NAME: Barbara Hazard, PhD, RN, FAAN
CURRENT POSITION: Recently retired dean of the William F. Connell School of Nursing at Boston College
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION: BS in nursing, University of Rhode Island; MS in nursing, University of Rhode Island; PhD in educational psychology, University of Connecticut
Dr Barbara Hazard is the 2008 recipient of the Dr Sue Davidson Award for Service of the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS). This award is given in honor of Dr Sue Davidson, who served 2 terms as president of the organization in its early years, facilitated the development of the first Statement on Clinical Nurse Specialist Practice and Education, and was instrumental in developing the organization's membership survey process. In the spirit of Dr Davidson, Dr Hazard was recognized for a long-standing commitment to the education of clinical nurse specialists, her role as associate editor for research for the NACNS journal, and her work to strengthen the research of clinical nurse specialists.
In 1980, a year after receiving her PhD, Dr Hazard joined the faculty at the Yale School of Nursing, where she began her work in helping to educate clinical nurse specialists. She was responsible for teaching research methods and statistics and was so impressed with the students and their understanding of the need to advance the science of the profession. Because the students and their professors were actively engaged in practice, their research questions were relevant, timely, and focused on improving outcomes for their clients. They were clearly engaged in developing what is now called evidence-based practice. During her time at Yale, she was asked to become the first associate editor for research for the journal Clinical Nurse Specialist. She continued in that role until her retirement, more than 20 years later. Through editorials and feedback to authors, she advocated for more clinical research aimed at improving patient outcomes. While at Yale, she also published the first edition of her textbook, Statistical Methods for Health Care Research.
Moving to the University of Pennsylvania 6 years later, Dr Hazard continued to teach methods and statistics, but now to doctoral students. She was also the research director at the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where she assisted practicing nurses with their research projects. Once again, she was working with clinical nurse specialists as they identified problems and tested new approaches to improve client care. She has always said that this was one of the most satisfying roles she ever had.
In 1991, Dr Hazard became the dean of the William F. Connell School of Nursing at Boston College. One of her major efforts was to strengthen the curriculum for the preparation of advanced practice nurses. She encouraged nurses to enroll in doctoral programs where they would gain the skills they needed to become principal investigators on important studies. She continued as associate editor of the journal Clinical Nurse Specialist and was elected to a term on the Board of NACNS.
Dr Hazard has contributed to the continued development of the science of nursing through work with students, feedback to hundreds of authors, 5 editions of her book and other publications, and her administrative support for excellence in the preparation of clinical nurse specialists.