Texas Organization for Nursing Leadership Excellence in Leadership Award

Dr. Paula Webb, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAONL, is the Associate Professor at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center School of Nursing in Lubbock, Texas. Dr. Webb was recently honored for her contributions as a preeminent nursing leader through her induction as an inaugural Fellow for the American Organization for Nursing Leadership. She is an active volunteer board member of professional and community organizations and has led numerous initiatives to improve nursing practice and healthcare in Texas.

One of Dr. Webb’s greatest strengths is bringing diverse groups of people together for the interchange of ideas and the dissemination of information relevant to the most current issues that are impacting nursing and nursing administrations. Dr. Webb first obtained her distinction in nursing through her role as CNO and Vice President for Cook Children’s Hospital for 15 years. The strongest testament to Dr. Webb’s contributions is her advocacy for policies and issues that impact quality nursing practice and nursing education through her extensive involvement in professional organizations.

Dr. Webb currently serves on the Texas Board of Nursing’s “Nursing Education Task Force” and is the representative for the state on the “State and National Integrated Strategy Work Group” for the national Nurses on Boards Coalition.

For the past six years Dr. Webb has taught health policy at the doctoral level and through this work has guided many students to become actively engaged in promoting healthcare policy at the state and national level. Dr. Webb worked to achieve grant funding from Johnson & Johnson to develop the Care for the Caregiver following Traumatic Events: An educational self-help toolkit widely used through both TONL and TNA to educate nurses and support organizations dealing with traumatic events.

Under her leadership as President of TONL, Dr. Webb established an academic-practice collaborative in which nurse practice leaders from TONL and academic leaders from the Texas Deans and Directors organization come together for open dialog to address the many challenges these two disparate groups face, including improving patient safety and quality, advancing population health. And preparing new graduates for practice in our evolving healthcare systems. This collaborative has now expanded into a multi-organization partnership with the Texas Board of Nursing, Texas Nurse Practitioner Association, Texas Nurses Association and public health entities to collectively put on a summit this month entitled “The Future of Nursing in Texas: Stakeholders Moving Towards Alignment”. All of these accomplishments are possible because of her enthusiastic leadership and drive to advocate and support the nurses in Texas.