Berit Jasion, RN, MA, of Cary, NC, has been named the 2008 Nurse Administrator of the Year by the North Carolina Nurses Association at their annual convention held in Winston- Salem on October 1-3. In 1984, while working as a staff nurse in a busy trauma unit at the University Hospital of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark, Berit became interested in the use of computers to assist nurses in their practice. She became deeply involved in the selection of a hospital information system for UMDNJ, and in 1987, she was appointed as the University Hospital's first nursing information system specialist. A year later, Berit joined the nursing staff at Duke University Hospital, where she was responsible for redesigning the entire nursing documentation system to prepare it for computerization. She subsequently led the nursing team that evaluated and chose the critical care information system, the first of many new clinical information systems for Duke Hospital and, subsequently, Duke University Health System. In 1994, Berit formed what became known as the Department of Nursing Informatics. She was promoted to manager, then director, and, in 2003, became associate chief information officer for the Duke University Health System.
Rebecca Kitzmiller, MHR, MSN, RN, BC, of Apex, NC, has been named the 2008 Health Systems Nurse of the Year by the North Carolina Nurses Association at their annual convention. Rebecca is a fulltime doctoral student and Duke Health Technologies Informatics fellow at the Duke University School of Nursing. Her research focuses on the impact of change in tertiary care settings. Outcomes from this research will be new knowledge on teamwork during organizational change. Prior to starting the program, she served as the director of nursing informatics for the Duke University Health System responsible for diverse clinical systems and user groups.
Congratulations to both Berit and Rebecca on their wonderful accomplishments.