Prestigious Award Recognizes Kerfoot for Devoting Life’s Work to Compassionate Care and Advancing the Nursing Profession
HOUSTON, TX – Aug 1, 2023 – symplr®, the leading enterprise healthcare operations software provider, announced that Chief Nursing Officer Karlene Kerfoot, PhD, RN, FAAN, has received the DAISY Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. This award was created to recognize nurses who have devoted their life’s work to the compassionate care of others and to advancing the nursing profession in delivering extraordinary excellence in ways that matter most to patients and families. Kerfoot, a DAISY Foundation Board Member, was honored in a surprise announcement by Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, co-founder of the DAISY Foundation™, who spoke to Kerfoot’s dedication, leadership, mentorship and advocacy for fellow nurses through professional roles and volunteer efforts.
“I’m honored to receive the DAISY Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award and to share the spirit for which it was created with every nurse I’ve ever worked with and every patient we’ve all cared for along the way,” Dr. Kerfoot said. “I also want to recognize the symplr team for the collaboration and commitment we share in enabling the nurse and other members of the care team to spend more time with patients through simpler healthcare operations.”
Dr. Kerfoot has been a nurse for more than 40 years, and previously held positions in clinical practice, healthcare consulting, project management, as well as executive positions in large healthcare systems, academic appointments in Business Administration and Nursing. As CNO at symplr, she is responsible for integrating the science of patient care, staffing, and clinical informatics into hospital workflows. This year, she spearheaded a joint launch of the “Beyond Gratitude” campaign with DAISY and the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL), to provide meaningful recognition to nurse managers and to support their emotional well-being.
“Karlene is a beloved member of the symplr team, and everyone is thrilled to congratulate her for the well-deserved recognition of the prestigious DAISY Lifetime Achievement Award,” said BJ Schaknowski, CEO of symplr. “We are very grateful and humbled to have someone in our organization who is as dedicated and compassionate about patient care and supporting the providers giving that care as Karlene has been throughout her career. We also thank the DAISY Foundation for making possible this recognition.”
“Karlene has done so much for healthcare and for the DAISY Foundation, and we can never thank her enough. She is an icon in nursing and in our hearts and passionate about what nurses do every day.”
—Bonnie Barnes, co-founder of the DAISY Foundation
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View the recognition video featuring Linda Knodel, former Chief Nurse Executive, Kaiser Permanente, Patricia Mook, SVP of Nursing Operations at Advocate Health, MaryBeth Kingston, EVP, CNO of Advocate Aurora Health, and Robyn Begley, CEO of AONL, SVP Workforce, AHA.
Dr. Kerfoot has published over 400 articles in the areas of data-driven staffing, workforce management, leadership, and patient safety. She also writes a popular column on leadership for Nursing Economics. Dr. Kerfoot holds a PhD from the University of Illinois, Chicago, an MA and BSN from the University of Iowa, and has completed executive leadership programs such as the Wharton School for Nurse Executives.
The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. The compassionate care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired the creation of The DAISY Award® for Extraordinary Nurses, an evidenced-based means of providing nurse recognition wherever they practice, in whatever role they serve, and throughout their careers. The foundation partners with 6,000+ healthcare facilities and schools of nursing internationally and funds nursing research and evidence-based practice studies.
About symplr
symplr is the leader in enterprise healthcare operations software and services. For more than 30 years and with deployments in 9 of 10 U.S. hospitals, symplr has been committed to improving healthcare operations through its cloud-based solutions, driving better operations for better outcomes. Our provider data management, workforce management, and healthcare governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) solutions improve the efficiency and efficacy of healthcare operations, enable caregivers to quickly handle administrative tasks so they have more time to do what they do best: provide high-quality patient care. Learn how at http://www.symplr.com.