Ashley Kellish DNP, MSN, RN, CCNS, CCRN performed her last simulation session on May 21st and her last official duty for #UNCsim this past weekend. Kellish has transitioned to become the Faculty Development Educator for Boston Children’s Hospital.
Kellish came to UNC in 2013 as the Clinical Nurse Education Specialist for NC Children’s Hospital. She immediately put her skills as an Critical Care Clinical Nurse Specialist and simulationist to work improving patient safety throughout UNC Health Care. She took a leadership and consulting role for many interdisciplinary, evidenced-based practice research, innovations, and quality improvement projects.
As Chair of NC Children’s Hospital Professional Development Committee, Kellish was able to significantly improve existing educational opportunities and develop programs to fill educational gaps to promote patient safety. Kellish was a leadership mentor to chairs of Children’s Hospital Shared Governance Council as well as chairs and committee members in multiple hospital wide and unit based committees.
Her research interests lead to to serve as the principle investigator in Active Alarm Fatigue Management research and Team Huddle implementation quality improvement projects.
In 2013, Kellish Co-Founded and Chaired the NC Children’s Hospital Simulation Committee. This committee has served as a breeding ground for education, innovation, and research. Kellish’s enthusiasm and expertise spread throughout the hospital and the committee has expanded to include members from NC Women’s Hospital as well as the adult trauma and critical care services.
Dr Joyner, Division Chief of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and Clinical Director of the School of Medicine’s Clinical Skills and Patient Simulation Center, emphasized that Kellish “is an amazing leader and her ability to motivate teams has encouraged significant improvements in patient safety at our institution.”
Following her last simulation session on May 21st, Simulationist Gene Hobbs tweeted that “.@UNCsim & @uncchildrens have HUGE hole to TRY & fill while @BostonChildrens made out like a bandit. Didn’t lose her, gained a collaborator”.
Kellish’s last official duty for UNC was a presentation at the 14th Annual International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) meeting in Atlanta, Georgia on June 13th.
Thank you Ashley and see you soon! — #UNCsim team