Emily Patterson has been named the inaugural Marieb Endowed Professor of Nursing and Engineering Innovation, a joint professor appointment between the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing and the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in the Riccio College of Engineering.

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Patterson will support interdisciplinary innovation at the Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation. An industrial and systems engineer specializing in human factors, Patterson brings nearly 30 years of sustained, close collaboration with nurses as a leading international expert in human factors engineering, informatics and patient safety.

A prolific researcher with over 250 publications cited more than 10,000 times, Patterson’s approach is a model for translating research findings into clinically meaningful improvements across a wide range of technologies, from electronic health records to medical devices. Her team’s redesign of hospital telemetry alarm systems resulted in up to 59% faster nurse response to code blue alarms across three hospitals and up to a 38% reduction in overall alarm burden, work that informed recommendations from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation and the international medical device safety standard for alarm sounds.

Patterson’s research, including that on shift-change handovers and bar code medication administration, has also shaped national and international standards, and she co-authored the national standard for summative usability testing of electronic health records, which is now required for hospitals to meet requirements for Medicare funding.

More information about Patterson’s appointment can be found on the Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation website.