Kathleen Russell-Babin, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, ACNS-BC is the Vice President of Nursing Professional Practice for Inova Health System. Her career spans over 30 years, and she served in roles from staff nurse to chief nursing officer as well as consultant and adjunct faculty. She oversees nursing orientation, education, transition into practice programs, simulation, nursing research, and evidence-based practice (EBP) and is active in the work related to American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet® Recognition Program. Recent projects relate to the use of implementation science to further sustain care improvement. Kathleen’s research interests are varied and have included projects in teaching in the affective domain, perioperative pressure injury risk, shared governance, and more. She has authored more than 20 publications. She is a member of the VONEL/AONL, VNA/ANA, and Sigma Theta Tau.
Kathleen is active in supporting organizational development in shared governance. Most recently she was a member of the team that revised and updated her organization’s model to include a system component and service line integration. The system model includes a Nursing Congress and eight sub-councils. Kathleen is highly active in the EBP Implementation Sub-Council. Two bedside staff nurses lead the Congress, and more than 80 nurses of various levels and sites participate at the system level. Through the team’s efforts, shared governance thrived during the pandemic instead of declining. Hundreds of action request forms from nurses from all levels and settings are addressed at unit, care site, and system levels. Ongoing research using the Hess Index of Nursing Professional Governance (INPG) assesses the level of maturation.
Recent completed research
Validation of an artificial intelligence fall-risk prediction prototype IRB Approved (Expedited) November 2022-completed July 2022
Shared Governance Maturation in a Multi-Site Healthcare System. IRB Approved (Exempt) June 2022.
Multisite study of the maturity of shared governance at Inova Health System. IRB approved (Exempt) Completed 2019
Research in process
Psychometric properties of the Brøset Violence Checklist beyond behavioral health and emergency departments. IRB approved (Expedited) December 2022
A comparative analysis of two different perioperative pressure injury risk assessment scales. IRB Approved (Exempt) December 2021; Initiated February, 2023.
Recent presentations
Lewis, C., Barbieri, K., Manning, K., Wypych, P., Messing, J. & Russell-Babin, K. (2022). New Professional Governance Congress Gives APPs an Influential Voice. A poster presentation at the 2022 VCNP Annual Conference.
Russell-Babin, K., Friesen, M. A., McLaughlin, M. & O’Brien, A-M. (2022). Building an Infrastructure for Implementation Science in Nursing. A poster presentation at the 2022 VONEL conference on Resilience and Reinvention.
Russell-Babin, K. (2021). Implementation and Evaluation of a Plan to Support New Graduates’ Entry into Practice During COVID-19.” A poster presentation at the Sigma Theta Tau Healthy Work Environment virtual conference, February 19-20, 2021.
Recent publications
Munro, C., Russell-Babin, K., Folse, H., & Altincatal, A. (2022). Computer-Based
Simulation Predictive Modeling: Validation of the Munro Scale Risk Assessment
for Pressure Injuries. Journal of Informatics Nursing, 72(2), 24-31.
Russell-Babin, K., Friesen, M. A., O’Brien, A.-M., Kirkpatrick McLaughlin, M., Messing, J., Bettencourt, A. P., Graling, P. (2022-accepted for publication). Applying Implementation Science: The Journey of a Multi-Site Health System. AJN