Press Release

Garred, First Ever Clinical Informatics Specialist at Burgess Health Center

Kate Garred, nurse educator at Burgess Health Center in Onawa, has a new role as clinical informatics specialist. In this position she will use her skills and experience to coordinate, plan, design, and evaluate clinical application systems pertaining to electronic health records and other forms of medical documentation.

A 25-year-employee of Burgess, Garred has a background in emergency and critical care nursing and has been teaching for more than 20 years. She has provided training for hundreds of students through her classes for healthcare professionals and the general public. As the clinical informatics specialist Garred will provide guidance to all system users, including the medical staff.

“We are on track to meet the challenge of having all Burgess Health Center staff and providers using electronic health records,” said Garred. “The systems we use are continually improving and work well to provide continuity of care for our patients, which is the most important part of this whole process.”

Currently Garred is working to finish her specialty certificate in Nursing Informatics through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Garred completed 56 hours of continuing education courses, and is nearly done with the 2000 hours of required field experience. As soon as she fulfills those hours she will be eligible to apply for and take the required certification exam.

Garred will continue a portion of her responsibilities as a nurse educator by instructing employees and community members in basic, advanced and pediatric life support skills for CPR, ACLS, and PALS certification. She received her BSN degree from Creighton University in Omaha.