Jessica Earhart has a distinguished nursing career that spans 30 years and inspires her colleagues to achieve their highest potential. She has a passion for education, a wealth of knowledge, and is always eager to share it with others. Jessica has presented at numerous nursing symposiums as a recognized expert in the nursing field. Her presentations include “Utilizing the Role of President of Nursing Staff to Revitalize Shared Governance; Thoughts from the PONS” in 2021, “Grab the Crash Cart! Rejuvenating Nursing through Continued Education” in 2019, “Racing our Way to Standardized Handoffs in the Post-Operative Pediatric Congenital Heart Patient” in 2014, and “A Nursing Intervention to reduce pediatric surgical site infections” in 2011.

Jessica is our service line educator and was awarded the Educator of the Year for pediatrics in her first year serving in this role. Jessica developed an in-depth pediatric cardiac orientation manual when the pediatric CV service line was in its infancy over 15 years ago. She developed a robust CV education plan from scratch prior to becoming SLE. Content advanced with years of experience to allow nurses to progress through the levels. This ensured nurses continued to develop professionally and increased their knowledge to impact outcomes. Prior to developing this content, we did not have formalized required education for CV nurses, and this filled a huge need for our program. As the SLE, she is continuing to refine this education plan and is increasing collaboration between the ICU and LCH 8 by overlapping appropriate education.

Feedback always includes comments on her vast knowledge and how she breaks down complex concepts into simple explanations. Jessica actively engages in the professional development of herself and others within the nursing profession. In December 2021, Jessica obtained her Master of Nursing degree. She proves that you are never too far in your career to seek professional development. Jessica has successfully translated her MSN into a career as an educator and fulfilled her dream of becoming the SLE of the ICU along with the responsibilities of LCH8 and VAT. She is also a member of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and holds a certification from them. The CCRN certification validates the knowledge of nursing care for critically ill patients and promotes continuing excellence in the field of critical care nursing. Jessica encourages junior nurses to pursue this prestigious certification.

She is also a member of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society, Sigma Theta Tau, and Society of Pediatric Cardiovascular Nurses. She relentlessly promotes professional organization membership to her colleagues. Jessica served as Atrium Health’s first President of Nursing. She served as a voice for the bedside nurses within the central division. Advocating for the advancement of our profession in this role had special meaning for Jessica and has left her extremely proud of many of her accomplishments. She brought forth thoughts and ideas from bedside nurses to the leadership of Atrium Health and helped achieve the increase in the night shift differential. She has raised awareness of bedside nurses on what shared governance and Magnet is and how our voices are used for change. She mentored countless UBC’s by providing resources and teaching them how to improve and strengthen themselves. She also instituted quarterly cabinet meetings with each of the central market facilities to establish a communication pathway for nurses to have access to Atrium Health leadership for their voices to be heard.

Lastly, as another example of her continued mentorship of others, at the end of her term as President of Nursing, Jessica committed to an extended term to mentor the President-elect. She was so successful in her role as the first President of Nursing, the system is considering having a PON in each region. She is a model of nurses being change agents and advocating for our profession. Jessica is known as a passionate patient advocate. In 2016 she received a good catch award for continuing to advocate for changes that she recognized in a child’s physical condition. For two days, she continued to voice concerns about the development of superior vena cava syndrome. SVC syndrome can lead to swelling of the brain and low blood pressure from decreased amounts of blood being pumped from the heart. Initially, the providers dismissed her concerns, but she persevered, bringing it up with multiple providers until one agreed it was a possibility and ordered an echocardiogram. The diagnosis was confirmed, and treatment was initiated. The parents were extremely grateful to Jessica for not allowing her concerns to be dismissed.

She values all interactions with patients and families despite the personal heartache she may feel. A very difficult and emotionally taxing experience was when she was caring for a family whose son had open heart surgery. She kept them informed and connected by helping them spend as much quality time as possible prior to surgery knowing the risks involved. Unfortunately, he experienced an exceedingly difficult postoperative course, and the parents were faced with an unimaginable decision to remove their son from life support. Her shift was ending, but she stayed and helped them understand their options and support them as they faced a devastating decision. Her compassion had a lasting effect on this family, and she received a Daisy Award in 2013 for her efforts. Jessica has a strong level of commitment to elevating the nursing profession in the community in ways that support the mission and vision of our organization.

She was an early supporter of Heart of a Champion and even took on the role of coordinator for volunteers for one year. Heart of a Champion improves the health of area high school athletes by providing a sport-specific screening to assess risks prior to participation. Every year it identifies individuals that are too high risk for participation in sports because they are at risk for sudden cardiac death. She also volunteers to provide value for our community by improving the health of at-risk populations and enhancing our community’s health and benefit in partnership with others. She is the volunteer Healthcare Administrator with Camp Luck to live Atrium Health’s mission to elevate hope and advance healing for children with congenital heart disease. The camp’s guiding principle is “to provide a medically supervised camp environment where children and their families have opportunities to reach their potential by building self-esteem, friendships, and character through participating in activities that are focused on nurturing”. Children can be a “regular” kid at camp while still having their medical needs addressed, an opportunity otherwise not available without Camp Luck. Part of her duties in this role includes day-to-day operations, liaison for communication between administration and the medical personnel, recruitment of medical and nursing teams, and development of protocols. She has also volunteered for Bike Luck, which raises money to make sure financial constraints will not prohibit this opportunity from being available to all. She recognizes and cherishes the importance of Camp Luck to the children affected by congenital heart disease who are unable to keep up with their peers. It provides an atmosphere where all are accepted and cherished for who they are while ensuring they are in a medically safe environment.

Jessica is viewed as a transformational nurse leader by others. In addition to the Daisy Award and good catch award mentioned above, Jessica received the Quarterback Award for 1st Quarter in 2018. This award was given to a teammate who is a role model, clinically strong, capable of handling many things at once, and willing to teach and support her fellow teammates. They are the first to respond to emergencies and offer a helping hand without being asked. That description was written for her! She was an Atrium Health Pinnacle Award Finalist in both 2017 and 2019. She also received a Patient Care Experience Award in 2017. After being alerted by the parents of one of her patients that there were slight changes in how he was behaving, Jessica advocated for a CT scan. It required persistent advocating on their behalf to obtain the CT scan because the changes were so mild the providers initially dismissed it. Due to her continuing to address the parents' concerns with the providers throughout the day, a stroke was diagnosed. Since it was diagnosed, the patient was able to return to the baseline of his abilities with intensive rehab.

Jessica has had a very distinguished career and a continued drive to advance our profession and ensure patients and families receive the best care possible.

Note: This is Jessica's 2nd DAISY Award!