Beth Wathen

Beth Wathen, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, serves a one-year term as immediate past president of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) board of directors from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023, and co-chair of the AACN – AACN Certification Corporation Nominating Committee. She was president of the AACN board from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022, after completing a one-year term as president-elect from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 3021, and a three-year term as a director from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2020. She served a one-year term as secretary from July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019.

Wathen has been a clinical practice specialist in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora, since 2005. She oversees the PICU’s Quality Program and serves as organizational lead for the Code/RRT Program and Sepsis Task Force, and nursing lead for the Clinical and Operational Effectiveness Council.

Throughout her career, Wathen has led numerous research and quality improvement initiatives focused on improving outcomes and reducing preventable harm in critically ill pediatric patients. She has lectured nationally and authored numerous publications in the areas of pediatric trauma, resuscitation, sepsis prevention and quality improvement.

Wathen is a member of AACN’s Denver Chapter. She was chair of the NTI Program Planning Committee in 2016 and a committee member in 2014. She also participated on the 2016 Research Abstract Review Panel and is a coordinator and speaker for a regional Pediatric CCRN Certification Exam Preparatory Course. She has been a facilitator at numerous NTIs, presenting on various pediatric critical care topics.

Additional affiliations include serving on the Children’s Hospital Association’s Improving Pediatric Sepsis Outcomes (IPSO) National Expert Advisory Council and Steering Committee, and membership in the Society of Critical Care Medicine. She is co-lead for the ICU work group as part of the IPSO Collaborative.

Wathen earned a Master of Science in Nursing at University of Utah and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Bloomsburg University, Pennsylvania.