Betsy Weiner PhD, RN-BC, FACMI, FAAN
Senior Associate Dean of Informatics, Emerita and Professor in the School of Nursing, Emerita
Bio
Dr. Betsy Weiner arrived at Vanderbilt in the fall of 2000 with a vision and plan for making the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing a premiere school in the delivery of quality online education. Central to her plans was a comprehensive development and support team that would ensure online education would equal or exceed the outcomes of face-to-face delivery. As the first Senior Associate Dean for Informatics in the country, she and her team exceeded expectations. Concurrently, she led the way for innovative, technology-based education and simulation for the health professions. These solutions ranged from academic programs to just-in-time training to meet the educational needs of over 2.5 million health professionals worldwide. She skillfully matched evolving technologies with topics in high demand. She co-created a pioneering labor and delivery computer simulation, used by 98% of nursing programs in the US, making it the most popular and longest selling (20 years) program in the IBM Healthcare Consortium. With over $2 million in grants she led the development of online education in emergency response used by over 15,000 users internationally, which formed the basis of several WHO-sponsored consultations. She received $3 million in federal funds for simulation development in the virtual reality world of Second Life. An exemplary "Innovator in Health Professional Education," Weiner brought 40 years of national and international experience that shaped life-long professional education that is creative, effective, and impactful. She has been recognized with the 2008 Virginia K. Saba Informatics Award from the American Medical Informatics Association and the 2019 National Library of Medicine Nursing Informatics Award, and by membership in the American Academy of Nursing, the American College of Medical Informatics, the University of Kentucky Hall of Fame, and the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine). During her 20 years at VUSN, she held the Centennial Independence Foundation Professor of Nursing Endowed Chair and was granted Emeriti status upon her retirement in 2021.
Education
- PhD, University of Kentucky
- MSN, University of Cincinnati
- BSN, University of Kentucky
Current Research/Scholarly Interests
- SIM PROF: Crafting the Ultimate Faculty Simulation Experience. Innovative Nurse Education Technologies. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration. Principal Investigator, 2009-2011.
- Bridging the Gap to Quality Care: The ISAT (Informatics, Simulation, and Telehealth) Initiative for Nursing Faculty. Faculty Development: Integrated Technology into Nursing Education and Practice Initiative (Faculty Development; ITNEP). Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration. Principal Investigator, 2009-2013.
Academic Interests
- Application of Second Life for simulation and practice of healthcare
- Faculty Development in informatics, simulation, and telehealth
- Curriculum and development of informatics competencies for nurses
Representative Publications
Journals
Weiner, E.(2011). Research issues for nursing and midwifery contributions in emergencies. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 26(2), 109-113. doi:10.1017/S1049023X11000124
Weiner, E., & Slepski, L.A. (2011). Informatics solutions for emergency planning and response. In V.K.Saba, & K.A.McCormick (Eds.), Essentials of nursing informatics (5th edition, pp. 513-524). New York: McGraw-Hill Medical
Norman, L. & Weiner, E. (2010). Emergency preparedness and response for today's world in B. Cherry & S. Jacob (eds). Contemporary Nursing:Issues, Trends, and Management. 5th edition. St. Louis:Elsevier, 317-332.
Weiner, E., McNew, R., Trangenstein, P., & Gordon, J. (2010). Using the virtual reality world of Second Life to teach nursing faculty simulation management. In Safran, C., Marin, H., & Reti, S. (Eds.). Proceedings from MEDINFO 2010: Partnerships for Effective eHealth Solutions, 13th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics (pp. 615-619). Cape Town, South Africa: IOS Press. Doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-588-4-615.
Trangenstein, P.A., Weiner, E., Gordon, J.S., & McNew, R. (2010). An analysis of nursing education's immersion into Second Life, a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE). In Safran, C., Marin, H., & Reti, S. (Eds.). Proceedings from MEDINFO 2010: Partnerships for Effective eHealth Solutions, 13th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics (pp. 644-647). Cape Town, South Africa: IOS Press. Doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-588-4-644.Weiner, E. & Trangenstein, P. (2009). The emerging role of educational informatics. In K. Saranto, P. Brennan, H. Park, M. Tallberg, & A. Ensio (Eds.), Connecting Health and Humans: Proceedings of NI2009, the 10th International Congress on Nursing Informatics (pp. 567-571). Amsterdam, Netherlands: IOS Press.
