Kimberly Pate
January 2026
Kimberly
Pate
,
DNP, RN, ACCNS-AG, PCCN, NE-BC, FCNS
Nursing Administration
Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center
Charlotte
,
NC
United States
Engage Talent:
Kimberly Pate exemplifies integrity, transparency, and inclusivity, consistently encouraging and mentoring colleagues to take initiative and participate in QI. Notably, she led a fall prevention initiative bringing together multidisciplinary clinicians and leveraging the unique expertise of each discipline to develop a practical and sustainable approach. The result was an electronic post-fall huddle tool to streamline data collection and enable rapid analysis, an estimated cost avoidance from $501,552 to $1,219,050, and the setting of new patient safety standards.
Collaborating with UNC Charlotte faculty, she explored nurse faculty perceptions of new graduate readiness before and during the pandemic. The study revealed significant declines in readiness scores. She proactively shared these findings with Atrium stakeholders and implemented strategies to strengthen support for new graduates in the TTP program.
EMPOWER Teammates:
Kim is dedicated to advancing the nursing profession, consistently inspiring peers to pursue excellence. She has served as a mentor to countless teammates, most recently guiding 7 DNP students who credited their success to her for successfully implementing improvement projects such as sepsis education, utilizing music therapy to manage postop pain, and implementing critical event debriefings to manage stress and burnout.
She is deeply committed to building high-performing teams, championing collaboration and mutual respect, and actively supporting mentees to present and publish their scholarly work. In the past two years, she has published more than 3 articles. She contributes extensively to professional organizations, including the NACNS, serving as the NC Affiliate's past President and on both the Affiliate Advisory and Nominating Committees. In these capacities, she focuses on talent development and fostering resilience within the nursing workforce.
Furthermore, Kim is an adjunct faculty member at ECU, where she has taught both research methodology and the CNS practicum.
Execute Results:
Kim is recognized as a high-performing divisional leader, exemplifying outstanding contributions through several key initiatives. She spearheaded the deployment of an innovative, nurse-driven C. diff screening tool, seamlessly integrating patient documentation and laboratory results from the EHR. This approach fostered greater accountability and achieved a sustained reduction in infection rates, from 8.4% in the first quarter of 2015 to 6.0% by the fourth quarter of 2017. During this period, the standardized infection ratio (SIR) consistently ranged between 0.541 and 0.889, remaining below the national mean.
Kim established a robust CLABSI rounding process, designed to assess adherence to evidence-based practices and identify ongoing educational needs. A distinctive feature of this initiative was the utilization of MSN-prepared RNs who provided real-time coaching to enhance teammate knowledge and responsiveness. SIR rates significantly dropped from 2.747 in May 2020 to a range of 0.424 to 1.873 for the remainder of the year.
During the pandemic, the nominee demonstrated unwavering dedication to patient care by leading a team of CNSs in developing comprehensive cross-training programs for more than 400 nurses, including ambulatory RNs to med-surg units, and med-surg RNs to critical care units. By adhering to the IOM Crisis Standards of Care, her team supported a team-based RN model and clearly defined delegation protocols within adult, pediatric, and women’s units, ensuring high-quality care delivery amid unprecedented challenges.
Kim serves on multiple PG Councils, facilitates clinical placements for nurse student preceptorships across 3 facilities, and serves on advisory boards for many nursing schools. As a research advocate, she has led many research studies and, most recently, co-led research on hospitalized geriatrics and standardized delirium processes.
Kim is a phenomenal DAISY Nurse Leader!
Kimberly Pate exemplifies integrity, transparency, and inclusivity, consistently encouraging and mentoring colleagues to take initiative and participate in QI. Notably, she led a fall prevention initiative bringing together multidisciplinary clinicians and leveraging the unique expertise of each discipline to develop a practical and sustainable approach. The result was an electronic post-fall huddle tool to streamline data collection and enable rapid analysis, an estimated cost avoidance from $501,552 to $1,219,050, and the setting of new patient safety standards.
Collaborating with UNC Charlotte faculty, she explored nurse faculty perceptions of new graduate readiness before and during the pandemic. The study revealed significant declines in readiness scores. She proactively shared these findings with Atrium stakeholders and implemented strategies to strengthen support for new graduates in the TTP program.
EMPOWER Teammates:
Kim is dedicated to advancing the nursing profession, consistently inspiring peers to pursue excellence. She has served as a mentor to countless teammates, most recently guiding 7 DNP students who credited their success to her for successfully implementing improvement projects such as sepsis education, utilizing music therapy to manage postop pain, and implementing critical event debriefings to manage stress and burnout.
She is deeply committed to building high-performing teams, championing collaboration and mutual respect, and actively supporting mentees to present and publish their scholarly work. In the past two years, she has published more than 3 articles. She contributes extensively to professional organizations, including the NACNS, serving as the NC Affiliate's past President and on both the Affiliate Advisory and Nominating Committees. In these capacities, she focuses on talent development and fostering resilience within the nursing workforce.
Furthermore, Kim is an adjunct faculty member at ECU, where she has taught both research methodology and the CNS practicum.
Execute Results:
Kim is recognized as a high-performing divisional leader, exemplifying outstanding contributions through several key initiatives. She spearheaded the deployment of an innovative, nurse-driven C. diff screening tool, seamlessly integrating patient documentation and laboratory results from the EHR. This approach fostered greater accountability and achieved a sustained reduction in infection rates, from 8.4% in the first quarter of 2015 to 6.0% by the fourth quarter of 2017. During this period, the standardized infection ratio (SIR) consistently ranged between 0.541 and 0.889, remaining below the national mean.
Kim established a robust CLABSI rounding process, designed to assess adherence to evidence-based practices and identify ongoing educational needs. A distinctive feature of this initiative was the utilization of MSN-prepared RNs who provided real-time coaching to enhance teammate knowledge and responsiveness. SIR rates significantly dropped from 2.747 in May 2020 to a range of 0.424 to 1.873 for the remainder of the year.
During the pandemic, the nominee demonstrated unwavering dedication to patient care by leading a team of CNSs in developing comprehensive cross-training programs for more than 400 nurses, including ambulatory RNs to med-surg units, and med-surg RNs to critical care units. By adhering to the IOM Crisis Standards of Care, her team supported a team-based RN model and clearly defined delegation protocols within adult, pediatric, and women’s units, ensuring high-quality care delivery amid unprecedented challenges.
Kim serves on multiple PG Councils, facilitates clinical placements for nurse student preceptorships across 3 facilities, and serves on advisory boards for many nursing schools. As a research advocate, she has led many research studies and, most recently, co-led research on hospitalized geriatrics and standardized delirium processes.
Kim is a phenomenal DAISY Nurse Leader!