SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

Kimberly Waltrip is a Ph.D student in the College of Nursing at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Her research interest is low back pain and related musculoskeletal disorders of the lumbar spine. She received a BSN from Southeast Missouri State University and a MSN from Vanderbilt University. Kimberly worked in general, progressive, and intensive care areas at Vanderbilt Medical Center as a neuroscience staff RN, then as an advanced practice nurse for Vanderbilt Neurosurgery before transferring to a faculty position. She was a clinical instructor and lecturer for BSN and MSN students at Belmont University and Vanderbilt University. Her professional experience includes staff positions at Barnes-Jewish Hospital as a Clinical Educator for the neuroscience progressive and intensive care areas, and as a Patient Safety Quality Improvement specialist in the Department of Patient Safety and Risk Management. She continues in a nurse expert role, reviewing neuro and critical care issues in her part-time work as a legal consultant. Kimberly has served on various hospital committees and task forces, developing standardized patient care protocols and documentation for nursing staff, policies and procedures, physician order sets, patient and nursing education materials, and curriculum redesign for nursing orientation, working toward goals for safer clinical practice, performance and quality improvement, and increased staff recruitment and retention rates.