Kirsten is the Magnet Program Director at Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System. She has been instrumental in the design and development of the healthcare system’s shared governance model since its journey began in 2016. She facilitated a design team, oversaw the development and implementation of a shared governance orientation program, and collaborated with the IT department to develop an electronic referral system to structure how ideas are processed throughout the council system. She remains very involved in shared governance as a member of the coordinating and central councils, supporting council chairs and working strategically with stakeholders to implement shared governance in the organization.
Kirsten entered nursing with an ASN from Florida Keys Community College in 1993, and later earned a BSN from Drexel University and a MS in the Perinatal CNS program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Her PhD dissertation was a qualitative study that explored how electronic health records use affects nurses’ cognitive work. She has published numerous research and clinical practice articles and is a contributing author to various resources supporting AWHONN’s Fetal Heart Monitoring Program.
Kirsten is currently collaborating with PI Dr.Karen Speroni in a multisite, international study, sponsored by the Forum for Shared Governance, that will explore the relationship between the implementation of shared governance and various professional and patient outcomes.