Newswise — The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) will present to Gloria McNeal, PhD, MSN, ACNS-BC, FAAN, her AACN Pioneering Spirit Award.
The AACN Pioneering Spirit Award, one of AACN’s visionary leadership awards, recognizes significant contributions that influence progressive and critical nursing and relate to the association’s mission, vision and values. The presentation will take place during the 2022 edition National Institute of Critical Care Education and Exhibition in Houston, May 16-18.
McNeal is associate vice president for community health affairs at San Diego-based National University, the flagship institution of the national university system, which includes three nonprofit universities serving more than 45,000 students nationwide, both on-site and online. In this role, she leads the university’s overall efforts in community strategies and global outreach related to health services and education. She previously served as dean of the university’s School of Health and Human Services for six years.
“Dr. McNeal has a passion for health care and service to the underserved,” said AACN President Beth Wathen. “Her community service efforts and nurse-led clinic model sponsored by the university brings health care directly to those who need it most and is truly on the front lines of making a difference.
At National University, McNeal worked with community organizations to establish nurse-run clinics in churches, community centers and shelters throughout South Los Angeles. The initiative has expanded to offer telehealth services for patient-provider interactions that do not require in-person visits.
Among her academic appointments, she has held the administrative positions of Director, Assistant Dean, Associate Dean, Dean, and Founding Dean at various research-intensive public and private universities. As Dean, McNeal led several university nursing programs on their journey to achieving national accreditation for graduate and undergraduate degree programs.
Its interprofessional, nurse-led and other projects, totaling over $12 million in extramural funding, have been funded continuously for over 20 years. She is currently the Project Director for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s NEPQR (Simulation Education Training, SET) program. . With this latest project, she is spearheading the use of virtual reality and immersive technologies to better prepare nursing students to practice in real settings through simulation.
Developing care protocols, she helped lead the transition of critical care nursing practice beyond the traditional walls of the intensive care unit, and was among the first to publish work on telemonitoring and transmission electronic ambulatory electrocardiographic data, revolutionizing the way critical care nurses could remotely monitor their patients.
As a result of her work, she was asked to write the “AACN Guide to Acute Home Care Procedures”, which outlines over 100 complex home care nursing procedures written in collaboration with 20 expert contributors in medical care.
Her nursing career began as an intensive care nurse in the United States Navy Nurse Corps at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, where she received two commendation medals and three promotions leading to the rank of lieutenant.
She received her bachelor’s degree from Villanova University’s Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, where she currently serves on the Board of Advisors, and her master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) School of Nursing, later receiving the award. Outstanding Alumna Award. She returned to Penn for doctoral studies at the Graduate School of Education. For her doctorate, which was awarded with Meritorious Distinction, she studied the academic productivity of minority university nurses.
The American Academy of Nursing presented her with the coveted Media Award in 1994, inducted her into the Academy in 2006 and recently named her the recipient of the 2020 Edge Runner Award.
She was a guest co-contributor for the IOM (now National Academy of Medicine [NAM]) text on “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change Advancing Health” and is a guest speaker for the current NAM podcast on “The Future of Nursing 2020-2030”, Episode 2 – Health Equity.
HRSA Recognition: The grant-funded project referenced in this press release is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for $500,000, and is supplemented by 36% of non-governmental sources, including Kind Support. Such information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of HRSA, HHS or the US Government, and no endorsement should be inferred therefrom.
About the AACN Pioneering Spirit Award: The annual AACN Pioneering Spirit Award recognizes significant contributions that influence progressive and critical nursing regionally and nationally, and relate to the mission, vision and values of the AACN. Recipients of this visionary leadership award come from business, academia and healthcare. Other visionary leadership awards, the AACN’s highest honor, include the Lifetime Membership Award and the Marguerite Rodgers Kinney Award for Distinguished Career.
About the National Institute for Teaching and Critical Care Exhibition: Established in 1974, the AACN’s National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition (NTI) is the world’s largest educational conference and trade show for nurses caring for critically ill patients and their families. Staff nurses, nurse educators, nurse managers, clinical nurse specialists, and nurse practitioners attend NTI.
About the American Association of Critical Care Nurses: For more than 50 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to excellence in acute and critical care nursing. The vision of the organization is to create a healthcare system centered on the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. The AACN is the largest specialty nursing organization in the world, with more than 130,000 members and more than 200 chapters in the United States.
American Association of Critical Care Nurses, 27071 Aliso Creek Road, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656; 949-362-2000; www.aacn.org; facebook.com/aacnface; twitter.com/aacnme
Comments are closed.