Dr. Brenda Tousley
DNP, CNS, ACCNS-AG, AGCNS-BC, ASC-BC, CLNC
Who am I?
Brenda Tousley DNP, CNS, ACCNS-AG, AGCNS-BC, ASC-BC, CLNC
I am a nurse with 35 years of experience. I started my nursing career in the United States Army Nurse Corps. I have worked in a small community hospital to a multispecialty critical care unit in a tertiary referral center. I have experience in the care of burn patients, cardiac/cardiac surgery, trauma, neurology/neurosurgical, orthopedic, pulmonary, burn, and general medical patients that were critically ill. I have been a bedside nurse, manager, nurse educator and practiced as a Clinical Nurse Specialist / mid-level practitioner.
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I am board certified as an acute stroke coordinator (ASC-BC), dually certified as an adult-gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist (ACCNS-AG and AGCNS-BC), and certified as a legal nurse consultant (CLNC®).
What does this mean to you?
This allows me to provide you insight about the inner workings of the acute care environment.
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As a bedside nurse, I know patient care. I have practiced in multiple settings and specialties providing a broad expanse of knowledge. I have documented in multiple electronic medical records and am able to navigate to find the evidence necessary to show compliance with and deviations from the standard of care.
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As a manager, I have the ability to look at the big picture and provide insight into factors that may have affected your case that is not in the medical record.
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As a nursing educator, for both bedside nurses and nursing students, I have a deep understanding of how competence is achieved, evaluated and maintained. I have the skills to teach to a room full of people and one-on-one. My students say I have the ability to bring complex ideas down to a level they can understand and apply.
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As a Clinical Nurse Specialist, I have years of experience looking at medical records to improve patient outcomes. I research the literature to identify evidence based practices, develop policy & procedure and create education for nurses. I have also practiced as a mid-level provider so have an understanding of medical practice from the inside. I have also established and led multiple councils and committees including nursing peer review, Joint Commission and CMS core measure committees - restraints, sepsis, code blue - and a host of additional duties as assigned.