Dr. Corrine Abraham is an Associate Professor, clinical track, at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. Corrine earned a BSN from the University of Iowa in 1978 and an MN from Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University in 1985 with a dual focus: Adult Health Acute Care and Nursing Education. Corrine practiced clinically for 7 years in various cardiac step-down and coronary care units before joining the faculty of Emory University. Corrine taught undergraduate nursing at Emory from 1996 – 2012 with extensive experience teaching in varied acute care and community clinical settings as well as a simulation lab. From 2006 – 2012 she served as the International Academic & Cultural Exchange Coordinator, coordinating annual student exchanges between Emory and the University of Alberta and Yonsei University. Corrine expanded her leadership efforts to include the development of Service-Learning experiences focused on serving vulnerable populations partnering with a variety of domestic and global community partners.

In 2011 Corrine was appointed the Service-Learning Academic Coordinator focusing efforts on the identification of strategies to sustain community partnerships, to enhance scholarship, to promote student and faculty community engagement, and evaluate/track community engagement activities. In 2013 Corrine completed her DNP from the University of MN, completing a post-doc as a Nurse-Fellow in the National VA Quality Scholars Program (2012 – 14). Upon completing the post-doctorate fellowship in 2014, Corrine negotiated a joint appointment with the Atlanta VA (Director of Innovation and EBP) and Emory University (DNP program faculty), aligning her positions with the strategic initiatives of both institutions. Through building networks, Dr. Abraham seeks to leverage resources and relationships to identify mutually beneficial opportunities for inter-professional collaboration and learning. Corrine’s goal is to bridge the gap between academia and practice by promoting evidence to enhance healthcare delivery and improve patient outcomes.

• Abraham, C., Kleinpell, R., Godwin, K., & Dolansky, M. (2020). The inter-professional VA Quality Scholars program pre and post-doctoral nurse fellow outcomes. Nursing Outlook (in press).
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2020.09.003
• Reyes, I., Clement, D., Sheridan, D., Abraham, C., & Wright, P. (2020). Connecting with Students: Using Audio-Enhanced Discussion Boards in a Nursing Curriculum. Nurse Educator, 45(2)
• Biello, S., Tomolo, A. & Abraham, C., Escoffery, C., Lang, D., Sawyer, S., & Thompson, N. (2019). A qualitative evaluation of caregiver support services offered through the Cognitive Disorders Specialty Care Education Center of Excellence at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Preventing Chronic Disease, 16. https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2019/18_0156.htm

• Kelly, U., Abraham, C., Toney, S., Muirhead, L., Shelby, K., & Shapiro, S. (2018). Growing a robust academic practice partnership in an Academic Health System. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 42(4), 331 - 342.
• Branch, W., Manning, K., Abraham, C., Kim, J., Foster, J., Lepp, E., O’Neill, L., Lund, M., Batisky, D., & Pittman, R. (2016). Preparing the Ground for Inter-professional Education: Getting to know Each Other. Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation.

• Abraham, C., Bredenberg, E., Batchelor, H., & Thames-Allen, A. (August, 2014). Bridging the Gap: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Fall Prevention. Presentation at the 2014 Summer Institutes on Quality Improvement. San Antonio, TX.
• Abraham, C. & Duva, I. (May, 2014). Taking Action to Bridge Quality and Evidence Based Practice. Poster presentation at the 2014 Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) National Forum: Creating Safe Harbor for Patients and Families. Baltimore, MD.
• Abraham, C. (December, 2012). Achieving zero central line associated bloodstream infection. Oral presentation at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement 24th Annual National Forum, International Scientific Symposium. Orlando, Florida.

Research

Corrine has implemented and evaluated a variety of educational and clinical focused projects. Most recently, during her DNP program, her scholarly project focused on the implementation of evidence-based practice and QI methods to mitigate central-line associated bloodstream infections in an ICU setting. As a Fellow at the Atlanta VA site, she developed expertise in quality improvement methods, data analytics, change management, and systems leadership. Her projects at VA have focused on enhancing the quality and safety of healthcare for veterans by implementing inter-professional strategies to improve chronic pain management, prevent falls, and design an inter-professional collaborative practice for Veterans with Dementia. She has had the opportunity to network with national experts, local leaders, and key stakeholders to identify local priorities, engage those at the point of care in designing improvements, and advocate for needed resources.

Clinical Practice

Within her role at VA, Dr. Abraham has lead efforts to build an infrastructure to support nursing excellence through evidence-based practice improvement. She has continued to remain engaged with the Atlanta VA Quality Scholars Program joining the leadership team as Associate Program Director. She collaborated with the VAQS physician program director to secure funding to establish and implement the Cognitive Disorders Specialty Care Education Center of Excellence (2015- 2017). In 2019 Corrine transitioned to Senior Nurse Scholar for the VAQS Program when Atlanta was awarded funding for re-designation as a Fellowship site for the National program. Her contributions at the Atlanta VA have provided a framework for transforming inter-professional education, building capacity in quality improvement methods, and providing leadership and mentoring in redesigning care delivery.

Teaching Statement

As an instructor in the undergraduate nursing program at Emory Corrine lead efforts to integrate high fidelity simulation, QSEN competencies, Problem-Based Learning, and Service-Learning experiences across the nursing curricula. In addition she represented the NHWSN within University-wide groups on the Inter-professional Team Training Core Team and Instructional Technology Governance Committee.

As a Fellow she served as a coach and mentor for medical, nursing, and public health students as well as practicing primary care providers- learning quality improvement methods through implementation of quality projects locally and across the country.

Following her post-doctorate Corrine played an instrumental role in designing and implementing the newly formed DNP program (2014), assuming leadership roles as Program Coordinator, Health Systems Leadership track (2015 – 17) and Program Director (2017 – 19). At Emory University she has collaborated with colleagues from the Medical school to design funded projects to build competencies in QI (annual Faculty Development in QI Workshops), and team collaboration (Faculty Development for the Inter-professional Teaching of Humanism).

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• Interdisciplinary Group Recognition Award, National Academies of Practice (2019)
• Heart of the DNP Students Award, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University (2017)
• Excellence in Leadership Award, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University (2016)
• Finalist, March of Dimes Nurse of the Year, Informatics, Research & Evidence Based Practice, Atlanta, GA (2015)
• Team Excellence Award for DNP Faculty Collaborative, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University (2015)