Anita Ground, RN, BC, MBA I have had over 17 years experience working in clinical and management roles in the healthcare industry. My first job was as a “death” attendant, the person who carefully took care of people after they died and escorted them to the morgue. It was a dead end job. (OK, sorry for that, couldn’t resist). I received my first degree, Associate Degree in Nursing from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I will admit to a less than stellar performance in my studies because I fell in love with a tall guy with gorgeous baby blue eyes. We married while still in school; I love Larry. I have worked over 10 years in Labor and Delivery, Neonatal Intensive Care, Mother-Infant care and as a Childbirth Educator at various hospitals. While working in Labor and Delivery, I started a Miscarriage, Infant Death, & Stillbirth Support (MIS) Initiative. I became more interested in furthering my education, so went back to school to get my Bachelor in the Science of Nursing from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia. While there, I was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau. I graduated cumma sum lauda, big surprise!! A few years after I graduated, we celebrated the birth of our first child, Courtney MacKenzie. After working as a Surgical First Assistant and surgery nurse, I eventually became an Associate Executive Director of Nursing. This job was most challenging and made me realize I knew nothing about budgets, profit and loss, and costs. Because of this trauma, I went back to school and received my MBA from University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Within months of graduating, we had our final child, Eric McAllister. Once I graduated with my Master’s degree, I started working for Cerner Corporation, where I finally found my calling as an Informatics Nurse. While working for Cerner, I became interested in the use of technology in clinical care and the research that was needed in this area. Because of this interest, I chose to pursue a Doctorate in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin. In 2001, I received my Certification in Nursing Informatics from the ANCC. I am very happy to be included in the zany group from the Brennan Research Laboratory. These people have kept me sane while I am here in the cold city of Madison, Wisconsin. If it weren’t for my advisor, Dr. Patricia Flatley-Brennan, I would have quit this and gone home to Kansas in a heartbeat. I plan on graduating sometime in 2003, then I will click the heels on my ruby slippers and return back to the plains. Need to know more about me? Associations: Sigma Theta Tau; National Nurse Honor Society Association of Women’s Health, Obstetrics, and Neonatal Nursing (AWHONN) Health Information Management System Symposium American Medical Informatics Association Capital Area Roundtable In Nursing Informatics (CARINg) Publications and Presentations: Farish-Hunt, H., & Ground, A. (2000). Using Accessible Clinical Data to Effect Quality Patient Care. Paper presented at the 10th Annual Symposium in Nursing Informatics, Baltimore, MD. Ground, A., & Hongsermeier, T. (2000). Knowledge Management: Leveraging the Value of Clinical Information Systems. Paper presented at the American Health Information Management Association: 72nd National Convention Proceedings, Chicago, IL. |
