Caroline Varner Coburn is an Associate Professor, clinical track. She earned her BSN from Duke University, MS from Georgia State University, Adult Nurse Practitioner certification from Emory University, and DNP from University of Alabama at Birmingham. Since 2004 she has been on the faculty at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. Her clinical background has been in cardiovascular nursing and primary care, and her current content specialty and practice concentrate on ambulatory care nursing.

Dr. Coburn was the lead editor for the textbook Perspectives in Ambulatory Care Nursing published in 2021, and currently is lead editor for a revision of the publication Core Curriculum of Ambulatory Care Nursing through the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AAACN).

Dr. Coburn teaches in the pre-licensure and the DNP programs in a domestic and global context, concentrating on population health and DNP project implementation. For more than eight years she has led student groups and researchers in trips to Eleuthera, an under-resourced island of The Bahamas. In the course of this involvement, she has been Principal Investigator and Co- Principal Investigator for two separate student-led Emory Global Health Initiative grants that focused on healthcare in Eleuthera, including management of non-communicable chronic diseases in this setting.

In her volunteer activities through AAACN, she has been part of a national taskforce for the creation of guidelines for Academic-Clinical Collaboration in the ambulatory setting, and currently serves on the Publications Committee and as an editorial reviewer for the Journal of Ambulatory Nursing.

Textbooks/ Chapters:

• Coburn, CV, Gilland, D, and Swan, BA (Eds.), Perspectives in Ambulatory Care Nursing, 1st Ed. (2021). Wolters Kluwer.
• Phan, Q. and Coburn, CV Expanding Primary Care Access in Multilingual Populations Using Flipped Visits and Telehealth. In J. B. Hamilton and C. E. Moore (Eds.), Transforming Social Determinants to Promote Global Health: Achieving Health Equity through Lived Experience. Springer International Publishing. Forthcoming 2024.
• Coburn, CV, Moss, E, Vonderheide, D., (Eds.), Core Curriculum for Ambulatory Care Nursing, 5th Ed. Anthony J. Jannetti. Forthcoming 2026.

Selected peer-reviewed articles:

• Coburn, C., Swanson, S. (2023) Applying human centered design in a nursing doctoral course. Intersections: The Education Journal of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center. DOI: doi.org/10.59450/ZJDH8211
• Pfeiffer, K., Cunningham, T., Cranmer, J., Harrison, T., Crosby, H., Schroeder, K., Jordan, D, Coburn, C. (2023) Changes in nurse posttraumatic growth following a virtual contemplative intervention. Journal of Nursing Administration. 53(1), 40-46 doi: 10.3928/01484834-20210420-11
• Marmolejo, M., Kimble, L., Coburn, C., Baker, N. (2022) Implementing a single-item health literacy tool for Spanish speakers. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners: JNP. November 10. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2022.09.007
• DeBaise, V.M., Coburn, C.V., More, L., Parsons, L. (2022) Changing Landscapes: Academic-practice partnerships in evolving ambulatory care settings: Part 1. Nursing Economic$. 40(2)
• Coburn, C.V., Spence, S., LaCagnina, L., Becklenberg, A., Wands, L.M., Hayes Ferrere, A. (2021). Ambulatory care simulation: A collaboration between MSN and BSN nursing students. The Journal of Nursing Education. 60(5), 293–297. doi: https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20210420-11

Nursing education should include a balance of what is sometimes called hard and soft skills. Acquiring the knowledge and skills related to the human body and understanding the interventions to improve and promote health are essential. A critical element of this category is understanding the role and importance of research and evidence-based decisions in healthcare.

Equally essential are the learned skills that support behavior change toward improved health. With these "soft skills", learners are able to adequately assess for barriers to healthy behavior, apply proven interventions, and fully involve the client in decisions. Competency in these areas can be taught, but it requires helping both teachers and learners to understand that application and evaluation of these skills may require creative methods.

Dr. Coburn's research involvement has included co-investigator roles in multiple HRSA grants that focus on workforce and education in the non-acute setting. In addition, she has been Principal Investigator for two Emory-supported grants assessing non-communicable disease mitigation through community involvement in Eleuthera, Bahamas. These research initiatives reflect her commitment to investigating the most effective and evidence-based methods to support behavior change toward improved health in community and ambulatory settings.

University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing 70 Visionary Leaders award 2021