Historical Person Who Contributed to Nursing: Paula Susan Hawley MSJPS

Historical Person Who Contributed to Nursing: Paula Susan Hawley MSJPS

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Paula Susan Hawley MSJPS (born 1946) made significant contributions to nursing, especially concerning education and leadership. After being born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Hawley felt drawn to nursing from a young age when helping to care for her grandmother. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from St. John College in 1968 and soon started working as an oncology nurse at University Hospitals of Cleveland. During this time, Hawley witnessed the immense responsibility and decision-making required of nurses, sparking her interest in nursing leadership.In 1971, Hawley continued her clinical work while also going to Ohio State University to get her Master of Science in Nursing. She finished with honors. Her thesis was about how to make it easier for nurses to keep providing care while their shifts change. After a few more years of getting important experience at the bedside, Hawley decided to go to Virginia Tech to get her Ph.D. in public administration and public affairs in 1986. She wanted to change the future of nursing education and leadership on a national level(Evans, 2023).

During her career, Hawley worked to make nursing education better and help train the next group of leaders in nursing. From 2009 to 2017, she taught at Liberty University’s School of Nursing and changed the curriculum to include more leadership, study, and practice that is based on evidence. In 2013, Liberty’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program began, and she was on the steering group that made it happen. In addition to her work in academia, Hawley also volunteered with a number of well-known nursing groups because she loved being a leader. In addition, she led the National League for Nursing from 2002 until 2008(Kantek et al., 2017). During her tenure, the NLN held educational summits to prepare nurse educators and managers.

Hawley was AONE CEO from 2008 to 2017 after leaving the NLN. She created various programs to train nurse leaders. Hawley created the 5-day AONE Institute for Patient Care Simulation Leadership training on how nurse managers can use simulation to instruct their workforce. She founded the 7-month Emerging Nurse Leader Institute to teach new managers and clinical leaders about organization, communication, and change. Hawley also spoke with international nursing groups and partnered with nursing leadership organizations in the UK, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand to promote AONE. These global ties allowed education programs to collaborate, people to share their finest leadership ideas, and everyone to strive toward improving nurse leadership worldwide. Through these inventive global and local programs, Hawley influenced one of the nation’s top nursing leadership groups.

AONE honored Hawley with the prestigious Mentor Award in 2017 for her achievements. Her American Academy of Nursing Fellowship occurred in 2008. Hawley is retired but still advises and represents the field. Her innovative nursing and leadership development programs will have a lasting impact. The systems Hawley set up will keep making the nursing workforce stronger for decades to come by making sure we have great, highly skilled leaders in charge(Ln, 2024).

Reference 

Evans. (2023). Paula Hawley – Special projects coordinator – linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-hawley-43034832

Kantek, F., Kaya, A., & Gezer, N. (2017). The effects of Nursing Education on professional values: A longitudinal study. Nurse Education Today, 58, 43–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2017.08.004

Ln. (2024). Paula Hawley – Nurse manager, Telecare call center – linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-hawley-895706125