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Beth Cusatis Phillips, PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE, is Strategic Nursing Advisor for ATI Nursing Education.

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In the MedCity news section, Dr. Phillips addresses the need for federal, state, and institutional leaders to invest in nurses earlier in the pipeline. She explains how increasing enrollment and program capacity and providing better resources like technology in the classroom will allow the nursing profession to tackle the workforce shortage before it gets any worse. One of the key steps toward these goals, though, is improving nurses' professional identity.

You can read her full opinion piece at: https://medcitynews.com/2023/03/professional-identity-in-nursing-we-need-it-now-more-than-ever/

Dr. Phillips is the Strategic Nursing Advisor with ATI and Ascend Learning. She is also the chair of the International Society for Professional Identity in Nursing; is a site visitor for the NLN CNEA; and has served as the chair of the CNEA Standards Committee. Her educational/research/presentation interests include faculty orientation, development, and longevity, curriculum development, professional identity in nursing, student decision-making, student support and development, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Prior to joining ATI, Dr. Phillips spent 16 years at Duke School of Nursing as Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for Educational Excellence. She taught in the ABSN and MSN programs. Dr. Phillips spent 9 years at Vance Granville Community College where she taught in and directed the ADN/LPN programs. Her clinical practice included 13 years at UNC Hospitals and 6 years at East Carolina University Health, first in med-surg and then surgical/trauma ICU.

Dr. Phillips received her ADN from Waukesha County Technical Institute; her BSN from East Carolina University; her MSN from Duke; and her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.