Barb Haag-Heitman, PhD, RN, FAAN

haag-heitmanBarb has been involved in healthcare for 30 years and held roles of staff nurse, educator, clinical nurse specialist, director, and regional manager of women’s services for a large multiple healthcare system. Barb is currently consulting across the country on peer review, clinical practice development systems, and creating motivating work environments. She is owner and managing partner of Nursing Consulting Partners, adjunct professor at Saybrook University and Cardinal Stritch School of Nursing.

Barb holds graduate degrees in nursing and human and organizational systems along with an advanced practice nursing certification in community health nursing. She is a graduate of Alverno College, School of Nursing, Milwaukee, WI, and attained a Master of Science from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, School of Nursing. Her PhD is in Human and Organizational Systems from the Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, CA.

Dr. Haag-Heitman’s more than 20 years’ working in shared governance and key leadership experiences include:

  • Coauthor of the 2009 Shared Governance Tool Kit for the American Nurses Credentialing Center
  • Coauthor of the 2011 Peer Review in Nursing: Principles for Successful Practice
  • Whole Systems Shared Governance Design Team , Aurora Health Care, Milwaukee, WI; Dr. Timothy Porter-O’Grady, consultant, and Dr. Vicki George, CNO
  • Consultant for the Design and Implementation of Shared Governance in a Rehabilitation Department, All Saints Healthcare, Racine, WI
  • Shared Governance Design and Implementation Team Leader; Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare – St. Francis, Milwaukee, WIHer book, Clinical Practice Development Using Novice to Expert Theory, serves as a reference for many organizations seeking to develop processes to recognize, reward, and guide bedside clinical practice. To view her current research and other publications, visit Nursing Consulting Partners, LLC. All Barb’s work in peer review is grounded in shared governance as the structure used to ensure successful implementation.ANCC’s Institute for Credentialing Innovation has released the long-awaited Guide for Establishing Shared Governance: A Starter’s Toolkit, by Vicki M. George, RN, PhD, FAAN, and Barbara Haag-Heitman, RN, PhD, PHCNS, BC, both members of the Forum for Shared Governance’s Advisory Board. This toolkit, which includes the Index of Professional Nursing Governance and the Index of Professional Governance, will help nursing leaders understand the principles needed to implement shared governance. It presents practical guidelines and tools necessary to design or reinvent shared governance structures and processes.