Gordon, J., Weiner, E., McNew, R., & Trangenstein, P. (2010). Teaching during a pandemic event: Are universities prepared? In Safran, C., Marin, H., & Reti, S. (Eds.). Proceedings from MEDINFO 2010: Partnerships for Effective eHealth Solutions, 13th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics (pp. 620-624). Cape Town, South Africa: IOS Press. Doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-588-4-644.
Trangenstein, P., Weiner, E., Gordon, J., & McArthur, D. (2009). Nursing informatics for future nurse scholars: Lessons learned with the Doctorate of Nursing Practice. In K. Saranto, P. Brennan, H. Park, M.Tallberg, & A. Ensio (Eds.),Connecting Health and Humans: Proceedings of NI2009, the 10th International Congress on Nursing Informatics (pp. 551-555). Amsterdam, Netherlands: IOS Press.
Weiner, E. (2008). Supporting the integration of technology into contemporary nursing education. In Weiner, E. (ed.). Technology: The interface to nursing educational informatics. Nursing Clinics of North America, 43(4), 497-506.
Weiner, E. & Trangenstein, P. (2007). Informatics solutions for emergency planning and response. Proceedings of MEDINFO 2007, International Medical Informatics Association, 1164-1168.
Trangenstein, P., Weiner, E., Gordon, J. & McNew, R. (2007). Data mining results from an electronic clinical log for nurse practitioner students. Proceedings of MEDINFO 2007, International Medical Informatics Association, 1387-1391.
McCormick K. A., Delaney, C., Brennan, P. F., Effken, J. A., Kendrick, K., Murphy, J., Skiba, D., Warren, J. J., Weaver, C. A., Weiner, B., & Westra, B. L. (2007). Guideposts to the future: An agenda for nursing informatics. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 14(1), 19-24.
Weiner, E. (September 30, 2006) Preparing nurses internationally for emergency planning and response. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 11(3, Manuscript 3).
Weiner, E. & Trangenstein, P. (2006). Preparing our public health nursing leaders with informatics skills to combat bioterrorism in the United States. Proceedings of Nursing Informatics 2006 (pp. 215-219). Seoul, South Korea: IOS Press.
Trangenstein, P. & Weiner, E. (2006). Meeting the informatics needs of today's nursing students. Proceedings of Nursing Informatics 2006 (pp. 205-210). Seoul, South Korea: IOS Press.
Gordon, J., Weiner, E., Trangenstein, P. & McNew, R. (2006). Demonstration: An online clinical log for nursing practitioners. Proceedings of Nursing Informatics 2006 (pp. 1005). Seoul, South Korea: IOS Press.
Weiner, E., Gordon, J. & Irwin, M. (2006). An international online curriculum for nurses in Emergency planning and response. Proceedings of Nursing Informatics 2006 (pp. 1004). Seoul, South Korea: IOS Press.
Pryor, E., Heck, E., Norman, L., Weiner, E., Mathews, R., Black, J., & Terndrup, T. (2006). Integrated decision making in response to weapons of mass destruction incidents. Disaster Medicine, 21(1), 24-30.
Weiner, E. (2006). Informatics can play a key role in emergency preparedness and response. Nursing Outlook, 54(1), 55-57.
Weiner, E., & Irwin, M. (2006). Nuclear Case Study: Nursing curriculum for International Nursing Coalition for Mass Casualty Education. Nashville, TN: Little Planet Learning, Inc.
Weiner, E., Irwin, M. & Slepski, L. (2006). Radiological Case Study: Nursing curriculum for International Nursing Coalition for Mass Casualty Education. Nashville, TN: Little Planet Learning, Inc.
