Jersey school nurse in the Camden City School District. She has been on the faculty of the School Nurse Certification Program at Rutgers University-Camden Nursing since 2012.  Robin is the Director for New Jersey to the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Board. She is proud to be a Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Fellow and past Program Mentor. Robin is the honored recipient of multiple awards for her work in school nursing and population health.  Robin writes a weekly blog called The Relentless School Nurse. Robin’s work is included as a case study in The Future of Nursing Report 2020-2030. You can follow Robin on Twitter @RobinCogan.

Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, is an internationally recognized patient safety and health culture expert. Kathleen has spoken on leadership, communication, patient safety, and peer relationships to hospital executives and nurse leaders for twenty years.

Kathleen is also a guest Op Ed writer to the Seattle Times and has been interviewed twice on NPR’s “People’s Pharmacy”. Her Tedx Talk calls for changing our belief system from a hierarchy to equality in order to keep our patients safe – and also explains how disaster thrust her into ‘the best profession ever’.

You can also find more information about Kathleen on her website,

Young nurse on her cell phone

The anxious nurse

No one responded to the new nurse’s comment as she returned from answering the patient’s call light.  “I don’t know why they…
Junk food

A betrayal of patients’ trust

Let’s call him Tim. With a sour face, Tim arrives at the nurse’s office in the elementary school and silently walks to…
loneliness

A Nurse’s View on Loneliness

As a new substitute school nurse, I’m constantly caught off-guard by the number of students who come into the nurse’s office with…
Nurses with arms crossed

When nurses are betrayed

In studying any specific culture, common phrases always arise from stories. For example, even though there is no water, when nurses are…
art of nursing

Grateful for The Art of Nursing

Last week I reached out of my comfort zone to attend an encaustic art workshop. As participants introduced themselves, we were asked…
LinkedIn

Amy E. Rettig, DNP, MALM, MSN, BSN, RN, ACNS-BC, PMHNP-BC, provides nursing care for both professional and non-professional caregivers. She presents, publishes and studies well-being (developing the caregiver within) from the perspectives of holism, caring relationships, and systems.

steel fork

Listening to messages

An analogy that I often use to describe my own experiences in tough caregiving situations is to say, “I have a fork…
A nurse walking alone down a hallway

Finding Your Connection

In a year of finding center, finding connection is important. Nursing is relational. How do you know that you’re not alone as…
Find the center when using social media

A year of finding center

Starting. Beginning. Renewing. It’s a New Year! What’s happening in your nursing practice that needs reflection? How do you “be your own…
authentic

Authentic

Merriam-Webster chose “authentic” as the 2023 word of the year. It seems like this word has been around much longer than 2023.…