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The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) recently selected ������ alumna Nancy M. Albert, RN, Ph.D., CCNS, CCRN, NE-BC, FAHA, FCCM, as its 2013 Distinguished Research Lecturer.

Albert is the senior director of nursing research and innovation for the Cleveland Clinic enterprise (nine hospitals in Northeast Ohio and 16 regional medical practices). In addition, she is a practicing clinical nurse specialist for patients with advanced heart failure in the Heart and Vascular Institute of Cleveland Clinic main campus in Cleveland, Ohio.

In addition to her research and clinical responsibilities, Albert is an adjunct associate professor at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and an adjunct faculty member in the College of Nursing at Kent State.

The Distinguished Research Lectureship recognizes nurses who make significant contributions to high-acuity and critical care research. Funded by a grant from Philips Healthcare, the lectureship is one of the association's most prestigious honors. The awardee is nationally recognized as a nurse researcher, known for publications, presentations, mentorship and consultation in research relevant to acute and critical care nursing.

Albert says the lectureship is a wonderful honor. “I am thrilled to have been selected and to be able to present my research at the AACN’s 2013 National Teaching Institute and Critical Care Exposition,” she says.

Albert says her favorite part about her jobs is gaining new knowledge about clinical and administrative practices, based on research evidence, whether from her own research, from nurses she is coaching in research or from the literature.
 
“My research focuses on patients with heart failure and nurses who deliver heart failure care,” she says. “Specific themes of interest are self-care – diet, fluid restriction, exercise, etc.– delivery and adherence and relationships of self-care with re-hospitalization, quality of life and emergency care.”

After receiving her nursing diploma from Huron Road Hospital School of Nursing, East Cleveland, Albert earned her B.S.N. from Cleveland State University and M.S.N. and Ph.D. from ������.

Albert says her Ph.D. coursework from Kent State set her research foundation she uses daily as a nurse scientist.

“Additionally, I met wonderful, talented people while in school that I still network with today,” she says. “Through the M.S.N. program, I think the greatest experiences were associated with learning the value of collaboration, consultation, teamwork and innovation.”