SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

LCDR Jane Abanes’ medical career started in 1995 as a Navy Hospital Corpsman. Later commissioned as a Navy Nurse Corps Officer, she served in various settings including medical surgical ward, inpatient psychiatric unit, case management department, post-anesthesia care unit, and general surgery clinic. Her passion for mental health began during her post-master’s studies at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). As a PMHNP/CNS student at UCSF, she was a domestic violence counselor and victim’s language advocate at a women’s shelter, served San Francisco’s homeless population as a counselor, and volunteered in Haiti during the cholera epidemic as a Nurse Practitioner and mental health educator. As a board-certified PMHNP, she served Marines and Sailors with PTSD and other mental health illnesses and led civilian and junior personnel in military treatment facilities: (a) Deployment Health Center, Marine Corps Base, Hawaii; (b) Mental Health Department and Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and (c) Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, Arizona. She completed her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree from Vanderbilt University and received the Board of Directors’ (BOD) Graduate Student Scholar Award. Her work entitled, “Using a web-based patient-provider messaging system to enhance patient satisfaction among active duty Sailors and Marines seen in the psychiatric outpatient clinic: a pilot study” was chosen as the Rear Admiral Betsy Niemeyer Award for Evidence-Based Practice. She is currently enrolled in the PhD program at Vanderbilt University with plans to study the physiological effects of acupuncture for service members with PTSD.

I am a DNP student in Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner track at the University of Washington. What has prepared me for this future role are the different life experiences. Experience as a single mother, an immigrant, 17 years of psychiatric nursing, and a state of the art advanced evidence-based DNP education at theUniversity of Washington. As a future nurse practitioner, I am equipped to practice evidence-based practice with knowledge in collecting, describing and interpreting data. My area of clinical interest is to build on my 17 years of experience as an inpatient psychiatric nurse. My focus of practice will be mostly on depression, PTSD and suicide prevention. I have acquired extensive experience working with this population from a different background, such as young adult to older adults, underprivileged and veterans. In addition to my clinical experience; I am also an excellent leader. I have a 10 years charge nurse experience working with accomplished nurses and different disciplines. I lead my unit as the chair for the nurse shared leadership council in my organization. I managed and supervise the balancing of complicated schedule and safe patient care. I am honored to be a recipient of the Jonas scholarship and to represent at the leadership conference.