An exclusive interview

Optimizing care for a nurse’s individual skills

I've always been a caregiver and a teacher. I was either going to go into medicine or teaching. My dad was a teacher and a football coach, and he kind of steered me away from that, and I had a hometown doctor that really was a mentor to me. I actually started out thinking I was going to go to medical school in a very small town. You know, when you're a big fish in a small pool, sometimes you get to a large campus and it’s kind of a shock to the system. I thought, “Oh man, I don't know if I can handle that school.” So, through different jobs, I've been a personal trainer, I've done medical transcription, and I had an ER doc that said, “You need to come and see what my nurses do.” I had a very narrow view of what nurses did. This is not it, and I was completely blown away. I was like, “These are my people.”

Dr. Diane Cannon, DNP, MHA, RN, is the director of clinical education and innovation at Xapimed. She has a certification in oncology nursing and experience in oncology, transplants, infusions, clinical research, case management, and emergency care. She has been working in nursing education as a faculty member, visiting professor, and consultant. As the director of clinical education and innovation at Xapimed, Diane works with a company designed by nurses to create technology for nurse learning and competency management.

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