During the 2010 joint WOCN-WCET conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Janice C. Colwell, MS, RN, CWOCN, FAAN, was awarded the 2010 Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses (WOCN) Society President's award by the current WOCN President, Phyllis A. Bonham. The award is given annually by the WOCN President to a WOCN member who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of wound, ostomy and continence (WOC) nursing and to the organization.
The President's Award recipient for 2010 exemplifies excellence in WOC nursing and has a stellar record of service to the WOCN Society. Jan is an advanced practice nurse who has been certified and practiced as a WOC nurse for over 30 years. She has an extensive clinical background as a consultant, educator, and direct care provider in a variety of health care settings including acute care, home care, and outpatient care with a special focus on skin and ostomy care. Additionally, she has engaged in research contributing to the knowledge and science about peristomal complications, quality of life in ostomy patients, skin breakdown in cardiac patients, and management of pressure ulcers with cost-effective dressings.
Jan is an established writer having authored numerous articles and chapters about skin/wound care and ostomy management. She has served as a section editor for the Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing and was an editor for a well-known book about fecal and urinary diversions, which serves as a core text about ostomy management. Jan is sought out as a nationally and internationally known speaker about WOC nursing.
Jan has been actively involved in the WOCN Society in various leadership capacities at the local, regional, and national levels since completing the enterostomal therapy nursing education program at Jewish Hospital in St Louis, Missouri, in 1978. She has served on multiple boards, councils, advisory, and education planning groups including the following organizations: United Ostomy Association, United Ostomy Associations of America, Crohns and Colitis Foundation, Friends of Ostomates World Wide, and Great Comebacks. As a member of the curriculum steering committee for the American Society of Colo-Rectal Surgeons, she helped develop the stoma curriculum to educate fellows in colorectal surgery.
Jan has received multiple awards and honors for her many contributions to nursing. Notably, in 2007 she was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, a very high and prestigious honor for nurses. Most recently, she was invited by the World Health Organization to be part of a consensus panel about irritable bowel disease in Switzerland and was the only ostomy representative on this worldwide panel of experts.
Jan has worked tirelessly for the WOCN over many years in various leadership roles. She served on the WOCN board of directors for several years as president elect (2005-2007), president (2007-2009), and past president (2009-2010). She currently serves as a cochair of the reimbursement task force and is the National Conference Planning Committee's track chair for commercial symposia. It must be also noted that she is a great ambassador for the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Congratulations to Janice C. Colwell, the 2010 WOCN President's Award Recipient!!