The American Health Council Nursing Board Appoints Donna Mertens, RN, BSN

The American Health Council appointed Donna Mertens, RN, BSN to its Board of Nurses for her outstanding contributions to the nursing field. As the nursing director of outpatient services at Shriners Hospitals for Children — Cincinnati, Ms. Mertens coordinates outpatient visits, acts as a care manager for patients and ensures that all activities at the clinics operate smoothly. While she has held her current role for 33 years, Ms. Mertens has spent the last 38 years in the healthcare industry expanding her skills and knowledge in pediatric burn care and plastic surgery.

Inspired by her neighbor, who has a nurse herself, Ms. Mertens decided to pursue a career in the nursing field. She held an interest in the sciences and she felt that the sciences coupled with medicine worked well together. She enrolled at the University of Cincinnati and earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in 1979 and immediately began practicing in the field.

She eventually landed at Shriners Hospitals for Children — Cincinnati, where she now performs an array of duties, including setting daily goals, hiring personnel, completing budget reports, working with an interdisciplinary team to meet the needs of patients and their families, and operating the hospital’s international program, telehealth program and outreach program. Additionally, Ms. Mertens is responsible for overseeing 10 providers while simultaneously remaining an active nurse and performing minor procedures in an outpatient setting.

An accomplished leader and nurse, Ms. Mertens holds myriad accolades that she collected during her fruitful career. She is the recipient of The Press Ganey Summit Award for Patient and Family Satisfaction and the 1992 Spirit of Caring Award. In 1997, she earned the Excellence Award and the School Re-Entry Program recognition. She was nominated for six Daisy Awards, an accolade awarded to a nurse by The Daisy Foundation. In 2017, the Cincinnati Shriners Hospital presented Ms. Mertens with a Daisy Award. According to the hospital’s website, the hospital awards a nurse who personifies the Shriners Hospitals for Children’s remarkable patient experience. The nurse selected consistently demonstrates excellence through their clinical expertise and extraordinary compassionate care.

In her free time, Ms. Mertens enjoys visiting local estate wineries and meeting the families who started the business, as well as contributing efforts to the James N. Gamble Montessori High School in Cincinnati. With a successful career at hand, Ms. Mertens attributes her achievements to her compassion, knowledge and empathy. She addresses each patient and their families as a unique entity, making each situation light and fun. She takes into consideration the needs of each family, rather than treating her patients as “just a child with a diagnosis.” She plans to continue to excel her career by focusing on building a legacy of high-quality programs, leaving the department better than when she first started, mentoring and fundraising for the marine biology curriculum at Gamble Montessori High School.