Amy Smith

Originating from a family of patriots and veterans, improving the lives of America's veterans by improving health care in the Department of Veterans Affairs has been the focus of Amy Smith's health care career. Beginning as a caregiver and coordinator of care, her career path has progressed over the last 15 years as leadership skills have increased. In the early 90s, Ms. Smith developed and implemented the Nursing Case Management program at the Jackson VA Medical Center realizing significant improvements in length of stay, patient satisfaction, and appropriateness of resource use. Later as a Nurse Practitioner in community practice and with the VA Healthcare system, she quickly became recognized as a clinical leader and effective health care manager. Currently, as the Associate Chief of Ambulatory Care at the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi, she direct the activities of a complex health care system serving over 47,000 veterans in over 400,000 encounters annually. Amy also serves as the South Central VA Health Care Network Advanced Practice Nurse Liaison to the Veterans Health Administration Office of Nursing Services in Washington D.C.

Ms. Smith has presented at numerous symposia and lectured at several institutions. She has published peer-reviewed articles in the Nursing and Ambulatory Care literature. She is active in on-going research projects related to evidenced-based practice. Ms. Smith is also active on numerous local, regional, and national committees and workgroups. She chairs the NP Council at the Jackson Mississippi VA Medical Center. She chairs of the South Central VA Health Advanced Practice Nurse committee consisting of 10 facility liaisons from medical centers in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. On a national level, she represents the Advanced Practice Nurses from the ten medical centers/health care systems in this network to the national arena on professional nursing issues and policy decisions.

Ms. Smith is committed to the nursing profession and continuing education for nurses. In 1999, she initiated, developed and implemented the GV Sonny Montgomery VA Medical Center NP Update and has nurtured its development as a nationally recognized best practice for Advanced Practice Nurse Continuing Education since that time. Amy is adjunct faculty at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson Mississippi and mentors students in nursing and health care management. Ms. Smith plans to continue to teach students in Nursing and other health care disciplines as she mentors the next generation of health care leaders toward continual improvement and practice/ professional evolution.

Amy W. Smith, RN, MSN, CFNP received her Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Nursing from the University of Mississippi. She is certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner through ANCC and AANP. Amy is a doctoral student at Rush University School of Nursing in Chicago.

Ms. Smith is an active member of numerous professional associations including the American Nurses Association, the Mississippi Nurses Association, American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, Sigma Theta Tau, Emergency Nurses Association, Oncology Nursing Society, and the American College of Health Care Executives. She has held elected and appointed roles in professional organizations throughout her career. Currently, Amy is a mentee in the Fellows of American Academy of Nurse Practitioners mentoring program. She is also active in numerous other community organizations.

In addition to her pursuit of advanced education, Amy is also pursuing additional leadership training and experience. In 2006, she graduated from the Leadership Development Institute of the South Central VA Healthcare System. Desiring to build on this valuable experience, she applied for and was selected to participate in the VA Healthcare Administrations' Executive Career Field training program. Ms. Smith is currently a candidate in this highly competitive two-year program in which the Veterans Health Administration prepares and grooms future health care executives.