• Transformational leadership
• Health care reform
• Care delivery models
• Work environment

Dr. Watson has been a nurse for more than 38 years and has held positions as staff nurse, nurse educator, nurse manager, and nurse executive. She is currently a Clinical Professor with the University of Iowa College of Nursing teaching in the masters and doctoral nursing programs.

Her previous position was as the Senior Vice President of Clinical Services and Chief Nurse Executive at Mercy Medical Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a position she held for more than 21 years before leaving December 2008. In that position, she had responsibility for all nursing departments, as well as several clinical support departments. Mercy is a stand-alone community hospital with 445 beds and a full continuum of services.

Dr. Watson has published more than 25 journal articles or book chapters and regularly presents to a variety of audiences both locally and nationally on current issues in nursing and health care. The Iowa Organization of Nurse Executives recognized her as the Outstanding Nurse Executive in 1992.

She is the Past-President for the American Organization of Nurse Executives, a personal membership group of more than 6,400 nurse leaders. She is certified through the American Organization of Nurse Executives as a Certified Executive in Nursing Practice (CENP). She is a member of the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Nursing Administration and Applied Nursing Research. In 2004, she was appointed as the first nurse executive member of the Iowa Hospital Association Board of Trustees.

Dr. Watson led a major renovation project within Mercy to move to all private rooms and transform the environment for both patients and nurses. Integral in this redesign initiative is embedded technology that creates efficient, reliable, and safe processes using Lean as the key transforming technology.

IOWA RESEARCH ONLINE: http://works.bepress.com/carol_watson1 [2]