JoEllen Harris

Action Initiator

JoEllen Harris, RN
All Children Hospital
St. Petersburg, FL

JoEllen Harris, RN, has made patient safety improvement top priority since becoming and infection preventionist in 2005, when she participated with several other pediatric hospitals in a national collaborative called “Reducing Catheter-Associated Bloodstream Infections in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit,” which was led by Child Health Corporation of America (CHCA).

Harris also organized and heads an internal task force to reduce overall infections in Neonatal Intensive Care. This group includes NICU managers, nurses, neonatologist, an infectious disease physician, pharmacist, respiratory therapist, and an infection preventionist. This task force sees to it that all other infections, including VAP, tracheitis, eye infections, and UTIs in the neonatal ICU are kept at near zero as possible.

Harris’ aggressive efforts to reduce infections in her institution has earned her many accolades for cost saving measures and the impact on the delivery of care.